The fall season brings winter weeds. They germinate in the fall, grow through the winter and spring, and then die in the late spring. Most people think that when the grass slows it’s growth that there is no more to do to the lawn, however, fall is the second best time to control weeds using the pre-emergent method described later. The only drawback is that you cannot seed and apply a pre-emergent weed control at the same time.

These weeds can be controlled with proper methods. The two methods used are pre-emergent, and post-emergent. The pre-emergent method is the most effective because the weeds are controlled before they emerge this way the lawn looks cleaner because you never see the weeds.

A pre-emergent herbicide is used to prevent weeds such as; Crabgrass, Goosegrass, Quackgrass, Henbit, Chickweed, Plantain, and some 30 to 40 other weeds. The timing is critical on applying pre-emergent herbicides. If you put it down to early, you miss the late summer weeds, if you wait to long to apply, you’ll miss the crabgrass. Usually the weather in your area will dictate the proper timing. When Forsythia starts to bloom in your area is a good clue as to when to apply.

Using chemicals to control weeds is a tricky matter. Used correctly, they pose no problem.(Contrary to many beliefs)More harm is done to the environment each year by homeowners trying to do something that they don’t understand than by all of the professional applicators put together. Just be careful, read the label, AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS.

The second method of weed control is Post-Emergent control. This involves spraying the weeds after they are already up and showing. Commonly this is called broadleaf weed control because usually the weeds controlled are broadleaved. Dandelion, plantain, chickweed, oxalis, wood sorrel, wild onion and garlic, purslane, and clover are all examples of broadleaves. These have to be controlled by applying the herbicide to the leaves or to the soil as to reach the root zone of the plant.

There are many sprays available and granulated products also. The granules may be easier to apply if you’re not good with a sprayer. Sprays work much faster because you don’t have to wait for a rain or irrigate to activate the chemical. Check at your garden center or discount store for available broadleaf herbicides. Just be careful around your shrubs and flowers, they are also broadleaves and it is not hard to kill them inadvertently. I see this every year.

Eddy County Extension Service, New Mexico State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and educator. All programs are available to everyone regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, handicap, or national origin. New Mexico State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Eddy County Government Cooperating.

As kind of a follow up to my last post about landscaping on a budget, I wanted to share these pictures of a few of the lawns we’ve planted from seed.

There’s really no big lesson in this post. It’s more of an encouragement for the folks who can’t budget to install sod in their landscaping projects. And there may also be some who find laying sod a bit too labor intensive.

The lawns in the pictures are both planted from seed. And they are some of our most beautiful and carefree trophies. And the best news is that they were so very easy to create. See how to plant a lawn from seed for simple step by step guidelines.

Both of these lawns were initially seed planted with Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue and are overseeded every Spring and Fall with the same. In order to keep a Fescue Lawn thick and lush, it needs to be overseeded at least once a year as a percentage of it dies off every year.

Of course, due to the size of these lawns and for convenience, both of these yards have an automatic sprinkler system installed. I touched on this in the budgeting post as a factor in considering the size of lawn you want.

I must admit, that given the choice, I myself would rather plant sod than seed because of the instant finished look you get when laying sod. Regardless, we’ve planted some pretty amazing lawns from seed. As you can see from these pictures, there’s not a weed or bare spot in either of these yards.

These are just a few of our own that I wanted to brag on to let you know that this is a simple project that you can do yourself. You can see a lot more from other designers at the landscaping pictures gallery and the landscaping ideas pictures gallery.