Lawn Experts

[Lyzelle]

So I'm pretty inept when it comes to lawn stuff. DH was in charge of that, and well, it hasn't gone so well.

On my way out, I just happened to check our little mailbox thingy and pick up the newspaper from our front door. And, yeah, our housing has given us 2 warnings about the backyard. Mostly weeds/overgrowth. Each was two days for fixing it, and the last was issued today. BLAH. But I'm glad I decided to check the front door! I'm quite annoyed they didn't bother ringing the doorbell or anything.

So I need a fairly cheap, easy way to take care of the yard. It's fairly small and burnt to a crisp, so the grass itself isn't a huge problem, just dead. There are horrible weeds, though, with spines and fluffy things. Also some build-up along the edges of the fence on one side.

So what do you think? Cheap gloves, weed wacker, and clippers? I have an Ace and a Home Deopt. Not a whole lot of money to work with. And two days to make it look decent.

HALP.

[stardogs]

Heavy gloves, eye protection, and a weed whip/wacker if all you have is weeds along fencing and stuff. In a pinch it can also be used to trim tall grass but won't be a smooth looking as a mower. For heavier brush, hand held tree pruners would probably help.

[Taqroy]

Depending on the amount of weeds, I'd probably just pull them. Or, I'd go with a post on Craigslist looking for a weed whacker cause they're kind of expensive new.

[Lyzelle]

I do have a cheap weed wacker. Kind that needs to be plugged in, though, so I need a long extension cord. I don't suppose those would be very expensive.

So,

Eye protection
Extension cord
Hand held scissoring prune thingys. I know what they look like.
Oh, and gloves.

[Beanie]

What are the details of the warning? Are you sure dead grass is really a non-issue?

[Lyzelle]

Originally Posted by Beanie

What are the details of the warning? Are you sure dead grass is really a non-issue?

No, they have a checkbox for "Grass not watered regularly", but that isn't checked.
Just the "Flowerbeds not maintained (weeds pulled, flowers trimmmed, etc)" and "Backyard not maintained (grass not cut, weeds, pet damage, etc)" boxes.

Which is odd, because we don't have flower beds. But I guess both are applicable.

[JessLough]

We get those warnings all the time. We just ignore them xD

[Lyzelle]

Originally Posted by JessLough

We get those warnings all the time. We just ignore them xD

Yeah, well, too many warnings and DH's Commander is notified. And he gets in more trouble than he's already in, on top of us possibly getting kicked off base.

Today has just really sucked so far. Should have known something else would go wrong as soon as I put a post in the Venting Thread.

[HayleyMarie]

I would try and pull most of the weeds you can. Weed Whack and put the stuff in large bags so your lawn looks neater. Maybe spray the weeds you can't pull with vinegar and water.

[Beanie]

Originally Posted by Lyzelle

No, they have a checkbox for "Grass not watered regularly", but that isn't checked.
Just the "Flowerbeds not maintained (weeds pulled, flowers trimmmed, etc)" and "Backyard not maintained (grass not cut, weeds, pet damage, etc)" boxes.

Which is odd, because we don't have flower beds. But I guess both are applicable.

Hmmm, m'kay... I'm wondering if they think the grass is brown because of pet damage. Is there an office you can call to make sure? I'm just afraid if you only address the weeds but you still have a yard of brown dead grass you won't really be fixing the problem and you'll still get in trouble... =/
Is the grass really dead, or is it just dormant? Most of our grass went brown and dormant this summer, but with recent rains nearly all of it has come back and greened up. Only a small portion of it is really dead. You could try to water it for the next couple of days and see if it starts to perk back up. Otherwise you will have to tear it all up and either re-seed or put sod down. I'm guessing you'll have to sod, I know one of the neighbourhoods I was looking at moving into didn't allow you to seed, you HAD to sod. Ugh. On the up side, if you can re-seed, now is the perfect time to do it.
If the grass IS just dormant and perks back up after watering, buy some Scotts TurfBuilder with Weed Control and put that all over the yard. Either do it on a day you know it's going to rain or water it in yourself. It will help control the weeds, plus thicken the grass, which also helps control weeds.