Question
Hi, we purchased a house last year in Akron, Ohio and this is our first summer in the house. Unfortunately, the lawn had been neglected for years before we purchase the house. It is really in very bad shape. We have weeds everywhere. They grow faster than the grass we've planted. Also, there seems to be something like plastic sheeting underground. I don't know why this was installed but it has been there for years (best guess). We hired a company to improve our lawn but after weed spraying and fertilizing the lawn we got even more weeds. I have used Round-up to spot spay but it also burned the grass. We are using Scott patches to try to fix it. But, it looks really bad. So, I want to re-establish the lawn from scratch. I want to remove 3" of soil or more and put new soil, plant new grass, etc. etc. Is this the only way out? Also, how do I find a professional service with a WELL ESTABLISHED REPUTATION that can do the work? How much could it cost? HELLPPP.

Gus

Answer
Gus, you would not believe how many questions I have backed up right now in my box here at AllExperts with the same problem you are asking about.  Landscapers all over the country and no one seems to know what they are doing.  I feel your pain.

I hope I'm not too late with my answer to you.  Because the most important mistake you can make is the one you are about to use to solve your problem:  REPLACING the Soil.  I hope you have not done that yet.  DO NOT replace the Soil.

Next, DO NOT look to Landscapers OR to Lawn Care Products Manufacturers for guidance on how to grow Lawngrass in 2008.  It's a jungle out there, sir, and some of these outfits are VERY sophisticated when it comes to getting you to spend money on their products.  They have to be.  Especially in this economic climate.

Got that?

DON'T watch television commercials and believe a word of their pitch.  They are SELLING you things.  This is NOT the way to grow Grass.  See please my own essay on this subject:

www.helium.com/items/1028660-ways-to-maintain-healthy-lawns-and-gardens-without-using-harmful-chemicals

and to quote myself: It's been 100 years since chemist Fritz Huber cooked up the first batch of Nitrogen fertilizer at his lab in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Some things that were invented 100 years ago were such great ideas that nothing better has come along since then.  But we know a LOT more today.  It's just that some companies are making SO MUCH MONEY this OTHER way, based on the 100-year-old discovery, they want to keep a good thing going.

So they do.

And that's just the Fertilizer!

All the new, improved ways to kill Weeds are ALSO outdated.  Tell me, if you could use a robot to hunt down all the Japanese Beetles and Grubs in your yard, wouldn't you like that?  Wouldn't that be more convenient than spraying chemicals (which are AT BEST of questionable safety) all over the yard and hoping you would locate all the bad bugs in the right place at the right time?

Well, there's something almost like a robot.  And that's the beauty of Integrated Pest Management -- IPM.

You've heard of it?

IPM is basically unleashing a pit bull and getting it to guard your Lawn and Garden from unwanted pests.  That pit bull might be in the form of

Michigan State has a new website called 'Enviro-weather' calculates, for example, Ester/Amine Spring Broadleaf Herbicide applications around the state of Michigan:

www.enviroweather.msu.edu/home_map.asp

This is AMAZING stuff.  Using COMPUTERS to analyze weather data and the growing season, then figure out how to get rid of Weeds and Insect Pests efficiently and effectively.  This really blows me away.

Today, the computers warned us that in most Michigan Counties, 'Japanese Beetle Adults Emerge, Breed and Feed'.  Those that are 'Close' are Yellow.  Those that are being hit today are Green.  And when the status is 'Over', they will be Orange:

gddtracker.net/?model=11&offset=0&zip=48824

Wow!

But there's a problem.

Pesticide and Herbicide companies aren't making any money off this.  If it hurts sales of Grub Killer, they're not going to like it.

Well, we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it, won't we?

Let's get back to you in another state, Ohio, that swing state that we all know and love.  You want to grow a nice Lawn and get control of this out of control Weed problem.

Easy.

I love a clean slate.  Let's start at the beginning.  Step 1: Get a Soil test.  NOT a do-it-yourself test.  A REAL Soil test, done by scientists who have analyzed Soil for YEARS for a living.  In many states, this is a great service provided by the local Cooperative Extension, sometimes in conjunction with the local Agricultural College --  Ohio State in your case.  Unfortunately, the Research and Extension Analytical Laboratory (known as 'REAL-LAB') operated by Ohio State was closed in 1998, so you will have to use a private Soil Testing Lab.  Some of the Ohio based outfits:

Spectrum Analytical
www.spectrumanalytic.com
Washington Courthouse, OH 43160
(800) 321-1562

Woodsen-Tenent
313 Helena Street
Dayton, OH 45404
(937) 222-4179

Ream & Haager Laboratory
1226 Kaderly Street
New Philadelphia, OH 44663
(330) 343-3711

Holmes Lab
3559 US Rte 62
Millersburg, OH 44654
(800) 344-1101 or (330) 893-2933

Calmar Lab
130 S State Street
Westerville, OH 43081
(614) 523-1005

CLC Labs
325 Venture Drive
Westerville, OH 43081
(614) 888-1663

Alloway Testing
508 Bissman CT.
Mansfield, OH 44906
(419) 223-1362 (Lima) or (419) 525-1644 (Mansfield)

Na-Churs
421 Leader Street
Marion, OH 43302
(800) 622-4877

Many Soil Testing Labs are run by land grant universities -- Michigan State, Penn State, University of Kentucky.  If you are not satisfied with your Ohio options, find the website of the Agricultural Colleges at these Universities and you'll quickly find instructions for having them run a Soil Test for a modest fee.

I know what you're thinking, Gus.  You're thinking, Who in their right mind would bother analyzing their dirt?

Good question.  I'll tell you.

Let' say you want to bake a cake.  You get out the cookbook.  You make a list of Ingredients.  Right?  Now you check the cupboard and the refrigerator.  Do you have eggs?  Do you have flour?  Milk?  Vanilla?  You make a list, and you go shopping.

If you have Flour, you don't need to buy any more Flour.

That's important, Gus.  Because if you already have Flour, and you get more, you'll have TOO MUCH Flour.  You can't expect your cake to come out delicious if it's got too much Flour.

Maybe you already have Eggs.  Scratch those off the shopping list.  You don't have to buy them!  See?  You're saving money.

Now you get home, and you have to set the oven.  Gus, What's the temperature?  Did you test for that?

Gus, How in the world are you going to set the oven temperature if you don't test it first?  How are you ever going to bake a cake if you don't know how hot the oven is?

You need to find that out!

What's the pH of your soil?

You don't know!

A Soil test will tell you what's in the cupboard, what's the oven temperature, how long was the cake in there, if you have Eggs and Butter and Flour... These are things you NEED to know, Gus.

Because...

You CANNOT grow wonderful green Grass without this information.

Very basic stuff.

Next step -- I will have to start abbreviating here because it really is too much and I don't want my answers to crash before they reach you -- assuming you have weeds all over the place, you want to Mow down all the Weeds, then Till your Soil LIGHTLY and rake out all debris.  Get the Weeds, get the Rocks, get the old Tree Roots, the mystery plastic sheeting (sounds like someone was using it for Weed blocking).  Cover with as thick a layer as you can find ouf HUMUS or AGED MANURE or COMPOST.  Seed with a Cover Crop.  White or Red Clover are serious Soil amendments you should not be without.  Don't think of these as Weeds.  Clover is NOT a Weed.  Clover POURS Nitrogen into your Soil and builds it up from the inside out.  Clover is CLASSY.  Keep the Clover.

Don't mix the Clover up with Black Medic.  I would go on but we are running out of bytes and bits.

Next:  While you're waiting for Autumn Grass-growing Season to arrive, pick out a WONDERFUL Seed.  Do you have Full Sun?  Then you can grow almost anything you want.  Do you have Shade?  Grow Shade-loving varities of Kentucky Bluegrass or one of the Shade Grasses.  Do you want Intelligent Grass?  Fescue was made for YOU!  Because IF you mow Fescue just right, IF you feed it just right, Fescue will push Weeds right out of the picture.  We'll cross that bridge later.

For now, you want to build your Soil up.  Get the corrections that your Soil test wants you to get.  Got a Birdbath, Gus?  Get one!  Birds eat TONS of Grubs and bad insects!  Birds are major carnivores in the Summer for the protein factor (they have kids to raise, and this as we all know takes a LOT of energy).  Work in some free Starbucks Coffee Grounds into that Soil.  Don't worry about the pH.  It's nothing compared to the Earthworms that will be jumping for joy when they see you come home with those bags of Starbucks.  Earthworms love used Coffee Grounds.  And we love Earthworms.  They are one of the most cherished fauna in the food chain when it comes to raising the quality of your Soil.  No matter what you have, Earthworms will only improve it.

BUT...

You MUST AVOID CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS.  Swear them off, sir.  They will send your Earthworms and Soil microbes packing faster than you can say... Global Warming.  Besides, with Clover and organic matter and Earthworms in your Soil, who needs Fertilizer?

I'll shut up now.  Any questions?

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER