Question
I recently just purchased a home and I am very excited about starting on my lawn but I have some questions after reading the blogs.  My first concern is that I have pets and I am wondering if the products I purchased will be harmful to them and also, will it be effective. I purchased, A bag of weed and feed, and a bag of pennington kentucky 31, as well as some pulverized lime. I also would like to know when I should actually start on the applications and how long I should continue the applications. A reply with some of your vast lawn knowledge would be extremely appreciated.

Answer
Stop!

Wait!

Darryl, Darryl, Darryl -- did you get your soil tested?

Never mind.  I know the answer to that.

Am I right?

Yes, I know, you're thinking, What a WASTE of money!  Who needs to know what's in their DIRT?

Darryl, that soil sample will SAVE YOU MONEY!

It will tell you what you HAVE in your soil that you DO NOT NEED TO ADD!

Good, right?

Someone wrote a few weeks ago who sounded just like you.  They'd bought a house, moved in, and wanted to fix their lawn.  I told them to get a soil test first, and to my delight, they did.  And what they found was a completely surprise.  They found that their soil is LOADED with Phosphorous.  This family won't have to spend a single penny on Phosphorous for the future lawn's roots to sing all summer.

They also learned that their soil is EXTREMELY acidic.  This family is not going to waste a dime on seed until they raise the pH of their soil.

Your situation is going to be different.  They had new construction and an all-brown lawn last autumn.  You have a new house, and some weeds, and you have purchased Weed and Feed and Pulverized Lime.

Which really scares me.

Because having already spent money on this stuff, I just know you are going to feel obliged to use it.  It's like someone trying to kick their cigarette habit, and there's this pack that they just bought.

But you said you have pets, Darryl.  Do you have any idea what that means, 'Weed And Feed'?

Different formulas for different companies.  But they are all, without exception, bad for you, bad for your pets, and murder on your grass.

Having selected premium Pennington Kentucky 31, you are clearly a man who wants to do things right.  So here's the right way to do it.  The Intelligent Man's Guide to Growing the Lawn Of Your Dreams:

1.  Put the PK 31 in the freezer.  It will germinate faster and it will be healthier.  Cover with vegetables until you have a change to warn the other people in the house.

2.  What's in that dirt down there?  Find out.  It's important to know.

Correction:  It's MANDATORY to know.

Look at it this way.  If you were going to make a cake, you would get out the cookbook and find a recipe, look at the Ingredients, then go shopping.

But first, you would look in the cupboard and see what you have.

Do you have Flour?  If you already have Flour, you don't need to buy any more.  Right?

Maybe you already have Eggs.  Scratch those off the shopping list.

Now, Darryl, What's the temperature of the oven?

You didn't test for that?  How are you going to set the oven temperature if you don't test it first?  How are you going to bake a cake, Darryl, 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.  You can't grow wonderful green grass without this information.  I can help you with that!  Because I know EVERYTHING there is to know about wonderful green grass.

But you have to get a soil test.

And here's where you can do that:

Look up your local Cooperative Extension Service on the internet:

www.csrees.usda.gov/qlinks/partners/state_partners.html

They all do soil testing.  There's a modest fee.

3.  About that Weed And Feed.

Chemicals will totally ruin your soil.  You cannot grow great grass in bad dirt.  You can put all the Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potash down that you want, you can dust with Lime and mow faithfully and water all summer.  But Darryl, if you have bad dirt, nothing good will ever grow
there.  Go next door and give one of your neighbors your Weed And Feed.  It was a mistake to buy it and you don't want to go there.  Better yet, maybe you can take it back and get a refund.

Sure, you want to get weeds under control first.  Right now, the weeds are waiting to spring forth and multiply.  So get out your credit card and run down to the garden center for some Corn Gluten Meal preemergent weed killer.  This stuff is the best thing since sliced bread.  It
stops annual weeds from growing and it turns into fertilizer and feeds the grass all summer long.  It's not expensive and it's 100 percent organic.  Your pets will be fine.

If you give me a zipcode I will tell you where to buy it.

4.  Do you have a lawnmower and a spreader?  Hoses and sprinklers?  Just checking.

Back to your Weed And Feed: Darryl, This is one of those things I NEVER recommend.  It's a pesticide, and it's probably made by Scotts.  There are ALWAYS better ways to get rid of weeds than turning your yard into a Superfund site.

You have children?

You like to hang out in your yard?

Maybe you have friends over for a bbq?

You want to breathe and maybe work out there?  Mow, prune, fertilize?

Keep away from ALL things with a Scotts label.  People who work in the factories making this stuff get very sick.  They have shorter lifespans.  Their children are not well. They get weird diseases.  Like people who make a living out of cleaning swimming pools, who make a living out of
putting that stuff on people's lawns, these people are dieing proof that those weed killers (which kill everythingin the soil including butterflies and
earthworms, while deforming the birds that live in your trees) are not something you really want to play with.  

When you get your soil analysis back, tell me what they found.  We'll go over the results step by step.  I'll explain everything.

You want the lawn of your dreams -- and I'll show you exactly how to get there.

Keep in touch.  Get that soil tested.  Thanks for writing.