Question
I'm on Long Island and crab grass has taken over my lawn. I don't know how to approach the fall/winter. I want to get rid of the crab grass and try and strengthen that little bit of lawn that has survived. I have the worst lawn on the block.

Answer
Matt, I feel your pain.  We live in a competitive world, and it hurts to lose.

First:  Be patient.  It will pay off.  Trust me.

Second:  Don't jump at the chance, no matter how much temptation you find, to fall victim to the full color glorious illustrations and videos that Madison Avenue prepares for the Scotts Companies and all their friends to sell you things that will ruin your soil - and the grass that grows over it.  It's a long story, but basically, your grass will never be healthy if you douse it with their products.  And you will be sooooo sorry!

Third:  Act fast.

A lesson in Crab Grass:  Some of it, maybe all of it, is annual weeds.  That's great!  Because if you have annual weeds, they will die and never come back.

But....

The annual weeds are running around like crazy, trying to set seed.  And they are doing everything possible to get their seeds in your lawn before it gets too cold and they kick the bucket.  Mow, mow, mow your lawn and keep it from happening, even if you think your lawn is not pretty enough right now to deserve it.  This is prime growing season for grass and weeds.  You may have to mow twice a week to keep up with it.

Any idea what grass you are growing between those weeds?  You need to know so that you have the best mowing height.

Run up and down the lawn after mowing - these clippings should NOT be used for anything but COMPOST, some time next year.  I'll bet you don't have a compost pile yet, do you?  Start one.  Pick a place in the back that's easy to get to so you can dump those clippings there and let it make a nice big hill.  Next spring, you can turn it, and mix it with leaves that are coming out of the trees right now, and you will have some fantastic soil.  The kind that money CAN'T BUY.

But I digress.

After you mow, rake over the areas that might be weeds.  You can even yank up a bunch.  Throw down your favorite grass seed and keep it moist.  This is the emergency technique to prepare for winter.

Next spring, down goes the Corn Gluten Meal - which you can pick up at Hicks Nursery on Jericho Turnpike.  They have a full supply of all kinds of things for your lawn, the best supply on Long Island.  And a great guy to answer your lawn questions.  They also sell Crabgrass killer - DO NOT USE IT!  They have to stay in business, so they sell the stuff for the majority of the population that still buys it.  But you do not want to use it.

Reason:  The crabgrass killer will kill the microbes in your soil and without those microbes, your grass will need a constant supply of Nitrogen that is impossible to achieve on a mechanical scale.  You would have to be out there every day feeding it like a baby on an I.V.  People don't know that, but that's what happens.

A generous dose of Pelletized Lime will send the pH in a grass-friendly direction.  It takes years for lime to adjust pH so you should get started.  Besides, weeds are not so comfortable around lime.  And grass is.

Forget gypsum.  If you have moisture problems or a lot of clay you've never dealt with, let me know.

Now, head for Hicks.  Keep in touch.