Question
We've had a beautiful lawn 'till this summer. It seems we're being overrun by ants & clover!  We did a grub treatment & weed & feed in the spring, and used an ant killer (but they keep coming back after a week or so, and we're getting bare spots/yellowing grass).  We live in Michigan in a northeast suburb of Detroit and we've had a pretty wet spring and so far it's been pretty cool temperature-wise. We never had to worry about clover before, it seems this year it's growing like crazy and overtaking our grass. Any ideas? Thanks for your help.

Answer
Hello Alice and Michael;
No problem, boy, did you come to the right place!!!LOL.
At first you are going to think I an nuts, but, believe me, I have no weeds (used to have crabgrass, johnson grass, clover, dandelions and a few I have no idea of their identity.
Sugar makes rich soil, Weeds like poor soil, they won't thrive in rich soil. Clover was the last hold out, but I got rid of that too. The first couple of years they would come up, but after a couple of mowings, they just gave up. After a couple of years with the sugar, they just stopped coming up. I have thick, dark green, lush, weed free grass.In spring and fall, put down 1 pound sugar per 250 to 300 sq.ft. of lawn.
The sugar won't attract ants, because you water it in well.
Shallow watering makes the roots come close to the surface to get water. This leaves the grass vulnerable to heat and cold damage.
Water to a depth of at least 6 inches, and water again when the top 2 inches are dry.
fertilizer feeds the vegetation, it doesn't make rich soil. Fertilizer kills beneficial microbes that enrich soil, sugar or dry molasses keeps them alive.
Make rich soil, and the weeds will not grow in your lawn.
I don't have ants. Orange oil is the main ingredient in effective fire ant killers. Orange peels chopped up and scattered on the lawn, kills or chases them away. Put orange peels down, and the ants are gone.
Lemon juice sqweezed on a window sill etc will keep ants out of your house. I use chopped lemon peels to keep cats from using my flower beds for a liter box.
I just chop them prety small, and scatter them in the beds.
I don't know if it is the lemon peels or the orange peels, but since I started chopping lemon and orange peels and scattering them, I don't have fire ants, and I don't have those red ants and little sugar ants either.
The chopped peels don't harm animals or children that walk on the lawn, and they don't bring on Asthma attacks.
For the yellowish color, a pale green or yellowish tint to grass signals a lack of iron. Put some chelated iron on it, just a little, or it will turn the grass so dark it will look black. the directions on how much to use will be on the packaging. i like the granular better. The liquid iron turns the grass a blackish. It doesn't hurt it, but until it grows enough to mow off the too dark part, it looks like a bad hair dye job.
Put down some sugar or dry molasses, and chelated iron, and some chopped orange and lemon peels.
That should start perking it up in a few weeks, but the ants should disappear a couple of days after you put down the fruit peels.
If there is anything you think I can help with, feel free to write anytime.Charlotte