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Weather and Gardening Discussion

I heard from some co-workers it was -22C with the windchill in Ottawa this morning. Although seeing snow on the ground here this morning was a bit of a shock, but it's supposed to be back into the teens by the end of the week.
 
Springtime!
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For those with more experience, if my backyard lawn is mostly clover with some crabgrass, what's the best way about fixing it? I'm ok with completely killing it and starting over, but have pets and want to be conscious of chemical use.
 
trtcttc said:
For those with more experience, if my backyard lawn is mostly clover with some crabgrass, what's the best way about fixing it? I'm ok with completely killing it and starting over, but have pets and want to be conscious of chemical use.
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In my experience, giving the lawn a fair bit of water is the easiest and it helps quite a bit. Another method that's more work, but avoids chemicals is to top dress the lawn with light dry loam and sand and lots of grass seed (finding a seed that's similar to the current grass) and making sure it stays moist using light watering every day that it's not raining. This method works surprisingly well, and is easy if you have access to a top dresser. If no access, you can sometimes get by with a fertilizer spreader, or even doing by hand, but it's much easier with a top dresser. You can also shovel it on and use a rake or top dressing rake.
 
trtcttc said:
For those with more experience, if my backyard lawn is mostly clover with some crabgrass, what's the best way about fixing it? I'm ok with completely killing it and starting over, but have pets and want to be conscious of chemical use.
Click to expand...
You can just cover it with black plastic if you want to kill everything off and start from scratch. You can buy a roll at home depot: https://www.homedepot.ca/product/hdx-10-feet-x-1000-sq-ft-heavy-blk-poly-drop-sheet/1000177959
 
Surrealplaces said:
In my experience, giving the lawn a fair bit of water is the easiest and it helps quite a bit. Another method that's more work, but avoids chemicals is to top dress the lawn with light dry loam and sand and lots of grass seed (finding a seed that's similar to the current grass) and making sure it stays moist using light watering every day that it's not raining. This method works surprisingly well, and is easy if you have access to a top dresser. If no access, you can sometimes get by with a fertilizer spreader, or even doing by hand, but it's much easier with a top dresser. You can also shovel it on and use a rake or top dressing rake.
Click to expand...
But can it crowd out the weeds? It's actually a fairly small patch (inner city) but the weeds grow so fast that the clovers and crabgrass have basically taken over. I tried pulling them out last year but they just come back.
 
trtcttc said:
But can it crowd out the weeds? It's actually a fairly small patch (inner city) but the weeds grow so fast that the clovers and crabgrass have basically taken over. I tried pulling them out last year but they just come back.
Click to expand...
It crowds it out for the most part, but Roaring Flames suggestion of killing and starting from scratch might work better. The constant seeding and top dressing will crowd them out, but it won't happen right away. It usually takes 2 or 3 summers..
 
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