Tips on dealing with weed problems

If you love your lawn but are dealing with unsightly weed problems, here are tips for handling jobs, both big and small.

• Use a trowel or a weeding knife to dig up dandelions and other weeds with taproots. If you have a pervasive weed problem, you may need to bring in the big guns: herbicides. These are potent chemicals — always follow manufacturers' safety and usage guidelines.
• If you want to minimize potential damage to your lawn, consider a spot spray herbicide.
• Some people use paintbrushes to apply the herbicide directly to the weeds, though this could get tedious.
• Keep an eye on the mercury: The risk of damaging your lawn increases as the temperature rises.

• If more than half of your lawn consists of bare patches, invasive grasses, or weeds, it's easier to start anew than it is to repair the damage.
• A complete lawn renovation takes 15 to 20 days and should be done in the early fall for cold-season grasses, or in the late spring for warm-season grasses. Here are the steps to follow for a complete lawn overhaul:
• Kill the old grass and weeds. On a windless day, apply glyphosate or an organic weed-and-grass killer over the surface (add some food colouring to the weed killer to see where you've sprayed). After a week, inspect the lawn; if you see living plants, apply another round.
• Mow your lawn using the mower's lowest possible setting. Normally, you would follow the "one-third rule": never cut more than one-third of the height of the grass. But not in this case.
• Till the earth to a depth of 10 to 15 centimetres (four to six inches).
• Rake vigorously to remove rocks and debris, and create a level planting surface.
• Mix a slow-release 3-1-2 fertilizer into the soil.
• Use a drop spreader to over-seed your new lawn with one and a half times the recommended rate of seed.
• Use a water-filled roller to tamp down the seed. This helps keep the seed moist between waterings by putting it in contact with the soil.
• Water the lawn 10 to 15 minutes twice a day for two weeks until the seeds germinate.
• Mow the grass when it is tall enough to be cut at your mower's highest setting.
• Gradually cut back on watering once the grass has reached the desired density.