[Myrkur]

I'm in the process of purchasing my first Home. I close on April 30th. The house has been vacant for I don't know how long. The yard is a mess, and I don't know what to do.

I don't think I have the money to tear it up and resod. Would Killing all grass/weeds, tilling it up and then reseeding give me a better yard than just working with what I have and trying to choke out the weeds with seeding and fertilizing for my choice of grass?

I don't know what type of grass I should plant either. I live in Virginia Beach VA, zone 7 or 7A im not sure. The front yard gets a lot of Sun all day, the back yard gets a good amount of shade throughout the day(I think, the yard is small about 15 feet wide all the way around, and has 7 feet fence all the way around).

Here are some pictures of the weeds. Any advice is appreciated, im very new to this. I picked up some of the weeds and will bring them to a garden center when they are open and I have time but I would like to know as much as possible before going in there.

The Yard

The most predominant Weed

Other Weeds

Not Pictured are the Dandylions and Buttercups that also litter the yard.

 

[LawnGuyLandSparky]

That yard is not bad at all, it just needs a little TLC. First, get some weed & feed and moisten all the grass & weeds and spread the weed & feed, let it sit on the foliage a couple of days to work it's magic on the weeds. (Be sure not to get any on desirable plants.) Use some weed-b-gone in a spray bottle for on-the-spot weed killing.

While you wait a couple of days for the weed & feed to work, rake out the garden beds, apply Preen to prevent new weeds from germinating in them, and lay down some fresh mulch. Preen the mulch too.

When the grass is dry, apply some pre-emergent crabdrass preventer. But don't do this if you intend to reseed the lawn, if you do you must wait until fall to reseed.

After a couple of days you can mow the lawn down low, as low as the mower will go, and use a grass catcher to collect all the weed seedheads and clippings. Don't use a mulching option for this first mowing. From this point on mow the lawn no lower than 3", using the mulching feature if you have that, and wait until the grass is at least 4" high before mowing again. Water once or twice a week thououghly and deeply. This won't turn your yard into a golf course, but it will be 100% better. When the Fall comes, mow the lawn down low again, (this will be the last mowing you do this season) and overseed the lawn with new seed, water daily never let the seed go dry. When it sprouts back off the watering to once every 2 or 3 days, to once a week unti the winter comes. Stay off the lawn let it overwinter and in the spring it'll be as good as sod.

 

[Myrkur]

Will it not be too late to put the crabgrass preventer down in the beginning of may?

 

[nap]

I just make up exotic names for all the weeds so everybody will think my yard is supposed to be that way.

It's a lot less work.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,...

I don't see anything in those picture that can't be cured with a Lawnmower,+ a Weedwacker...

Around here,... Anything that's Green,+ 2" tall is called a Lawn.... Regardless of the species...
I usually overseed with White Clover.... It stays low,+ green all by itself...
Chicory is a Problem when things get dry,...

 

[Scuba_Dave]

Mow the lawn
Weed the flower beds
Use Scotts or similar program on the lawn
Worked for me on a house that had waist high junk

 

[mattman]

After ten years of spraying poison on my lawn(s) I gave up on the chemicals last year. Just started pulling weeds, worked to make grass healty and my lawn has never looked better. My current lawn is small so its doable.

 

[Kap]

For all natural herbicides, google corn gluten meal and herbicidal vinegar. The household/kitchen stuff is too weak.