Before you go spending thousands on a sprinkler system, try using
Scotts products first. Hopefully you can get it where you are.

I have a well system and don't water my lawn AT ALL. Grass, when it is
properly cared for (using Scotts 4-Step for example. See
www.scotts.com) is 'smart' and will be healthy when you give it the
nutrients it needs. It won't die in drought conditions, rather it will
go dormant. Once the rain returns so will it. Bugs, crabgrass, bare
spots, and weeds will be GONE COMPLETELY.

Let me tell you, this is the second year I'm using Scotts and there is
grass growing where there was once nothing but DIRT!!! It just came up
because I eliminated all the bad stuff that choked out the grass, so
the grass just came back! Other areas that were spotty/bare have
COMPLETELY filled in. In the fall if you use step 4, the grass will
Rhizome, or expand its roots outward and grow more grass and fill in
everywhere!

Step 2 will KILL 99% of your weeds in a few days. You don't have to do
anything except spread it in a spreader right after it rained. The
stuff will stick to the weeds and kill them, but won't harm the grass.
These guys at Scotts got it down to an art.

I see you have a large lot so you might need a few bags of stuff. But
I think it's better to start small and give it the nutrients the lawn
is looking for first rather than put in a sprinkler system and feed
crabgrass and weeds.

You also mention about the chemicals and your kids...scotts has a
section on it. In short, they say it's really not as dangerous as
people believe. It's harmless in tiny granule form as it is spread
out. But you do your own research. I'd say when my kid arrives (7
months!) I'll just do the front yard one week and the back another
week.

Just my opinion though. Take it for what its worth. Good luck in
making your lawn thicnk and green again. IT IS ADDICTING WHEN YOU
START SEEING PROGRESS and results. My wife thought I was crazy when I
found ONE DANDELION this morning and made a big fuss about it.
heheheh....

"James Branvold" wrote in message ...
I have around 70,000 sq ft. of lawn: 10,000 sq ft. of sod and the rest
seeded. I put in the seed two years ago and we had very dry conditions in
Ottawa, Ontario. The seeded portion looks pretty bad. It is fairly thin in
areas that I can see individual clumps of grass surrounded by bare dirt. I
also have lots of weeds. I spent the past two weeks pulling nearly every
dandelion and I've pulled around 5000 so far. I must have 15,000 to 20,000
remaining weeds. There's a lot of variety in these weeds and I don't know
the names of most of them. I've taken out one nasty weed called a Viper
Bugloss (1000) and Canadian Thistle (50) and something that looks like
lamb's ear (200). I have lots of clover plus many others. I can't
realistically pull that many weeds.

I don't water my lawn. It takes 3 days to totally water my lawn with three
sprinklers going for 1 hour on a spot. I don't have the time or patience to
do this. I am considering installing underground sprinklers this summer.

I started fertilizing last fall. I put a synthetic 9-4-2 on. I also put an
organic 4-4-2 on this spring. I'm not too pleased with the results.

So, this is the background. My question is: How do I get rid of the majority
of the weeds? Would you spray with something like KillEx? Will overseeding
and watering "choke" out the existing weeds? How about a weed 'n feed
fertilizer? I've been hesitent to use chemicals since my two year old plays
on the lawn. I don't think I can use Round-up. I can't "paint" 20,000 weeds.