Jenny,

If you are wanting to keep the weeds out, you must do two things. The first
is apply a product made by Lesco which is sold at Home Depot. It is a
fertilizer with the numbers 25-0-7 and has something called Pre-M (white and
yellow bag). After applying that (one bag will cover an area of about
12,500 ft2), then get some weed killer (Bayer is a good brand) and mix it
with water according to the directions in a two gallon tank sprayer. Then
walk around your lawn and spray the weeds as you see them. In mid-March,
you will want to apply the Lesco product, but it will be different numbers,
like an 18-5-4, but will also have a weed killer in it (the bag is white,
blue, and yellow). Then in May, apply one more bag of Lesco product,
numbers 0-0-7, with Pre-M (the bag will again be yellow and white). In the
fall, which would be late August/early September, rent an aerator, aerate
your lawn two or three times, then overseed HEAVILY (splurge on a 50 lbs bag
of GOOD seed), and wait a couple of weeks (watering of course). After a few
weeks (end of Sept) then spread a bag of starter fertilizer 18-24-12 (Lesco)
and you will again have a perfect lawn. Repeat these steps every year,
along with mowing at about 3.5 inches, and you will have a lawn to die for.
Let me know how things go! Good Luck.

JD
"Raleighgirl" wrote in message
om...
My once beautiful fescue lawn is now covered in weeds. I don't
aspire for it to be the perfect lawn it once was but I would like
to have it look decent. Is it too early to spread Preen? Should
I reseed the bare(r) spots afterwards? Is aerating really
necessary? Ugh. This is not the way I want to spend my time and
$$ but a certain amount is a necessary evil.
Thanks for the advice!
Jenny