"Stephen M. Henning" wrote in message
news
(JeffLaw) wrote:

We started having weed problems (mostly dandelion) in our
lawn last
summer I & was hoping to get some tips for better control
this year.
I've seen several posts from people saying manually removing
weeds is
the best bet, but each time I've tried that I either don't
get the
roots or leave huge pot holes in my lawn. I've tried several
weed
removal tools (i.e. "as seen on tv" weed pullers) that also
leave the
big holes. I will start using Scott's spring fertilizer with
weed
control soon, but it didn't seem to help much last year. Has
anyone
had luck with any brand of lawn friendly herbicides? Any
weed removal
gardening tool suggestions? Any tips for this lawn care
newbie would
be appreciated .

It sounds like your lawn is not very healthy. A good vigorous
lawn will
crowd out weeds. It will not leave big holes when weeds are
removed.
It could be a pH problem. The fertilizer will do little good
if the
yard is too acid. You may need to lime before fertilizing. A
good soil
test may be in order. It will tell you the pH, how to correct
the pH
and what fertilizer if any you need.

I would second the above, and suggest spraying just the weeds
with weed-b-gon using a handheld trigger sprayer. Once you have
the lawn growing good, wolking around with the sprayer a few
times a year will eliminate the weeds without the expense or
environmental risk of massive chemical applications.

If you only fertilize once per year, do it in the fall.

Bob