Best way to combat crabgrass?

[TransitJohn]

In my new home bought late last summer, the lawn used to be in really good shape. I've successfully battled the dandelions (no thanks to the neighbors lol), and now would like to combat the crabgrass infesting just under half of the otherwise nice bluegrass. Suggestions?

[BOSSHOG]

1. I do it the lazy way

I keep the front lawn cut at about 2 and half inches and the back yard cut at three inches. The grass will shade the weeds and choke them out. In the early spring, I do alot of physical clearing of weeds. I use a light fertilizer on the grass and it seems to work pretty well.

[LiberalEsto]

2. WOW

gardensalive.com sells this stuff called WOW which is basically corn gluten and nontoxic. You spread it on the lawn when the forsythia blooms. It's worked extremely well for us.

[goddess40]

3. what about Creeping Charlie?

I hate that crap - it stinks and with my limited sense of smell it's one of the few things I can smell, YUCK!

[LiberalEsto]

4. Borax

There's some specific strength of borax-to-water that can be sprayed on Creeping Charlie without affecting the rest of the grass. I haven't tried it myself.

Here's a link about this method:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/info-u/plants/BG522.html

[yardwork]

5. We decided to live with it. It's green all summer.

The problem with crabgrass is that it turns brown after the very first frost, so there are ugly brown patches in your lawn all fall, winter, and spring. We solved this by planting rye grass in the fall. It greens up just as the crabgrass turns brown, and stays green all winter here in North Carolina.

In the summer the annual rye grass dies but by then the crabgrass and bluegrass have greened up nicely.

Crabgrass is drought-resistant, too.

[BOSSHOG]

6. Its impossible

to get rid of all weeds and incredibly expensive if you try. I try to keep mine as inconspicuous as possible while keeping the grass healthy.

[bleedingheart]

7. my lawn is now so small (pathways)...that I pull it by hand

and I also overseed with grass.

So first I start with thatching (with a thatching rake) and then I sit down in the grass and hand pick out weeds..
it is better than yoga for me...

Then after I weed a patch...I overseed it with Penn State mix..that keeps the weeds at bay...