I, too am new to tennessee. But I am in z-7.When I first moved here (i am on an acre) the grass was something it was absolutely beautiful, not a weed in sight. But the former owner had lawn service for years. I could not afford that and still can't. Now my lawn looks awful, all weeds that I have never seen before. Being from Z-5 where I had less lawn area and had Kentucky Blue grass my lawn always looked nice. But this common bermuda grass is something else. It only grows in very hot weather, which is not here yet. So if it doesn't fix itself I guess I have to live with it.

One of the main things that has to be done, especially in the spring, is lay a pre-emergent before the weed seeds germinate. You may have missed the best opportunity for that now that the weather is warming up.

With that said, it's never to late as the weeds seeds will continue to germinate. You should be able to pick up some Scott's Halts or Sta-Green Crab EX from Lowes. I would go with the Crab-Ex as it contains Dimension which should suppress any young seeds that have started germinating.

I have common bermuda. There are selective herbices you can use in the summer, but must use care on warm season grasses (i.e. read the labels carefully). I would recommend a "Trimec". Look for ones lower in 2-4D like Fertilome weed out, Southern AG Trimec, etc. If it's a cool season grass, they are more tolerent on the mixture is less important.

If you have bermuda, in the winter, when it is totally dormant, you can hit anything green with Round-up.

Lastly, the better and thicker the lawn, the less likely you are to get weeds.

I would recommend putting down some grass seed this fall. Before you spend your hard-earned money on seed however, you need to make sure your soil ph is right. Self-test kits are available at most home improvement stores such as Lowe's for under $10. Once you have determined your soil's ph and have added amendments such as lime (to raise soil ph) or sulphur (to lower it), then it's time to get your seed
Buy a good brand (Pennington, Scott's, TruGreen, etc) of grass seed, it will make a big difference. I'd recommend a nice blend of fescues (Pennington Sun and Shade is a solid mix). I wouldn't bother attempting to kill the weeds until you have some grass started otherwise you'll be left with a very bare looking yard. Which looks far worse than weeds imo. If you wanted to really help the grass seed get a good start, use a pull behind yard spike aerator prior to spreading your grass seed.
In the spring, spread some weed and feed and apply a crabgrass control (both available at Lowe's and other home improvement stores at an affordable price). Apply the weed and feed per the instructions on the bag, and the grass will eventually overtake the weeds. Nice yards take time so be patient :)

*edit* To the posters that have Bermuda yards, a high nitrogen fertilizer applied heavily in the spring and summer will really help it choke out weeds ;)

This post was edited by Easy69 on Sat, May 25, 13 at 1:20