It's all perfectly legal to bring back

Baby pooo as fertilizer?

Really? Is it not available in the GTA or is it that much cheaper? What is considered illegal then?

just used my dethatcher yesterday. for $100, it works pretty well.



after top dressing, overseeding and fertilizing. i hope this works.



my backyard is another totally different problem. i don't know where to start

Did you remember to fertilize a week before?

That backyard needs a complete overhaul. Something like that would be best accomplished in the early fall when temperatures start to cool down. If you can get your hands on some Round Up I'd nuke the whole thing using a hand sprayer. Then drop some starter fertilizer, top soil, seed and peat moss over top. Water it diligently and mow high (3"+ when it comes in).

I started watching The Lawn Care Nut last year and followed a lot of his tips. It completely transformed my lawn. He used to be based in Indiana and has a lot of very good cool-season grass videos on there.

Lawn Care Nut

The only thing you truly need from the US is a proper weed killer with 2, 4-D (Ortho Weed B Gone is what I use). I also pickup Milorganite, Round Up for serious problems and a couple of other goodies that aren't absolute necessities. The keys are proper weed control, fertilization timing and amounts, WATER and proper mowing height. The last two being the most crucial.

Grass experts:

Can I lay black plastic ontop of existing lawn, then level with 1" of topsoil, then lay new sod?

I don't want to remove existing lawn because it's a temporary house.

I do want a decent lawn for my son to play in.

If your laying new sod, just rent a tiller from Home Depot to tear everything up. The way you mentioned would work for about a month & then you'd have two sets of dead lawns to deal with once the summer comes.