Lawn & Garden

About Weider's Lawn & Garden Department

A Rochester lawn runs on the calendar. Crabgrass preventer has to be down before the soil warms in April. Grub control goes out in June, before the eggs hatch. The best seeding window of the year is the last week of August through mid-September, when the soil is still warm and the crabgrass has quit for the season. Miss one of those and you're waiting until next year to fix it.

We stock the seed, fertilizer, soil, and controls for each window, at all three stores, and our staff can tell you which bag you actually need for the yard you have. We're a hardware store, so there are no live plants on the lot. Everything else that goes into keeping a lawn and garden alive here is on the shelf.

Grass Seed and Overseeding

Rochester is cool-season turf country. Almost everything that works here is Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, fine fescue, or a blend of the three. Bluegrass spreads on its own and wants full sun. Fine fescue is the one that survives under a maple. Ryegrass germinates in about a week, which is why it carries the patch-and-repair mixes.

Seed in late summer if you can. Spring seeding has to compete with crabgrass and then survive July, and it usually loses.

We carry:

• Scotts Turf Builder grass seed in sun, shade, and dense shade mixes
• Contractor and local blends for larger areas
• Patch and repair kits with seed, mulch, and starter fertilizer in one bag
• Starter fertilizer for new seed
• Vegetable, fruit, and herb seed in spring
• Straw and seed-starting mulch
• Broadcast and drop spreaders, plus handheld spreaders for small patches

Lawn Fertilizer and Weed Control

Four-step programs cover the year in four bags, timed roughly to April, late May, midsummer, and fall. The fall application does the most for a lawn here, because the roots keep working for weeks after the top growth stops.

New York restricts phosphorus lawn fertilizer, so almost everything on our shelf has a zero in the middle of the three numbers. Phosphorus is legal only for a new lawn in its first growing season or when a soil test shows your lawn needs it. State law also bars fertilizing between December 1 and April 1, and within 20 feet of a water body. April 1 is the earliest you can put down a Step 1 product, which lines up with crabgrass preventer anyway: it needs to be down before soil temperature holds near 55°F, usually mid to late April here. The old rule of thumb is to spread it when the forsythia drops its blooms.

We carry:

• Scotts Turf Builder and four-step lawn programs
• Jonathan Green organic lawn food and soil food
• Weed and feed, crabgrass preventer, and grub control
• Miracle-Gro and Osmocote plant food
• Espoma Holly-tone, Rose-tone, bone meal, and blood meal
• Lime, soil acidifier, and aluminum sulfate
• Lawn fungicide and moss control
• Spreaders, tank sprayers, and hose-end sprayers

Weed Killers and Preventers

We carry:

• Roundup weed and grass killer in ready-to-use and concentrate
• Preen and Miracle-Gro garden weed preventer
• Ortho GroundClear for driveways, gravel, and fence lines
• Spectracide weed and grass killer
• Poison ivy and brush killer
• Broadleaf weed control safe for lawns
• Landscape fabric and staples

Mulch, Soil, and Landscaping Materials

Two or three inches of mulch over a bed holds moisture through August and blocks the light weed seed needs to germinate. Bring your bed measurements and we'll do the math on how many bags that takes.

We carry:

• Bagged mulch in red, black, and brown
• Topsoil, lawn soil, and garden soil
• Potting mix, raised bed soil, and organic soil
• Peat moss, humus, and manure
• River rock, marble chips, pea gravel, and all-purpose gravel
• Paver sand, play sand, and multi-purpose sand
• Landscape fabric, edging, and ground staples
• Paper lawn and leaf bags

Garden Supplies and Containers

We carry:

• Planters, pots, hanging baskets, and window boxes
• Tomato cages, plant supports, and stakes
• Trowels, hand cultivators, pruners, and loppers
• Garden gloves, kneelers, and knee pads
• Twine, plant ties, and row markers
• Watering cans and seed-starting trays

Hoses, Nozzles, and Sprinklers

We carry:

• Garden hoses in rubber, vinyl, and expandable, in 25, 50, 75, and 100 foot lengths
• Melnor sprinklers, oscillating and impact
• Nozzles, wands, and spray guns
• Hose reels, hangers, and hose repair kits
• Quick connects, splitters, washers, and gaskets
• Hose timers and soaker hose
• Rain barrels and drip irrigation fittings
• Frost-free sillcocks and hose bib repair parts, over in plumbing

Insect, Animal, and Pest Control

Grub damage shows up in September, when a patch of turf lifts like carpet because the roots underneath are gone. Preventive grub control goes down in June, before the beetle eggs hatch. Once the damage is visible you need the curative kind instead, and the two are not interchangeable.

Deer pressure is heavy in Mendon, Honeoye Falls, Victor, and the wooded edges of Pittsford and Penfield. Repellent works, but it washes off. Reapply after heavy rain and switch products every few weeks so the deer don't get used to one.

We carry:

• Grub control, preventive and curative
• Japanese beetle traps, yellow jacket traps, and fly traps
• Deer, rabbit, squirrel, and snake repellent
• Havahart live cage traps in several sizes
• Tomcat and Victor mouse traps, rat traps, and bait stations
• Mole and vole bait and traps
• Cutter insect repellent sprays, wipes, and lotions
• Mosquito dunks for standing water, plus foggers and area repellent
• Ant, hornet, wasp, slug, and spider control
• Moth balls, moth traps, and fruit fly traps

More mosquito and patio pest gear is on our Outdoor Living page.

Bird Feeding

Feeders empty fast between November and March, and that's when the birds most need them. Black oil sunflower brings in the widest mix of species. Suet is worth it in the cold, because it's the fat that gets a chickadee through a Rochester January.

We carry:

• Black oil sunflower, mixed seed, nyjer, safflower, and cracked corn
• Suet cakes and suet cages
• Tube, hopper, platform, and finch feeders
• Squirrel baffles and squirrel-resistant feeders
• Bird baths, heated bird baths, and de-icers
• Hummingbird feeders and nectar

Mowers, Trimmers, and Yard Tools

Mowers, string trimmers, blowers, chainsaws, snow blowers, and pressure washers live on our Outdoor Tools & Power Equipment page, along with rakes, shovels, wheelbarrows, mower blades, trimmer line, bar and chain oil, and two-cycle mix. We're a Stihl, EGO, Toro, and Ariens dealer, and we service what we sell.

Bring in dull mower blades, pruners, loppers, and hedge shears and we'll sharpen them. Details are on our Sharpening page.

Lawn and Garden Supplies Near You in the Rochester Area

Spring in Rochester compresses about six weeks of yard work into three good weekends, and a round trip to a big box store on Route 96 eats one of them. Our Honeoye Falls store on West Main Street serves Mendon, Rush, Lima, and the southern Monroe County towns. Our Fairport/Perinton store on Moseley Road is a few minutes from Fairport, Penfield, Bushnell's Basin, and Victor. Brighton is close to Pittsford, Twelve Corners, and the city's southeast side.

All three stores carry lawn and garden supplies through the season. Come in with a photo of the problem patch, a rough square footage, or a bag you've bought before, and we'll get you the right product the first time.