Top products from r/yard

Hey ans744, congrats on attempting a rain garden! It is difficult for me to comment on your design specific to planting type and density, without knowing the plan of your rain garden.
Here are some starter questions:
What is your base soil (sandy, silty, clay, sand on top of limestone, etc)?
How deep is your rain garden?
What is the size of your intended rain garden?
How much water is going into it (catchment area)?

These elements all determine what plants go where inside your rain garden.

If you're still looking for resources, I recommend you check out the following if you haven't yet:

• "Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond" Volume 2 (book), by Brad Lancaster. http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/books/orders/ or on Amazon. A comprehensive guide on earthworks design for rainwater harvesting, with very succesful examples from Tucson, AZ.
  
• "Creating Rain Gardens" (book) by Cleo Woelfle Erskine and Apryl Uncapher. https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Rain-Gardens-Capturing-Water-Efficient/dp/1604692405 A step-by-step guide for planning and designing a rain garden. Good for covering all the basics you need.
  
• http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/rainwater-harvesting-inforesources/ Same site as author Brad Lancaster's book. Good info.

I give my mutts this stuff and it solved the brown spots from them. Pretty affordable depending on the size of your dog.

12lb dog get 1 tablet a day (I think 2 a day for the first 30 days) so the $20 lasts all year. Don't stop it in the Winter though, keep using it!!

Try one of these on the vertical part of your downspout.

You will have to periodically clean it, but it's much easier than clearing buried drain pipe.

You're looking for a reel lawn mower. This one looks like it's got good reviews

I have the Fiskars push reel mower and it works well and has really great reviews. I have had it for 6 months and I have a fairly large yard. It has worked well for me, though it does not work well cutting weeds in the grass as they just bend, but this is true of all reel mowers

http://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-Inch-Staysharp-Reel-Mower/dp/B0045VL1OO

I didn't see a rubbermaid one, but I see this one, by lifetime with skylights, is this similar to the one you have?

link

Are you sure it's crabgrass? Or is it a different species? There have been similar grasses that died when I used Ortho Weed b Gone with crabgrass control. I also sprayed with this product on saturday and a lot of the crabgrass looking grass died, but these from the picture did not.

I am hoping to identify it as something else.

2-4D will not kill crabgrass. It is a broad leaf killer. It will kill dandelions, clovers, and the like, but not crabgrass. Crabgrass is an annual, and can be controlled with applying a late fall or early spring pre-emergent fertilizer. The pre-emergent will stop the crabgrass (And other!) seeds from germinating and sprouting. You will not be able to grow any grass for a period of time after you apply the fertilizer.

Otherwise, you will want to combat the crabgrass before they drop their seeds for the year. You can do this with a non selective weed killer such as RoundUp, pull weeds with your bare hands, or you can purchase some weed killer that combats crabgrass.

For effectiveness, the pre-emergent is probably your best bet. If you are looking into taking care of your crabgrass now, you can look for herbicides that will kill the weed and not your grass. I am not endorsing the below products, but through reviews and a bit of research on my own, I was going to try these products on my yard to combat crabgrass.

Drive XLR8 Herbicide 1/2 Gallon 64 OZ. KILLS CRABGRASS

Bayer Advanced 704140A All-In-One Lawn Weed and Crabgrass Killer Concentrate

Finally, any herbicide you buy, buy in the concentrate. You will save money in the long run. Get a decent pump or battery sprayer and you will be all set.