Consumer Reports: Your best lawn ever

If the lawn outside your window is giving you the blues, join the club, says Consumer Reports.

After a brutal winter walloped much of the country, the magazine's Facebook and Twitter feeds have been buzzing with lawn care woes from exasperated homeowners (#moles and #barespots, anyone?).

Fortunately, many of the most common problems have fairly straightforward fixes. Consumer Reports offers the following solutions to common problems:

Solution: Look for lawn alternatives

Even so-called shade-tolerant varieties of turfgrass won't do well in dark corners of the yard. And pruning trees too aggressively to create sunlight can end up harming the tree. You're better off cutting your losses and replacing the sun-starved patch of grass with a shade-tolerant ground cover, such as bishop's hat or sweet woodruff.

Or you might convert that part of the lawn with gravel or a perennial bed.

Solution: A multipronged defense

You're smart to tackle this pesky weed. Besides being an eyesore, crabgrass typically dies off at the first frost, promoting soil erosion.

Applying corn gluten meal, a natural alternative to chemical herbicide, in early spring can help contain the problem. Follow with a spring fertilizer.

As the mowing season begins, don't cut the grass too short, since this can open the door again for crabgrass. Set the deck on your mower or tractor to around 3 1/2 inches.

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Consumer Reports: Your best lawn ever