We have been battling weeds in our yard ever since we moved in. I will not let my husband use weed killer. We are letting it be a bit longer, to get it thick and healthy, and pulling weeds by hand. I know it just takes patience and determination. My question is, this corner is always much higher and greener than everything else. There are other spots the same. That its greener and higher tells me weed, but the shape looks more like maybe a different type of grass. Should I pull it?
What you have in that corner is grass, looks like the same type as the rest of the lawn are, I think this corner is better condition is because it is not covered in what we call thatch, (dead leaves and other weeds that take up any moisture from the soil under the grass.
If I were you I would take the lawn mower over the whole area, make sure you have raised the cutting blades so you are just snipping the tips off the grass BUT, this will also help remove all the leaves that are blocking out air, light, rain, and allowing what we call Thatch to form, this thatch eventually chokes out the grass, the brown patches are evident this is happening.
Next either hire, borrow or hand rake the grass / lawn, you will be surprised at how much dead ?brown) dead stuff comes out, done properly, you will first of all think the lawn is past saving but.believe me, this will re-juvinate the lawn and you will be so pleased after several weeks of new growth.
After you rake all the grass and dead stuff, Give the lawn a cut, Not too short, wait about a week then I would give a dressing of weed & feed from the garden store, spread the dosage as directed because too much can kill the grass, don't let pets onto the grass for a few days, some of these products require you to water after a few days if it has not rained so read the directions first. don't spread this stuff on NEWLY CUT LAWNS, this dressing kills off weeds and it also feeds the grass all in one go, this is like you and I taking a tonic or vitamins after feeling unwell. IF you have a lot of or large bare areas, you can buy from garden store a small packet of lawn repair and scatter this grass seed on the bare patches. AS directed.
You should see the difference is about 2 weeks, there after just try keep the grass short but not scalped, remove all the dead leaves with a wire lawn rake after the last leaves have fallen, then come spring cut the tips off the grass and look for weeds.
I actually think your lawn is not in too bad condition considering the stuff that's laying on it, all it needs is a few hours work and a small amount of money for the weed / feed and you should have a really nice grassy area again.
Best of luck. WeeNel.
Thank you for your advice. My only concern is, is the weed and feed an organic solution? I do not want to use chemical weed killers.
I think you have real lawn plants in that corner, not weeds, and they are strong and healthy because that corner has just the right amount of water and fertilizer for them. The rest of the patch is weedy, perhaps high thatch build up, perhaps poor irrigation.
Here is how to fix that organically:
METHOD ONE:
1) Assess irrigation.
Put out a dozen or more containers all the same size and shape all over the area. Coffee cups, yogurt containers... whatever.
Run the sprinklers (I do not care if you are running a hose, or in-ground system) like you normally do.
Assess the containers of water. If they are all pretty much equally full, then your irrigation coverage is OK.
Go back a couple of hours after the irrigation was run and stick a freshly sharpened pencil in the soil. If the pencil comes out dark, then it is wet at the depth you tested. Use several pencils and test different depths and locations.
If the water runs off, does not even soak into the soil then water with a watering can and add 1 tablespoon per gallon of dish washing liquid to the water. Might take a few cans to get over your area. Only do this once, then follow up with irrigation.
Fix whatever irrigation problems you find. You want the water to soak in deep so the roots of the lawn go deep, and you can allow the top couple of inches to get drier, once the lawn is well established. Uneven irrigation, or soil that does not allow the water to soak in must be corrected.
2) Weed. By hand. Use a tool that is about a foot long and has a forked spike. Dig this straight down into the soil alongside the weed and loosen the root. Then pull the weed.
3) Use a thatching rake to remove thatch. This is hard work, but your area is not very large. There are machines, but they run on gas. Using a thatching rake is much more carbon friendly.
Thatch is the dead grass blades that are lying down under the living grass. Can be composed of weeds, grass or whatever. Thatch it in one direction, then rake up the debris, then use the thatching rake in the other direction, again, removing the debris. You will not get rid of all of it, but will get to see bare dirt in a lot of areas. The removed thatch can be composted, but I would use a hot system to be sure of killing most of the weed seeds.
4) Aerate. This means punching a lot of holes all over the area. You can use a hand powered device for that, your area is quite small. Rake up the plugs.
5) Top dress the whole area with compost. The goal is to fill the holes created by step 4.
6) Overseed the area with the grass seed that is right for your area. Research temperature tolerance, sun requirements, water requirements, disease resistance (check up on what lawn diseases are prevalent in your area) and how strong the blades are to resist the wear and tear if there is a lot of traffic, and good recovery if damaged (kids, dogs...) Include clover seed as a natural source of nitrogen.
Cover the seed with just enough compost to hide it from the birds.
Water enough to keep the seeds moist until they sprout, then start backing off on the water. Deeper soaking, less frequently to gradually encourage the grass roots to grow deep.
If any weeds grow while the grass is too delicate, too young, to walk on use a board to spread out your weight over the soil and hand pull the weed seeds as they sprout.
METHOD TWO:
1) Same.
2) Rototill the whole mess.
3) Rake all the stuff that is coarse enough to be raked. (weeds, mostly)
4) Level the area pretty well, though not perfect (yet). Read step 5): If you need to remove soil do it now. You could make a gentle mound, if you want. Make sure the area next to the concrete is at least 2" below the level of the concrete.
5) Add as much compost as you can. If the end result is 1 part compost and 2 parts soil, this is good. Rototill.
Example: If you can add 2" of compost over the whole area, and rototill into 4" of the original soil the net result is 6" of a blend that is 1 part compost and 2 parts soil.
Yes, this raises the soil level of the area. If you needed to remove soil, you should have done it before you added all your compost. (This is why part 4 said to adjust the soil level)
It will be fluffed up above what you want. Rake it all very level, using a 2 x 4 as a screed to make sure the area is very level. Use a roller to compact the soil and look for loose areas that would sink and cause problem areas in the lawn.
6) New lawn seed (read the label: 'Overseed' means use less seed. 'New lawn' means use more seed). Otherwise, same as step 6 above.
This message was edited Mar 21, 2013 5:34 PM
Why would you get rid of the grass that is green? It looks like there are several types of grass, some are dormant, some enjoying the cooler weather.
Not sure I agree with removing whatever precious organic material that may be on the surface of your lawn. It would be good to mow, bagless, so the ground can get light, but let the OM fall back to the ground. If the ground is very sandy, the organic matter on the surface can be slow to decompose because there is very little microbial activity in such lean conditions, and allows the ground to dry faster, especially in areas with no shade. The slight mulch of dead grass leaves is the only protection.
You can spend a lot of time and money on chemicals, fertilizers, water to have a lawn that is one type of grass that looks the same throughout at all times, especially difficult if you're in the dry part of TX, or just mow whatever's green, not prickly and not worry about exactly what it is, glad it's there, soft, and green. Our yard has a ton of really pretty tiny flowers of many different kinds. Their leaves are green but the majority of the grass is still brown and dormant. Without those other plants, it would just be a solid brown patch, but it looks green and is fascinating to look at if you like tiny flowers.
http://www.comptechdoc.org/humor/garden/
