Early Start in Spring (Weed Control)

[vcolmenar]

I wish I could have taken a picture last summer of my front lawn and backyard. Here's my current situation:

Front Lawn:
Empty patches of dirt in grass. Diasastrous weed problem including dandelion infestation!

Backyard:
I think I've seen every single weed in this backyard. The weeds grow taller than the grass, sometimes, it looks like a jungle after a few weeks of cutting the grass. It comes to a point in summer that I'm mowing the weeds instead of grass.

Spring just kicked in and tulips are slowly starting to emerge from the soil. I live in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) and winter just ended.

I want to have a nice looking lawn this year and I need some tips! I'll try taking some pictures of my lawn and backyard tomorrow.

[opabinia51]

Well I'll first direct you to the organic gardening section for organic lawn care.

https://helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1782


I know that everyone wants to have a typical monoculture lawn but, that isn't the way that nature works so, you'll always be battling weeds (plants that you don't want). Take into consideration that dandelions are 100% edible (that means every part of the plant).

You can use Vinegar to kill them but, I have found that when I don't want them in my garden, the best way to get rid of them is to dig them up.

As per the dirt patches on the lawn, sprinkle them with grass seed (I would personally recomend using more than one variety of grass seed) and water regularly (keep the soil moist.

By keeping the soil moist, the grass will grow prolifically and supress the weeds.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Native short grass like buffalo grass can be a water sensitive way to have monocultural lawn that needs little mowing...

Scott

[Grey]

Much to my husband's dismay, I actually like dandelions. They make a nice addition to salads, and add a little color to what is otherwise a rather dull, large green expanse.

They are hard to kill - your best bet on those is to just dig them out.

[vcolmenar]

Nothing has started to grow yet. So far there's some leaves from fall left over. I see sign of little tulips emerging.

I took some video footage of both my frontyard and backyard.

https://www.gcide.net/yard.avi (31 MB) (Should take 4 minutes to download on highspeed.)

(Note: If you video won't play after downloading, it means you don't have the XviD codec. It's roughly only a 1meg and install takes 2 seconds.)

[edit]Sorry, we can't allow links to exe files or other executables. Thanks. Site Admin. [/edit]

[vcolmenar]

I can't find the edit button

If you look to my backyard, I'd like to do some planting on the sides near the fence, but it seems it's over run with grass, so I'll end up digging that up and hope that grass/weeds won't grow.

My backyard will slowly start becoming a jungle in a few weeks if the weather conditions continue like this. (16 degrees Celcius)

I'll start early next week and pull out everysingle weed that comes out.

BTW, I was reading abit in the forums and you guys said that mulch will discourage weeds to grow, but not affect grass? I can get mulch in the store, but do I apply it now?

[opabinia51]

Well, that depends on what type of mulch you use. If you mulch with leaf mold, the grass will come back. Some of the weeds will as well. If you mulch with bark, you won't have very good success with your grass.

[vcolmenar]

OKIE!!!

Thanks for the advice, opa, scott, and grey. I hope to have a hearty lawn this year with nice flowers. When my dad gets back with his digital camera, I'll take some pictures and post some of the progress in this thread.