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Help take over my yard | (Read 1135 times) |
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op157
Posts: 17
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August 06, 2006, 11:03:20 AM |
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Hey,
I just bought my first house and want to get the lawn into shape. The front corner of my yard had a tree removed a month or so before I got the house, and since then, that corner has been filling in with weeds. They have been spreading outward and they are all fast growing and look terrible so I want to stop them asap. There are some bare spots at the very edge of the lot, but as you get further from the corner, where the weeds are encountering my grass, they get thicker and thicker. Not only that, but this mysterious bright green very fast growing weeds has started popping up (it's always a blade or two in a spot). Any ideas on what to do?
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1471
western WA
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August 06, 2006, 12:58:49 PM |
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What kind of tree was taken out?
When you talk about the weed, you mention "blade" - a type of grass?
Any chance of getting a pic?
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op157
Posts: 17
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August 06, 2006, 01:50:14 PM |
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By the way, I'm a big fan of your site. Anyways, I just went out and took some pics and signed up for a free webhost to get it on the web.
http://www.angelfire.com/crazy/lawn/
I have no idea what the tree that was taken out was.
About the bright green grass. It's real rough and does not feel good when you step on it. It grows extremely fast. I have also noticed it has very very shallow weeds, when I pull them out they just come out root and all.
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1471
western WA
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August 06, 2006, 06:39:52 PM |
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I'm thinking either quackgrass or .... tall fescue!
Probably quackgrass.
Hmmmm .... wherabouts are you? Or, more importantly - does it freeze where you are? This will help me to figure out if this is a warm season grass or a cool season grass (although I'm betting on cool season).
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op157
Posts: 17
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August 07, 2006, 04:11:32 AM |
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I live in central new york, syracuse area, and it definatly freezes here, first frost is mid-end september (or so i've heard)
and what should I do about the corner with the tree. That's my main concern right now. As of now I'm just going around my yard pulling the bright green stuff and crab grass by hand.
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« Last Edit: August 07, 2006, 04:35:53 AM by op157 »
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1471
western WA
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August 07, 2006, 05:02:32 AM |
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Take some samples into your local extension agent. Along with some samples of the grass you already have. Chances are they will be familiar with weed grasses in your area and will be able to identify it.
The first picture is the one that stumps me ....
In fact - maybe you could e-mail your local extension office and send them a link to the same pictures.
If nothing else, it is a grass weed. And if I had to place a bet, I would say quackgrass. Which is going to be a challenge to get rid of. As a perennial grass - it does almost everything the same as your lawn. Plucking the grass blades will take away the energy source. Pull it the same way you would pull bindweed or canadian thistle.
I'm used to seeing quack grass grow more along the ground than straight up. That's what makes me wonder if it isn't quackgrass.
And by looking at the blades of mixed length, I'm guessing that you only recently started to mow high. I kinda wonder if mowing high will produce some benefits over the next few months that will help in your war against this weed.
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op157
Posts: 17
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August 07, 2006, 02:42:52 PM |
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I will email them right now. I think I am going to have to pull them out too. I actually cut the grass friday, just the bright stuff grows sooo fast. I have started mowing high(er) I am also composting a lot of the weeds i've pulled out pretty sucessfully (actually I have forgotten to bring the can to the curb a few weeks in a row and after opening the can up to put in the new weeds in yesterday, I noticed everything had been composted). Anyways I'm gonna put that in all the bare spots I have from pulling the crab grass. Do you have any suggestions for the corner? There is barely in grass there, it's mostly weeds. Anything you know of that I can do instead of starting that part of the yard from scratch?
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1471
western WA
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August 07, 2006, 05:25:10 PM |
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Well .... I always like cheap stuff that will do my work for me ...
I currently own a 100 pound sack of pea seed. I would mow low and then dig the ground up a bit and seriously overseed with peas. Then water every day or two. Peas are a cool season crop and will grow up until a really hard frost. In about two months, the peas will make a mat about two feet thick and smother everything underneath - inlcluding grasses. Then the patch will be virtually weed free next spring and ready for grass seed.
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op157
Posts: 17
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August 14, 2006, 06:31:10 PM |
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sorry paul, but I broke the cheap and lazy rule.
I've started to pull out the weeded area, and got some more compost from a guy I know. Been seening the nice tall fescue grass seed when I'm at walmart and figured I might as well. But getting rid of what's there is a pain. I think i've spent maybe 10 hours with a hoe and got maybe 100 sq ft if not less.
Is there another way to get rid of the sod? I was thinking vinegar, but would that hurt the seed if I planted it right after? Anyone got any suggestions?
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1471
western WA
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August 15, 2006, 09:10:46 PM |
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if you wanna start over and you don't want to do the peas trick, maybe you should use a rototiller. Be prepared to till twice. The second time would be to kill anything that survived the first till.
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