The Weeds Return
2006.08.11
In the past couple months, the grass mostly filled in, with some bare patches. However, the weeds have also filled in, faster than I could pull them. Although there’s still more grass than weeds, I am frustrated and disappointed in the results, considering all the time, effort, and expense I put into starting a new lawn.
Interestingly, the best part of the lawn is the shady area near the north side of the house. From the beginning, the grass filled in nice and thick, and there haven’t been as many weeds.
But the worst part of the lawn is behind the house. The west lawn has been completely overrun by Crabgrass (Digitaria ischaemum). It spreads stolons in all directions that grow too low for the mower to catch, and sends up tall, heavily-laden seed stalks faster than I can cut them down. The roundish-leaved Malva rotundifolia (commonly called Roundleaf Mallow, Dwarf Mallow, etc.) is probably the worst one, because the taproots are enormous and very deep, but this stuff spreads faster than anything else.
I’ve decided the west lawn is a total loss, I’ll never get nice grass to grow there. So now my plan is to till it up and plant some shrubs and flowers.
New Lawn Growing