A weed is a plant growing in the wrong place, and in the lawn that means any plant which is not a variety of grass recommended for turf production. It is not unusual to see a newly-sown lawn infested with a wide variety of common weeds.
When the lawn is established, however, the introduction of regular mowing brings about a spectacular change in the weed population. Most types cannot stand up to the destructive action of the whirling blades and so they steadily disappear. Many of the hard-to-kill nuisances of the flower border, such as couch grass, ground elder, bindweed and nettle are unable to exist in the cared-for lawn.
There remains a small group with a low-growing habit which enables them to escape the mower blades. These are the lawn weeds, which pose a constant threat to your turf. A few, such as annual meadow grass and parsley piert, are annuals but the vast majority are perennials which grow and spread each year.
There is nothing you can do to prevent occasional weeds from appearing in even the best cared-for lawn. Wind-borne and bird-borne seeds will see to that. But nature cannot be blamed for the existence of large weed patches all over the turf. The basic reasons for this trouble are:
– poor preparation of the site at lawn-making time;
– poor choice of turf;
– neglect or incorrect management.
If your lawn is infested with weeds, you are to blame!
