Lawn Care Service

If it wasn’t for the weeds I’m afraid my lawn wouldn’t be very green. Yes, the weeds have won. If it’s green and my mower cuts it, they can plan on staying. These are ten of them that have taken over my lawn.

1. Dandelions – If she were alive today, how many people would want to murder the woman from England who brought over that first package of dandelion seeds. She thought they were so lovely, but millions of people have been trying to get rid of them ever since. It takes at least three mowings to get through the flowering and seeding stage for my lawn. I swear they duck when I go over them with the lawn mower.
2. Creeping Charlie – Otherwise know as ground ivy, once this stuff gets going in your lawn, it’ll choke out all the grass. True to its name, it creeps along close to the ground forming a dense green mat. A member of the mint family, it has a pungent aroma and gets cute little blue or purple flowers.
3. Clover – It’s a good thing I don’t mind having clover in my lawn, because it’s really hard to get rid of. I’m constantly weeding it out of my vegetable garden and flower beds and it keeps coming back. The deer really like it though.
4. Quack Grass – As long as it’s grass, what’s the problem? Quack grass isn’t the most ideal lawn grass and really tough to eradicate. Any little piece of root that’s left in the ground will continue to grow.
5. Crabgrass – I always get quack and crabgrass mixed up. The difference is, quack grass grows very tall and crabgrass is short and bunchy. It doesn’t make a very good lawn grass either. The problem is that crabgrass is so short that it can still go to seed even if it’s been mowed.
6. Poison Ivy – Since most people are allergic to the oil on their leaves, poison ivy is not welcome in anyone’s lawn and it’s very tough to get rid of. Persistent mowing will keep it at bay, but it will keep popping up wherever your mower doesn’t reach, such as around trees and along fences.
7. Wood Sorrel – Similar to clover, I actually think sorrel is pretty. It has three heart shaped leaves and gets tiny yellow flowers. Another variety has reddish purple leaves and tiny white flowers. It may be lovely, but most people don’t want it growing in their lawn and it can be very pervasive.
8. Plantain – This tough little weed loves to grow in lawns. Plantain has oval shaped leaves and grows in a clump close to the ground, so mowing over it doesn’t bother it much. Actually, this herb has medicinal qualities and the juice from the leaves works well to stop the itching of insect bites.
9. Chickweed – Another herb with medicinal properties, chickweed is also very invasive. With tiny leaves and little white flowers this weed spreads along the ground in a tangled mess. If you try to pull it, the fragile stems break off leaving the root in the ground to sprout again. I hate this stuff when it gets in my gardens.
10. Thistles – Yikes! Nobody wants thistles growing in their lawn, but how do you get rid of them? If you mow them off, they just keep growing in a prickly clump on the ground that is not fun to step on with bare feet.

There you have it. I’ve got all ten of these weeds in my lawn and then some. I use Roundup around the base of trees and along the edges of buildings and flower beds to keep the weeds there at bay. Besides quack grass and crab grass, surprisingly I actually do have some lawn grasses that continue to survive. I could spend quite a lot of time and money trying to get rid of the weeds, but instead I just keep mowing them and hope for the best. It looks nice for a day or two and then those darn dandelions pop up again.

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