Why this day and age the herbicides for lawns are still in use???

[Anonymous]

This stuff gets into the air, soil, drinking water..

Why are cities. schools. companies.private home owners still use them?

an we finally embrace all green things? Weeds are people too/

Just cut them short. Green is green. Does not have to be uniformlingly boring millions of grass stalks.

The environmental cost is unbelievable.

This is not 50s! In the climate and enwironment awarness this is unacceptable!!!

[Anonymous]

I agree OP. We’re obsessed with perfect lawns at the expense of our health and the environment.

[Anonymous]

Because people are dumb and uninformed.

[Anonymous]

The obsession with lawns represents the values and failings of the America so well.

[Anonymous]

I totally agree with you. I am slowly but surely getting rid of my lawn anyway.

[Anonymous]

After getting into vegetable gardening, that’s when I learned it’s all about natural soil health. When people walk into Lowe’s/Home Depot, all they see are chemicals and believe that’s what’s needed.

[Anonymous]

Our condo does it to make sure nobody walks on the lawn. It even put a fence up at some point to keep people from walking on the lawn (never on the same place though). If you live here, you know that nothing happens to the lawn from people walking on it. The big machines that cut the grass weekly, don't damage it.

[Anonymous]

Okay, help me out. I generally agree with you and have never used fertilizer or weed control products -- but I bought some for the first time this year. Mowing simply does not get the spiky weeds or dandelions, as they just press down under the mower and stay put. I hand weed but it's an enormous amount of work and I can't keep up, especially if it rains every weekend as it so often does (can't mow in the rain either).

A couple years ago I bought a house with a pretty nice lawn. I did manual weeding and otherwise left it alone. Two years later it has been overrun with all kinds of weeds - they are not only ugly but not nice to walk on or play on. So what is the solution?

I grew up in a drought area and understand native plant gardens, but (a) that's not a playspace for kids and (b) weeding decorative planting beds or rock areas is even harder than weeding the lawn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, help me out. I generally agree with you and have never used fertilizer or weed control products -- but I bought some for the first time this year. Mowing simply does not get the spiky weeds or dandelions, as they just press down under the mower and stay put. I hand weed but it's an enormous amount of work and I can't keep up, especially if it rains every weekend as it so often does (can't mow in the rain either).

A couple years ago I bought a house with a pretty nice lawn. I did manual weeding and otherwise left it alone. Two years later it has been overrun with all kinds of weeds - they are not only ugly but not nice to walk on or play on. So what is the solution?

I grew up in a drought area and understand native plant gardens, but (a) that's not a playspace for kids and (b) weeding decorative planting beds or rock areas is even harder than weeding the lawn.

1. Horticultural vinegar
2. Add clover (I know it’s a cliche on here, but clover is a nitrogen fixing legume and you will make your soil healthier which means weeds are less likely)
3. Fill those flower beds all the way up with plants; weeds don’t grow where they don’t get light. Piet Oudolf gardens. Meadow gardens, meadow lawns. You can leave part of the lawn in traditional turf or make it all clover (but then you have to get rid of all the grass by smothering it or turning the soil over, so that’s a pain).
4. For the spring weed of your bed, get in there early and use a stirrup hoe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree with you. I am slowly but surely getting rid of my lawn anyway.

+1
I’m starting to plan my meadow garden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay, help me out. I generally agree with you and have never used fertilizer or weed control products -- but I bought some for the first time this year. Mowing simply does not get the spiky weeds or dandelions, as they just press down under the mower and stay put. I hand weed but it's an enormous amount of work and I can't keep up, especially if it rains every weekend as it so often does (can't mow in the rain either).

A couple years ago I bought a house with a pretty nice lawn. I did manual weeding and otherwise left it alone. Two years later it has been overrun with all kinds of weeds - they are not only ugly but not nice to walk on or play on. So what is the solution?

I grew up in a drought area and understand native plant gardens, but (a) that's not a playspace for kids and (b) weeding decorative planting beds or rock areas is even harder than weeding the lawn.

1. Horticultural vinegar
2. Add clover (I know it’s a cliche on here, but clover is a nitrogen fixing legume and you will make your soil healthier which means weeds are less likely)
3. Fill those flower beds all the way up with plants; weeds don’t grow where they don’t get light. Piet Oudolf gardens. Meadow gardens, meadow lawns. You can leave part of the lawn in traditional turf or make it all clover (but then you have to get rid of all the grass by smothering it or turning the soil over, so that’s a pain).
4. For the spring weed of your bed, get in there early and use a stirrup hoe.

+1. Violets, calico aster, lance-leaf coreopsis, and self-heal are also recommended for lawns and are native which you have to watch which clover you add. We had clover added to our lawn as a bird gift and it is so much softer than grass so we're keeping the clover, added the flowers I mentioned above and using a native fescue grass for our official 'lawn' area. We enjoy the blooms so much.

If someone hates weeding, a ground cover to prevent weeds like wild ginger is really great. It also reduces the need for watering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay, help me out. I generally agree with you and have never used fertilizer or weed control products -- but I bought some for the first time this year. Mowing simply does not get the spiky weeds or dandelions, as they just press down under the mower and stay put. I hand weed but it's an enormous amount of work and I can't keep up, especially if it rains every weekend as it so often does (can't mow in the rain either).

A couple years ago I bought a house with a pretty nice lawn. I did manual weeding and otherwise left it alone. Two years later it has been overrun with all kinds of weeds - they are not only ugly but not nice to walk on or play on. So what is the solution?

I grew up in a drought area and understand native plant gardens, but (a) that's not a playspace for kids and (b) weeding decorative planting beds or rock areas is even harder than weeding the lawn.

1. Horticultural vinegar
2. Add clover (I know it’s a cliche on here, but clover is a nitrogen fixing legume and you will make your soil healthier which means weeds are less likely)
3. Fill those flower beds all the way up with plants; weeds don’t grow where they don’t get light. Piet Oudolf gardens. Meadow gardens, meadow lawns. You can leave part of the lawn in traditional turf or make it all clover (but then you have to get rid of all the grass by smothering it or turning the soil over, so that’s a pain).
4. For the spring weed of your bed, get in there early and use a stirrup hoe.

Not PP, but- what is horticultural vinegar? Is it selective, or does it kill everything? We have added clover when overseeding our lawn, BUT do be warned that bees love the flowers. Not necessarily a bad thing! But at least once a year, I ended up getting stung on my foot walking around in flip flops. So something to consider when you have young kids.

Our lawn was not very healthy when we bought the house and within a couple years it was nearly a monoculture creeping charlie lawn. I hate that sh-t! Turns out it loves acidic, disturbed soil and a soil test revealed our soil was pretty acidic. We've applied herbicide a couple times now to knock it back, but also worked to improve soil health and overseed in the fall most years now. I don't need a perfect lawn, but I definitely don't want an exclusively invasive weed "lawn" either.

[Anonymous]

I agree. I got rid of my lawn and replaced with pea gravel.

[Anonymous]

We try to do the mixed approach. We seed pretty heavily in the fall and spring and cut the grass to a high length. The lawn is fine and we don’t need to use pesticides. We put some organic fertilizers and this year I’ve tried corn gluten because it supposedly prevents weed seeds from germinating

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, help me out. I generally agree with you and have never used fertilizer or weed control products -- but I bought some for the first time this year. Mowing simply does not get the spiky weeds or dandelions, as they just press down under the mower and stay put. I hand weed but it's an enormous amount of work and I can't keep up, especially if it rains every weekend as it so often does (can't mow in the rain either).

A couple years ago I bought a house with a pretty nice lawn. I did manual weeding and otherwise left it alone. Two years later it has been overrun with all kinds of weeds - they are not only ugly but not nice to walk on or play on. So what is the solution?

I grew up in a drought area and understand native plant gardens, but (a) that's not a playspace for kids and (b) weeding decorative planting beds or rock areas is even harder than weeding the lawn.

I used herbicides for years and still the weeds, particularly dandelions, became more pervasive. You have to use much more than recommended amounts to keep the weeds down. I so regrest the amount of chemicals I dumped in my yard. Maintaining grass is such a toxic activity. Most people don't realize what it does and it's affect upon polinators.