In article , Alan Gould
writes
In article , Roy Bailey
writes
I have a piece of ground which I laughingly call an orchard because it
does actually have some fruit trees in it. It also has burdock, dock,
nettle, creeping buttercup, speedwell, plantain, applemint that has
escaped from elsewhere, and much more besides.

Somewhere under all that is some grass which I would like to encourage.
I cut this lot regularly with a strimmer, but the weeds come back again
quickly. How else can I get rid of them without using chemicals? Is
burdock a perennial?

After you have strimmed off the greater part of top growth, go over the
area with a mower set at its highest cut. Pick up all the surplus
herbage for composting, or whatever. (Or you could mulch it round the
fruit trees, they would love that) A couple of weeks later, mow it again
with the cut set just a little lower. Collect up the cuttings again.
Keep doing that until the patch is at the height you want it to be in
the longer term. Continue mowing regularly at the chosen height,
sometimes letting the cuttings fall back to feed the grassed area.

That treatment will eliminate most non-grass plants other than some
pretty daisies, buttercups, clovers etc. and occasional mosses. It will
also give finer grasses a chance to grow and establish while the coarser
slower growing types are recovering. From then, you will be able to
choose a grass management plan to suit your own requirements.

Thanks for this advice, Alan. The problem is that the piece of land is
sloping and somewhat uneven, so mowing, even with a Flymo, is not easy.
I use the strimmer very low so that it acts like a mower, but the docks
and burdocks keep growing again. Although I don't let them seed they
seem to reappear in the same places each year.

Greater and Lesser Burdocks - Arctium lappa and A.minus are biennials.
Thank God for that! I was beginning to fear that they were perennials.

--
Roy Bailey
West Berkshire.