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Bob F · 31-07-2011, 06:55 AM posted to rec.gardens

Nad R wrote:
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:
j wrote:
On 7/25/2011 9:08 PM, wrote:
writes:

I have a house in Atlanta, 7b Piedmont, with a weedy sparse
front yard. It's all low growing and the weeds pop up tall
shoots. Poor soil with some pine straw. It's slanty ground with a
big pine and a dogwood. Kudzu is thriving next door and headed my
way.

So, I've been popping the weeds out, they are hardly nothing
but some broad stubby leaves laying against the ground and the
aforementioned flower stalk. I can see this may not be working!

Suggestions?

What do you want to do to the area?
Sounds like it's mostly barren and you want
to make it completely barren except for the pine
and dogwood?

It has something like grass, but it's not thick.

I'd like to get rid of the weeds and at the moment I'm not adverse
to chemicals. Then, I don't know. Maybe I should just mow it low,
like everybody else.

Jeff

If you leave the dirt bare you will be forever removing weeds,
whether by hand or spray. Grass is a covering that will exclude
weeds to some extent but it is high maintenance because it takes,
mowing, watering, fertilising etc to grow strongly. If it doesn't
grow strongly the weeds win. Grass is particularly hard to keep
going in wear areas and if your climate isn't suitable but it is
always costly.

You can cover the ground in other ways that are less maintenance
(shrubs, ground covers, perennials etc with mulch underneath) but
you can't play ball or wrassle with the dog there like on grass.

You need to decide first what you want to do in the area second how
much effort you want to expend to make it look like what you want.

David

Add grass seed to your yard every fall. This will make it harder for
weeds to take over. If you do not fill the bare spots in the dirt,
nature will.

I would suggest fertilizing every fall as more important, so that the grass
grows it's roots during the fall and winter, which will result in much better
growth in the spring. Certainly, both could be done with appropriate timing.