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A completely weed-free lawn is impractical, if not impossible. A beautiful lawn that includes a few weeds is both practical and possible — and acceptable.
Go take a look at the best lawn in your neighborhood. Take a real close look, on your hands and knees, if necessary. (Hopefully, you won't get a backside full of buckshot.) What do you find? Some weeds? Now back away from the lawn, and what do you see? The weeds are gone, at least to the naked eye. Proof positive that you can have a beautiful lawn that includes some weeds.
 | Weeds can get out of control and ruin the look of a lawn. Most people prefer to keep weeds to a minimum. After all, if you wanted weeds, you wouldn't have planted a lawn in the first place. |
You can choose from several techniques for keeping lawn weeds to a minimum. Usually, a combination of the following techniques works best:
- Eliminate weeds before you plant. If you're planting a new lawn, you can eliminate many weeds and greatly reduce future problems before you even plant.
 | One of the beter ways to eliminate weeds before planting is to let a professional sod grower do the job. Sod lawns are delivered to you virtually weedless. When the carpet of sod gets placed on your soil, many of the most common weeds are buried and never seen again. There are exceptions: Bermuda grass and similar tough spreading grasses can, and often do, invade new sod lawns. |
- Outcompete the weeds. No, we're not talking about competition between you and the weeds. Well, maybe we are, sort of. What we're really talking about is competition between your lawn grasses and weeds. The winner of that competition determines the weediness of your lawn.
Like many competitive situations, the healthiest, most vigorous competitor wins. If you take all the steps necessary to keep your lawn in tip-top shape, the grass wins. If you water, mow, and fertilize your lawn properly and aerate to reduce thatch and compacted soil, you have fewer weeds.
If you're neglectful and give the weeds just the slightest edge, they'll blast into your lawn.
- Renovate. If the weeds really have the upper hand, consider renovating your lawn. By renovating, you can kill all the weeds, repair the soil conditions that may have favored the invaders, and replant with a tougher competitor, such as tall fescue or hybrid Bermuda grass.
- Ignore the weeds. Maybe you should just learn to live with the weeds. They really don't get in the way of the kids playing on the lawn, do they? If the lawn looks good from the street, who cares if you have a few weeds? If nothing else, start thinking of your yard as a meadow rather than a lawn. Hey, people really do this.
- Pull the weeds by hand. Don't laugh. Hand-pulling the weeds can really help, especially if you have a young lawn. Just pull a weed whenever you see one, or really go over the lawn, and get as many as you can. Try to pull the weeds, root and all, before they flower and set seed. This activity can be therapeutic — victory over weeds in hand-to-hand combat. What an accomplishment.
Using herbicides as a last resort
Before applying an herbicide to your lawn, picture the nearest river, lake, or even the ocean. Some of whatever you apply to your lawn may end up there, especially if you misuse the herbicide.
| Use herbicides, or weed killers, only as a last resort, when cultural methods of control have failed or are impractical. Remember, using an herbicide may kill the weeds in your lawn, but if the soil or water or nutrient conditions that promote the growth of that weed aren't remedied, the fix is only temporary. You can easily become dependent on annual applications of herbicides and never really fix the true cause of your weed problem. Herbicides pose other risks as well. Overusing herbicides can take your lawn out of its natural balance, intensifying other problems, especially thatch. In addition, herbicides can pose an environmental hazard if used improperly. |
Giving your lawn the upper hand
Cultural practices can throw the lawn vs. weed competition one way or the other:
- Mow at the right height, and the grass shades out weed seeds and seedlings. Mow too low, and the weeds suck up the light and are off to the races.
- Mow frequently, removing new flowers on weeds, and seeds never get a chance to mature and scatter near and far. Don't mow often enough and, well, you get the picture — more seeds and more weeds.
- Overly wet, dry, or compacted soils are ideal for many weeds, terrible for lawn grasses. Water properly, and you give your lawn the upper hand.
- Many weeds love infertile soil. Underfertilize your lawn and the weeds run right over the top of it.
| If you decide you want a low-maintenance lawn (and we don't mean pouring down some green cement), plant a grass that can still thrive under those conditions. Tall fescue or hybrid Bermuda grass are good, low-maintenance grasses. |
Using a lawn care company
Lawn care companies are a popular and convenient way to care for your lawn. Most companies can do everything from mowing to fertilizing and pest control. But before you sign up with a lawn care company, you should ask some questions about the type of chemicals that they use and how often they use them.
Unfortunately, some lawn care companies apply herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides as a matter of routine rather than necessity. If you're concerned about the company using pesticides in your yard, ask these questions:
- Which pesticides do they use and how often?
- What criteria do they use in determining the use of pesticides?
- Will they notify you when they use pesticides?
- Will they flag the lawn after using pesticides?
- Do they offer organic pest control alternatives?
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