Strange Things On My Lawn...

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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 8:27 am

No really. I've seen all sorts of things on my lawn... dandelions, bald patches, twitch-grass, creepy-charlie, all sorts of stuff. For the past couple of years though, this green carpet from outer space has been taking over. It's definitely a creeping weed, low-level stuff with little white-blue flowers. Any lawn care experts in the room know a) what the F this is and b) how to get rid of it?

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x242/LosstJedi/C053108_1838_00.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x242/LosstJedi/C053108_1839_00.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x242/LosstJedi/C053108_1840_00.jpg

The photos are pretty crappy, but the weed doesn't look a whole lot better in reality. Get this... the stuff will stay green all winter too.

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 8:30 am

Did you try smoking it?

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:41 am

You could have "Germander Speedwell" (Veronica chamaedrys), looked it up.

Likes damp soils, flowering period April - June

Control
Hand weeding is practical if only a few plants are present, otherwise chemical control is necessary. You must choose a selective weedkiller which contains
ioxynil as well as dicamba or mecoprop. Treat the lawn in March before the flowers have appeared; add a squeeze of washing up liquid to the weedkiller solution in the watering can. Use a grass box when mowing.

The secret is to apply it early in the season and to drench the leaves thoroughly.

Information from "The Lawn Expert" by Dr.D.G.Hessayon.

Hope this helps or its a hands and knees job, have fun. Smile

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:50 am

I'd go with root's suggestion.

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 2922

I recommend Napalm! Very Happy

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 2:25 pm

I agree with root also. Razz

This is the only type of Speedwell that I know.............

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:24 pm

Did I try smoking it? Just what kind of harebrained thrill-seeker do you think I am that I would stoop so low as to... well maybe I did just once. And I've had worse. But that's not important!

Anyway, I believe it turns out that my mystery plant from outer space is actually called common chickweed or mouse-ear. Other than the fact that it's completely taking over my lawn, it's completely harmless and in fact has many benefits. Since I can't mow it or smoke it however, I'm inclined to go with Donato on this one. It's napalm time!

See, the town I live in is secretly ruled by noisy, righteous enviro-hippies who have seen to it that any effective use of chemical weed control (ie blanket spraying) is banned. These people protest everything from red meat to clubbing baby seals to letting your car idle for 2 minutes, and every time somebody fires up a gas lawnmower they have a sit-in and chant "what about the children" while drinking dandelion tea. Strangely, they're heavily opposed to any legislation regarding drug control. Go figure. (Most of these people are our would be lad-huggers too, so I can pick on them and get away with it in here.) I'll just have to commit my chemical warfare under cover of darkness!

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:16 pm

chickweed is a staple diet of the good old wood pigeon

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/w/woodpigeon/index.asp

what you need to do is buy some plastic decoys and wait for some woodies
to join in and feed off the chickweed.if enough join your decoys they could
eat it all in hours.

if you choose to(i am not advocating killing the bird) shoot some of the woodies with a air rifle and eat them.

sorted

Cool

Elite Baiter Joined: 17 Sep 2004 Posts: 1269

No, all that stuff in your lawn is a secret message from the aliens. Good luck decoding it.

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:39 am

What you've got there is one of the many varieties of Birdsfoot Trefoil, of which there are a dozen or so.
I won't continue to give you a horticulture lesson. Smile

Check it out.

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:48 am

I bet a goat would eat it.

Smile

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 9

I guess nick rootuser refers to the mimosa hostilis root, not an admin account...

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 3:47 am

^^ No, it actually does refer to the admin-account. Explanation also given in that "story behind your username" thread. Wink

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:23 am

Well if anybody has a spare goat or a few English woody-pigeons, I guess I can keep the earth-hippies happy. Very Happy

Not only is it (mostly) indestructible, but it goes nicely in salads, relieves ulcers and skin rash, and does marvelous things for the soil. I almost feel like I should like the stuff.

As it turns out, you can actually cook this stuff with a propane torch and it'll still grow. Maybe I'll harvest it and... nah I'm gonna get all apocolypse on the stuff tomorrow!

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:32 am

You should sell it to those hippies you got around your place.
Do it like those "pluck your own strawberries"-farms, they pay and then are allowed to clear your garden of that stuff.
Afterwards you got rid of that crap, you have made a few bucks, you made the hippies happy and they got something to smoke...

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:37 am

You can try my method of weed control......it works quite well.

Pictured below is a handy little item I picked up at a yard sale.

As you can see in the foreground......all my weeds are gone.

Maintaining this "clean" look only requires a light scraping once a month.

No chemicals......no back-breaking labour.......and the neighbourhood kids think it's cool when I let them ride on top of the blade. Very Happy

.

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:15 am

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:51 am

Budgerigars LOVE chickweed too. A bit more ecofriendly than a nuclear holocaust but probably less practical.

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:56 am

^^ And less fun!

And since we've learned through Indiana Jones 4 that you can easily survive a nuclear blast in a fridge there's also no health-problem...

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:25 am

You might lose a blade of grass or two though .. I do advise a bit of fertilizer afterwards ..

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