Please help, my yard is a mess!

16 years ago

Hi guys,

I live on one acre and my yard is a mess! I've raked a ton of moss (now I have bare dirt) and the rest of it is ground ivy! How do get rid of it? I spent $1200 on Scotts weed & feed last year and we limed in the fall. ANY help would be appreciated. I just want grass, not weeds. The ground ivy is also taking over some of my flower beds. The year prior to last we got True Green and they did NOTHING to help the lawn, but charge us dearly...Please help!

~Kate

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Comments (10)

bestlawn
16 years ago
Please tell us what state you live in.
billhill
16 years ago
This forum could best help you Kate, if you would supply a little more information. Where are you located, what kind of grass do you have, growing conditions, shade or sun, trees or no trees. Are you able to water your acre of lawn on a regular basis. What would you like to accomplish with this lawn (goals) ? Do you need all your acre of land in turf lawn or could some areas be more natural, weeds, wild flowers etc ? Bill Hill
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Advice please--my yard is a mess!
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I'm not totally sure I understand. From what I gather from your post, you have a 6ft wide (how long?) area of grass that isn't going to be grass forever, and that is the only grass out of your whole half acre. So why would you need a lawn mower? You don't tell us how large this area is, but I'm assuming it's not very long and therefore not very big. Am I right? I'm really confused on that part because 6ft wide can also be 6ft long or it can run the entire length of your half acre. Anyway, my assumption is that it's small and because it's temporary, you don't need a lawn mower but some scissors LOL. Okay, not funny, but just get the trimmer since you may find more use for it in the future.
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Back off and take your time to identify your plants. Then start moving the ones you want to keep to an area that you have set aside for your flower beds. You probably have some treasures that people would drive miles for. You and people with a similar mind set are one of the reasons my hubby has instructions to call my friends for a massive digging party shortly after he plants me in the ground. I have seen too many people buy a property for the plants and then rip out everything and plant grass. I have like you probably have and do not know it many very expensive plants. I am not diss'ing you but you have a ground cover that should be easy to maintain but it is not what you want. So you want to put something in that your do have to work on. Wait and see until the flowers bloom to see if you like them. Ask your neighbors if they know what the plants are and would they like them. This is a way to meet your neighbors and perhaps get rid of what you consider trash.
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It's the case that your front yard will never look nice if you don't get the lawn (grass or groundcover) into good shape. It's the largest "plant(s)" and having it be scarred up destroys the look of anything else that might look nice. I agree with Laceyvail's comments about how the walk approaches the house. It should be farther from the house, approaching it from the front, giving more depth to the bed that is left of the stoop. Many times people don't like to change such things because it costs $$, so it's mentioned in case you are willing to correct a condition in spite of cost, or in case you're faced with designing a walk for the next house, or for others who find this thread and wish to learn about avoiding mistakes. I actually don't mind an "S" curve shape to the walk. If we were starting from scratch, I probably would have made that curve stronger, allowing more depth in the bed near corner of the house, and placed the small tree on that side of the walk. But now we're dealing with what is. Here's a basic configuration in regard to arrangement of elements. Keep in mind that I cannot really see how much shade the tree produces. Where you place groundcover vs. grass will depend on where light exists. If you have no real light to speak of, it may be the case that your entire front yard would be better off being groundcover than grass. If you have light, you can have grass. Also, the tree is large and even though I can't see it, I see low hanging branches. I'm sure you could stand to (need to) remove lower limbs and branches which would have the effect of letting more light below which would help plants at the ground prosper. Color is used to differentiate one object from the next ... not as a suggestion of what color you should have things be. (The small, multi-trunk trees would be made from large shrubs.)
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kate75
Original Author
16 years ago
90 miles north of Pitts, I believe zone 7. I don't know what kind of grass I have, but I do know I have trouble. My house sits in the middle of the acre and I have a 28'X16' Koi pond off the back patio. I have tons of flower beds and keep it very manicured (or at least I try). The back is completely fenced in with privacy fence (I will try to post pix this weekend). But these stinkin' weeds are crazy out of control - I HATE that ground ivy. I pick at every time I'm outside -- please help!
~Kate
kate75
Original Author
16 years ago
but other than last year, water is not a problem. I want "golf course" lawn! Now stop laughing, I knew we all do! I just want to get rid of these evasive weeds and have thick green grass and my gardens.

~Kate
bestlawn
16 years ago
Right here are the only solutions I've seen for creeping charlie that are different from the usual herbicides. There are two responses that refer to borax applications. Apply the borax now in spring and again in fall. You should know that it will be an ongoing battle for a while.

After that, my response to you is exactly the same as in this thread. Soil test information in your area is here, and you can find your local PennState Cooperative Extension Service here.
dchall_san_antonio
16 years ago
OMG! Please do not use borax. Yes it will kill whatever your weed is but it will essentially sterilize the soil for any future plantings. Boron is a trace element needed for life. Beyond the trace amounts, it is toxic.

Can you find out what species the ground ivy is? There are many plants called ground ivy.

There are a number of typos in your 13:40 message. Are you saying you DO want a golf course lawn, or you do NOT?

Would you consider a clover lawn? I am thinking of Dutch white clover with the round white flowers everywhere that attract bees. A clover mix is about the most carefree and lush lawn you can have. It fell out of favor after WWII when the chemical industry flooded the market with "defoliants" that knock down broadleafed weeds. If you couple clover with other grasses (fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, or even bentgrass), you could have a nice turf and need very little care.

Here is a link that might be useful: Some clover pictures
bestlawn
16 years ago
Oh wow, I didn't know that, David. Thanx for telling us.
kate75
Original Author
16 years ago
As I stated I "want" golf course lawn. Sorry I wrote 'knew', I meant, I 'know' we all do; as in we all want our lawns to look like a golf course. I'm really not crazy about the clover idea, but thanks none-the-less.
colonel428
16 years ago
Kate....I'm in NC but this is a very helpful website for info - www.turffiles.ncsu.edu. Also, check out the website www.lebsea.com. They are out of PA & I can personally attest to the quality of their products. Shoot them an e-mail explaining your dilema & I'm sure they will have recommedations. I certainly don't have any concrete answers to the ground ivy problem you've got. I'd apply a weed killer (I've seen several that claimed to kill ground ivy) several times until I saw the results I wanted. And if the product I was using wasn't giving me results I'd try something else. And depending on the ivy/grass ratio I might even spray roundup several times. And, you've got all summer to rake & pull out as much of the dead/dying ivy as possible. The key is to hit the yard hard in the fall with aeration & a heavy overseeding of TTTF using the practices gained from the NCSU site & in talking to others. Obviously the denser the stand of grass the less room there is for the ivy to grow. Then in the spring you can apply a combination fertilizer/pre-emergent product to help keep the ivy from coming back. Hey, I have absolutely no affiliation at all with Lebsea but I know those are the products the best golf courses & most expensive neighborhoods use in my area. That was what made me choose them for my yard & I couldn't be more happy. I have a very hard time believing there aren't control products out there that can't be effective against ground ivy, if applied when it's growing & at the proper rate for multiple applications. Anyway, hope this helps in some small way & best of luck in getting the lawn you want.
kate75
Original Author
16 years ago
at least now I have something to go on.

~Kate

Please help, my yard is a mess!

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