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keeping weedy grass and others?
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Posted by weeddummie australia (My Page) on Sat, Sep 10, 05 at 6:29
| Dear garden webbers,
I have an large garden bed area where there is a tree in between. Now the area in between these are unfortunately overrun with weeds - but mostly grass clumps of a similar kind.
I thought that the grass weeds as a whole didn't look too bad when concentrated, and was wondering what experienced gardeners will think of me keeping the grassy effect in this 'controlled' area. They're currently still small and easy to pull out, but is it a good idea to keep unknown grass? What will I be getting myself into this way?
Being my first spring in this place, I noticed some other little plants sprouting in random places. For instance some forget me nots with tiny blue flowers. I am not sure whether to keep they're meant to be there even if they look nice where they are. I think they can be weedy, but I haven't seen any of them in the neighbourhood, so maybe it's something the previous owner had. What are your advice in things like this?
I guess we have to think differently when moving into an existing garden...when in doubt do you usually remove unknown plants and start over...or if you like it, keep it or even reposition it if needed? I suppose annuals can move around a bit? I have some self seeding ones too...how confusing %-)
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: keeping weedy grass and others?
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| The grass may well be a native volunteer (possibly from a bird resting in the tree. I let a few native grasses grow in a mulched area we keep. The birds take the seeds and lots of birds stopped by to pick up the brown leaves for nest material in spring. With so much land mowed, the birds have a tough time finding nesting material. I also let a patch of moss grow in another area- more nesting material. |
RE: keeping weedy grass and others?
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| From my experience, grass will take over your garden. Get rid of it. Keep a few specimens if you like, but don't let it go to seed. As for flowers, if you like what you see, keep it. You can always rip it out later. But grasses are really hard to permanently get rid of without laying clear plastic over the whole area to kill them. |
RE: keeping weedy grass and others?
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| Thanks - I think I should get rid of them afterall, as there's just too much of them and other weeds there. So it makes more sense to clean the whole place up. I was also uncertain at first because there is a nice high grass patch in my garden edge (from neighbour's weeds) which I pluck occasionally to feed by guinea pigs. It could be seeds from that too, so I might have to get rid of all grasses anyway. Or...with the large grass clump, if I remove seed stalks when they occur, is it relatively safe to contain? But grasses also spread via roots don't they? I guess if I want grass, I should allocate an area for that :) |
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