I've seen clover lawns, would letting wild violets take over be dumb??
Aaron Rosarian Zone 5b
3 years ago
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Wild violets
Comments (42)There is no treat-and-forget solution where it has been well-established in a lawn. It requires constant vigilence like being a lawn security guard. I've tried the oxalis-destroyer but fear it has made matters worse. The problem is that the chemical stresses out the lawn grass while it is attempting to control its targeted foe and a stressed lawn makes it that much easier for any weed to take hold. So you may need to just live with a slightly brown lawn until the violets have succumbed. Fall treatment followed by the following Spring is the best success and figure on a few years followed by close monitoring and more treatments when new eruptions occur. Use a surfactant to help break the wax (yes, the violet leaves have been preparing for our attack for thousands of years). And before you violet sympathizers begin to suffer the effrontery of eradicating this natural botanical... try to understand and sympathize with the lawn maintainers. Homeowners who spend years planting and caring for a lawn (in this context, "lawn" means grass!) resent any invader that seeks to undo all their efforts and expense which created the lawn in the first place. It's not the occasional tuft of violets that is at issue but rather an entire lawn covered to the point where the grass has been all but eliminated. If we wanted a field covered with violets we would have planted them in the first place. And trying to bag clippings is near impossible because violet leaves do not shear like grass and discharge through the chute. They create a slurry of green sludge that must be removed from the bag by hand or with a trowel. There is a difference between coexisting and invading. Wild violets are about as invasive a weed as there is and confounds lawn care all over the country. They have ceased to be "cute" additions to a cultured environment....See MoreLimey and worst lawn I've ever seen.
Comments (8)I would suggest getting a mow lawn. Did you look at all the pictures for the no-mow lawn? The only reason they call it that is because it happens to flop over and becomes unmowable when it is too tall. Furthermore, I would suggest getting a mix of Kentucky bluegrass (for full sun) and fescue (for shady areas). Of if you don't really have shady areas, then just go with KBG. KBG has the advantage of never needing to be reseeded (like fescue does), but it comes with the disadvantage of turning brown in the winter. Having said that, Marathon III is a very compact (dwarf) variety of fescue. That might work for you. Never till to prepare for a lawn. There, I saved you a couple hundred. If you want to soften your soil, try spraying it with shampoo. First test the hardness using a screwdriver. From what you say it won't even penetrate 1/8 inch. You'll need a hose end sprayer (Ortho red and yellow model is about $10). For 13,000 square feet you'll need about 40 ounces of shampoo. The hose end sprayer holds 32 ounces, so fill it up, take the screen off the end of the down tube, and start spraying. The setting doesn't really matter. You will need to spray as evenly as you can until you have used 40 (or more) ounces of shampoo. I suggest generic baby shampoo from Walmart. It has to be clear like baby shampoo. Spray that and then come back and apply a full inch of water with your sprinkler. Measure 1 inch using small cat food or tuna cans. Time how long it takes to fill the cans so you'll remember. Then wait a week to water again. Water again the following week. The second week after, repeat the shampoo and water. That should do it. If you get runoff before you can apply a full inch of water, then stop watering for 15 to 30 minutes and resume after the water has soaked in. If you get runoff again, stop and wait again. Repeat until you get a full inch into the soil. Since your soil is acting like clay (there are may reasons why a soil might act like clay), it might take more than 2 applications of shampoo to soften it and get it to accept moisture. A week after the second application of shampoo, water an inch again and test the penetration with a screwdriver. What the shampoo does is allow the water to penetrate much deeper into the soil. When that happens the beneficial microbes in the soil will come back and soften the soil for you. You can help them along by adding organic fertilizer periodically. My favorite is alfalfa pellets. At a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet you would need 6 bags of rabbit chow type alfalfa pellets. That size will go through a broadcast type fertilizer spreader. Then stop using whatever other fertilizers you were using because that's all you'll need. I use alfalfa on the federal holiday schedule. They are easy to remember and I am home those days. More specifically, for you in KY, first app would be on Memorial Day, then 4th of July, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. Living in the south I also apply on Washington's Birthday. You were correct in saying why your soil is "compacted", but you were incorrect about it being compacted. It is simply hard for the reason you said. Compacted soil requires mechanical means such as cattle plunging through soggy soil near the edge of a pond or playing football on saturated soil. The soil has to be saturated first or you cannot compact it. Oh and do all this seeding in early September when the summer heat is beginning to back off....See MoreDo you have clover in your lawn?
Comments (29)Yes, clover and anything else that wants to grow in the lawn. Dandelions, violets etc. I do like the look of a flowering lawn, but too many violets and dandelions start to look weedy to me. I try to spend some time removing some every year. I think the grass and the clover do a good job fighting it out and there is a good balance. Since I accept the clover and other plants, I have started to think, why not deliberately try to add flowers to the lawn. Last fall I started planting crocus and chionodoxa into the lawn and they flowered this spring. I really liked that and I hope the chionodoxa will spread. I'm going to try to keep adding more every fall. I would love English Daisies but I tried them one year and they didn't come back. I do have to amend what I said about the violets. There was a white violet all over the yard when we moved here 30 years ago which I'm not fond of. It has large coarse leaves and the white flower is nondescript. Just doesn't appeal to me. I planted a violet called 'Queen Charlotte' that is a violet odorata and boy is it fragrant! It is in my shade bed and has started moving into the lawn. Now that I would never pull out! It is a pretty purple color and the fragrance is lovely. I hope it seeds itself all over the lawn while I keep pulling out the white one....See Moreclover lawns
Comments (51)My lawns are all former pastureland so they were well fertilized in their past lives by livestock. Only deer and rabbits graze and fertilize it now. Since I have at least an acre of lawn, I definitely do not fertilize or water it, ever. Nor has it ever, nor will it ever, see pesticides or herbicides. We mow it at a high setting, not close to the ground because it is healthier for the plants. Back in the day we used to re-seed any bare patches with a combination of white clover and bluegrass seed. It gets less wear and tear from animal hooves these days, so re-seeding has not been necessary in recent times. I have clover in the lawn, both white and red, many types of grasses (pasture grass and lawn grass), dandelions, mint in the wet spots, violets, and a host of other plants. I love the diversity. Every summer the clover blossoms attract a host of pollinators....See MoreAaron Rosarian Zone 5b
3 years agoGargamel
3 years agoraee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
3 years ago
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