Can you identify this "grass"?

[cyros]

This bastard is all over my yard. Normally, I don't care about weeds (or "grass" as less hostile people might call it) but it is interspersed among my real grass, front and back and is approaching being 25% of the ground cover. No problem except the lawn mower cannot get through the stalks - too tough. I mow the lawn and these long stems stick up

Comments

[pollyhyper]

Looks like some kind of crabgrass or relative of. I would (a) get the blades sharpened on your mower, and (b) see if you can find a safe, organic solution to it if it's really a problem.

You may have to wait until spring (for "pre-emergence" treatment) but this stuff says you can use it post-emergency - I have no experience with it, though.

[cyros]

Our mower was new at the beginning of the season - could they possibly need sharpening already after being used less than once a week? Perhaps the issue is I have a "people powered" mower - push reel

[pollyhyper]

It's not wrecked - it's just begging for a makeover! I think the oat-y looking tops go to seed, so if you can trim them off and throw them out, that might help a little. That stuff I linked to shouldn't kill anything else.

Makeovers take time - just like someone shouldn't get all their plastic surgery done at once. Focus on a small area for this year, and move on in the spring. We're going on 5 years in our house now and we're not even close to done with the backyard, let alone the front yard!

btw, this is my new favorite site!

[cyros]

It just sucks that the grass in the front was so beautiful and lush and soft in the fall and now it is a patchy, rough, weed-covered mess.

Question: I will will planting around the perimeter of our backyard in a nice curvy bed. I want to prepare the beds in the fall and prevent anything - grass / weeds / whatever - from taking up residence and will need to stop anything perennial - grass included - from coming back. I've been reading about how to prevent weeds in already prepped beds (it suggested amending your soil and putting landscape fabric overtop, cutting holes from your plantings, then mulching on top of the landscape fabric.) I just don't know how to rip everything up properly.

And lupins - what do they look like when they aren't all pretty and in bloom? I see them in ditches here and love them, but if they look crappy the rest of the year, I won't attempt to start them in the mucky swale in the back.

[crowjoy]

The reel mower really can only handle blades of grass, not seed stalks, so maybe if you get someone to loan you a gas mower you can run them down (though pick the seedheads first like Poi suggested) and then maintain more frequently, you might keep them from looking gross. Unwanted grasses and weeds will always outpace the less hardy yet preferred grasses.

[cyros]

Ross just told me I'm mistaken - it's not that the blades aren't sharp enough to cut, it's that the reel mower just pushes them down flat first because a blade isn't the first thing in contact on the push mower. Then as soon as you roll over, they pop back up

[crowjoy]

Yeah, that's the thing with the reel mower, you can't adjust the blades (much, if at all) so if the grass is taller (or hardier) than the blade, it just mashes it. Bummer man.

When the daisies go to seed go grab them and spread 'em around!

[cyros]

I don't think I've ever noticed daisies in anything but their flowery state. Do the petals fall off? Do they dry out?

[prairieknitwit]

Hey You!

I dug up some shasta daisies from my back lane a few weeks ago. I am a horrible gardener and lay waste to innocent little seedlings on a regular basis. These daisies have survived being transplanted to my sandy flowerbed facing west in the full sun and are very happy there. They seem to bloom a long time. I think daisies are pretty tough.

I can't help you with the grass situation. Our lawn looks pretty horrible too.