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Fledgling gardener stumped by this weed

ah606ah606 Posts: 3
in Problem solving
I'm really struggling with this weed in my garden, last year it destroyed much of the grass and replaced it with what can only be described as a latticed network over the lawn. Can anyone identify what type of weed it is, and any recommendations on how I go about destroying it completely?gr
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Posts

  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 37,906
    Hello ah606 and welcome to the forum. It looks very much like clover to me. There are lots of tips on how to get rid of it online. This is what the RHS says:
    "Apply a single application of a proprietary spring lawn fertiliser followed at six to eight-week intervals by an application of sulphate of ammonia at 15g per sq m (½oz per sq yd); its nitrogen content encourages grass growth and acts as a deterrent to the clover".
    You can research other methods too as there are many. Don't despair, it can be solved.

    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Creeping clover.  have a read of this to find out more and learn what to do about it in lawns - https://www.rhs.org.uk/Search?query=clover 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 37,906
    If I had a lawn I would keep it. Get rid of the grass I say
    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    In a hot dry summer, the only green bit of the lawn is the clover.

  • ah606ah606 Posts: 3
    Thank you all for the speedy response! I had visions of having to completely dig out the garden and re-seed (with the fear that it would come back), brilliant to know that this is not the case. 

    Interesting that a couple of you would keep it - I have a relatively small back garden and enjoy the grass, the clover has resulted in quite a few patches of barren soil which makes it look awful. 

    I'll take ladybird's advice with the fertiliser / ammonia - would you recommend I plant some grass seed in the first instance to encourage grass growth, or just look to feed the current lawn?
  • robairdmacraignilrobairdmacraignil Posts: 782
    I've noticed the bees like it so much I have planted it in places in my own garden. It's even growing over rock in this video clip from my garden. It fixes nitrogen from the air in its roots so should make your soil more fertile so I think if there are barren patches of soil in your garden they are caused by something else.
    https://www.youtube.com/user/sustainableveg/videos
  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 37,906
    I would feed your current grass. It is not a good idea to re-seed whilst you are applying the fertiliser.
    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    We don't have a lawn but there's plenty of grass and 3 different kinds of clover, speedwell, daisies etc and, in the bit I've persuaded OH to leave long there's also achillea, mallow, plantain, ground hugging bindweed with pink flowers, assorted yellow daisy and other flowers and later on in summer there'll be wild eryngium.   

    Full of insects and ants and creepy crawlies so a haven for swallows, hoopoes and green woodpeckers to feed and when the summer heat arrives and we get drough too there's no grass left till it recovers in late autumn or early spring.  
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I think the bare patches are caused by leaving if too long a time between mowing the lawn, and then cutting it too short. 
    Now at least once a week with the blade set at a medium height and the clover should grow short and thick and merge with the grass. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • micearguersmicearguers Posts: 646
    Another recommend for keeping clover in the lawn. The barren patches will be caused by something else. Clover can be mown and is perfect for mixing into the lawn. In dry summers clover will stay green  for weeks after turf has gone brown and died off. I have a mix of creeping cinquefoil, daisies, self-heal, yarrow (alchemilla millefolium) - these are fairly commonly used species. In some places thyme, acaena species, veronica umbrosa, saxifraga species, and glechoma hedera (ground ivy) wander into the lawn. It makes it a much more interesting place, and the lawn and borders have in some selected places, not everywhere, a tidal interplay.
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