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Garden Ideas and weed solutions

callumcarter14callumcarter14 Posts: 2
in Problem solving
Hi there! I'm a total beginner when it comes to gardening and lawn care so hoping to get some help with a few things:

1. I have a few patches in my lawn where the grass is a totally different colour, and a different composition to the rest of the lawn. I understand it could be a fake grass or weed (e.g. crab grass)? Any advice on how to get rid of it?

2. Growing amongst my hedges and now coming through my lawn is this viney weed, which to date I have just pulled out to stunt growth. I think it's intertwined with my hedge roots so not sure if it's possible to remove?

3. I'm after some suggestions as to what I could grow at the front of my property. The soil isn't the best and it doesn't get tons of sun. Currently there's a bit of lambs ear but hoping for something more colourful and that doesn't look so bad in the colder months.

Many thanks for any support - images below.



Posts

  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    Welcome to the forum.
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/weeds/coarse-grasses This may be of use with regard to your lawn.  Besides the Gardeners World site and the forum, the RHS has a great deal of useful information on most aspects of gardening.
    As to the narrow strip of flower bed at the front of your property, it would seem that evergreens would be a good thing to plant in order to avoid a bare and uninteresting strip of soil during the winter. You could plant bulbs amongst the greenery to give you a show of colour in spring and summer.
    With poor soil it is sometimes a question of trial and error when it comes to plants and something that ought to thrive in the situation could just keel over and die so don't get discouraged if things don't go to plan immediately.
    I plant geraniums all over the place (not the pot plants that have beautiful red blooms but the hardy geranium or cranesbill) and they can cope with poorer soils and differing amounts of sunshine https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/geranium-x-cantabrigiense-biokovo/ and https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/geranium-macrorrhizum-ingwersens-variety/. There are semi evergreen varieties and the flowers are great for bees. If you don't mind things with spines, there are a lot of low growing berberis which have colourful leaves. Box, ilex crenata, and euonymus can all be kept small and euonymus has varieties with variegated leaves which look great in winter. Creeping thyme looks and smells good and has flowers in summer which attract a lot of insects.
    Many online sellers list plants according to type, size, colour, soil type, aspect etc. which makes it easier to choose something suitable. Have a look at Crocus's site (and no I am not paid by them) to see what is available.




  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630

    Your viny weed is bindweed. You must dig it out really carefully, making sure you get every scrap of root out, because it grows easily from a bit of root, broken or not. You might not be able to get them from around the hedge, as you said, but get what you can out, and just dig out any you see coming up again in future.
    Once you see the root, you can identify it easily, and it's really satisfying when you get them out in one piece. It's a gardener thing. 😄
  • alfharris8alfharris8 Posts: 513
    @callumcarter14
    I expect most of the forum members have a particular weed in their gardens that really get to them and you can get a bit obsessed with the battle between you and it of you aren't careful 😁. 
    Good luck with your garden.
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    Don’t worry about the bindweed in the lawn, regular mowing will keep it in check. Just keep nipping off any growth in the hedge and that should weaken it over time.

    Different grass mixes can result in your lawn looking patchy. We reseeded some of ours and the new grass was a deeper green than the existing but over time it all seems to have blended in.
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited May 2023
    In order of your pics, I would say:

    1.  No plants, think of dogs and cats.  Just pebbles or shingle.
    2.  Bindweed.  Good advice already
    3 and 4. Coarse weed grasses.  The most difficult weed in a lawn is grass.  Pull the clumps out NOW, gently by hand with the help of a knife.  
    Mow sufficiently often and sufficiently close so that none of your grass ever sets seed.  And the coarser grasses are weakened. Start soon.

    Of course it depends on what quality of lawn you are seeking.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • callumcarter14callumcarter14 Posts: 2
    Thanks all, appreciate the support/suggestions!
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