I confess. I don't care if there is crab grass or clover in my small amount of lawn. I do weed out plantain and dandelions by hand. I'm not the only one. My 80-year-old neighbor does, too. Luckily, this is not a big deal. I have very little lawn. It serves more as paths for my garden borders and small vegetable garden I refer to as a potager.
The lawn is lush this time of year and since I water the garden beds the lawn is watered en route to that goal. Also, as the borders also provide privacy they tend to place the grass in dappled light through the heat of the day. Unlike, the lawns of most of the United States, my grass never went dormant.
I used to ignore my lawn. It was NOT the garden. There is something about a narrow path of grass with a nicely cut edge that sets off a border and pulls everything together, even in a small yard like mine. A couple corners widen out and provide a space to sit or work on projects, but the lawn grows smaller each year. I sometimes contemplate taking out the small amount of front yard remaining on the sunny side of the yard and plant strawberries as a ground cover.
Not yet, though. I still enjoy these small patches of grass.
Cinnamon, my Faithful Companion, approves.
I definitely agree about how a path of grass contributing something special. I also agree about clover, etc. I pull dandelions and plantain as well, but I still have plenty in some spots. I also have creeping charlie, which is the only thing that drives me to use herbicides on the lawn - but only at the end of the year.
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