Dealing With Grass When It Becomes A Weed

Sometimes the grass in a homeowner’s lawn will find its way into areas in which it does not belong. Some of these areas may include flower beds, vegetable gardens, shrubbery and beds that are mulched (meant to be plant free).

Some grasses - including Kentucky Bluegrass - can reproduce themselves by way of underground rhizomes. These adventurous rhizomes will grow and spread out below the surface of the soil. They then produce new grass plants, sometimes a foot or more away from the original grass plant that sent out the rhizome. Now mind you, when this happens within the confines of the area you designate as your lawn, this is an ideal situation. Basically, it means that your lawn is self-repairing. However, your lawn will also send out exploratory rhizomes that will find their way into places outside your lawn where you do not want grass to grow.

One of the easiest ways of preventing the grass in your lawn from finding its way into areas not considered your lawn is to use edging. Basically, edging acts as a barrier to adventurous grass roots and rhizomes. Black plastic edging is commonly available in most lawn and garden shops. The use of this type of edging will go a long way toward keeping grass in bounds.

Sometimes, despite a homeowner’s best efforts, grass will find its way into places it doesn’t belong. Sometimes this grass can be eliminated simply by pulling and removing all of the grass and its roots. However, sometimes this is more easily said than done. It can be very difficult to remove grass growing through certain groundcovers, under shrubbery and in dense flowerbeds. Trying to remove grass in these areas by hand may destroy the look of the groundcover or flowerbed. Although I believe that lawn care pesticides should only be used when absolutely necessary, a product on the market called Grass-B-Gon is very well-suited for situations where the removal of grass by hand is impractical. This product will kill only grass plants so it is safe to use around groundcovers, shrubbery and flowers.

Keep in mind that the best defense in these matters is prevention, with the use of edging and hand-pulling before the situation gets out of control.

NEXT TIME: My Favorite Ground Cover In Areas Close To My Lawn