If you have found yourself in an unfortunate predicament where your lawn is entirely full of weeds, you’ve come to the right place. It is not going to be an easy task, but you can get your lawn looking green, luscious, and healthy again with the right steps and a bag of grass seed. In this article, we’ll be discussing how to fix a lawn full of weeds!
Table of Contents
Common Types Of Lawn Weeds
There are typically two main types of weeds categorized as Broadleaf and Grass types.
A common Broadleaf type is the Dandelion. Dandelions are known to be picked and blown across to a loved one as a cute gesture – but in the gardening world, they are a menace. At first, they have yellow flowers, and you may think they are pretty, but don’t be fooled. They will transform into a weed breeding factory very soon.
When Dandelions begin to seed, they resemble a white fluff ball. These are the dandelions seedling. One Dandelion will spread thousands of seeds across your grass to grow more weeds in the soil. You need to get rid of these in due time before they start to seed.
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Methods To Getting Rid Of Weeds
Your first instinct to get rid of the weeds in the grass would be to run to the store and get a big bottle of weed killer. However, there are other ways you can deal with a lawn full of weeds. Chemical methods can sometimes be too harsh for the grass and ruin the rest of the garden as well as be dangerous to wildlife, pets, and young children who may like to play in the grass.
Natural Solutions
Regular vinegar from the kitchen can kill weeds in lawns. You can try any variation like apple cider vinegar, distilled, or your general white vinegar. Vinegar is a fast working solution to killing weeds in lawn with results that can be seen in as little as one hour from an application – chemical weed killers can sometimes take a day or longer to start actively working.
How To Use Vinegar To Get Rid Of Weeds:
- Choose a vinegar with a high acidity content – one with 5% is a good acidity percentage and is very effective.
- Fill a spray bottle or a watering can up with water and add the vinegar, you won’t need much
- Optional: Add some dishwashing liquid to the solution – which helps break down the plant structure of the plant
- Optional: To prevent your lawn weeds from growing again, you can add salt to the solution. (Beware! Salt will stop everything from growing in the area, not just weeds. You need to make sure you don’t plan to plant anything soon before you spreading salt over the area.)
Other Natural Products to Try:
- Alcohol
- Boiling Water
- Soap
Chemical Solutions
There are many types of chemicals that you can purchase to kill the weeds infesting your garden, but you must be careful that you don’t kill the rest of the flora and fauna or the healthy grass too. A chemical weed killer that doesn’t turn the foliage a yellow-brown is the best type to get. This chemical penetrates deep into the core of the weed, killing it from the inside.
When To Start A Lawn From Scratch
Sometimes a lawn full of weeds is too far gone and can’t be repaired easily. The easiest way to determine if you should start your lawn again from scratch is to calculate how many weeds are taking over the garden. If you find that there is more than 50% coverage of plants, it may be easier to kill the entire area and start again.
How To Start Your Lawn From Scratch And Avoid Weeds
The best way to do this is to use a weed killer approximately three weeks before starting the big lawn job. After the remainder of the lawn has died off, you will need to aerate the lawn. Aerating the lawn can be an all-day task, so it is recommended that you hire an Aerator from a hardware store.
An aerator digs small holes across your lawn as you push it along. It helps to loosen the soil and prepare it for new grass seeds. Refreshing the lawn requires a good thorough chewing up of the soil, so you will need to do a good eight to ten passes to make sure it is done correctly.
If you have a small lawn, you could use a manual aerator or a garden fork, but it can be heavy physically-demanding work. If you suffer from arthritis, get a bad back, or get sore knees, you should just get the motorized aerator, or better yet, ask a friend if they can help you.
Once you have aerated the lawn you can then spread the grass seeds. Use a seed distributor so that the seeds are spread evenly across the area. Once the grass seeds are in place, use a rake to lightly go over the area so that the wind doesn’t pick the up grass seed up and undo all your hard work.
Don’t forget to fertilize the freshly planted lawn so that your new grass will grow faster and healthier. Water the lawn twice daily unless there is rainfall. You should start to see new healthy grass sprouts in about two weeks.
Maintaining Your New Lawn
Maintenance is a crucial factor when it comes to your new Weed-Free lawn. If you don’t keep your lawn care habits consistent, the weeds will be back before you know it.
Use a good quality mulch that comes from a good source. Mulch helps to keep weeds from sprouting up.
Important: Make sure the mulch is free of weed seeds, so you don’t introduce the exact problem you just got rid of and end up with another lawn full of weeds.
General Tips to Keeping Weeds at Bay
- Remove weeds as soon as you see them – it is better when they are younger
- Don’t leave pulled weeds on the grass or keep them on the soil – they could be full of seeds.
- Check your garden daily for any new weeds
- Weeding a lawn after rainfall is helpful, as the soil is softer. Sprinkle salt in hard to reach areas such as cracks in your concrete pathway.
- Remove as much of the weed as possible, all the way to the roots – a weed can grow from almost nothing
- Mow your lawn regularly, so the weeds don’t get a chance to start seeding
Final Thoughts
When it comes to how to fix a lawn full of weeds, it mainly comes down to general yard care, including chemical or natural solutions or manual labor of hand-pulling weeds. Keeping your grass thick and well cared for is the key to keeping weeds at bay.
