Grass + Weeds Problem

paidi_ed

Hi,
I bought a house recently and it has a big-ish lawn. I am trying to sort out the garden and there seems to be a lot of weeds (not sure what kind) growing between the grass. It seems to be becoming half weeds half at this stage!

I have put some images here->
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g0zztuqsfikaej2/grass1.JPG
http://www.dropbox.com/s/ifdte3qpqunhui0/grass.JPG

I am looking for advice as to what the weeds are and what is the best way to go about treating the garden without killing the grass. Do I just get a good weed killer and spray the entire lawn once the weather is better? Any advice appreciated!

Thanks,
Paidi

looksee

Your pics are upside down, but seem to be mostly buttercup, which is a major pest in that kind of quantity. I don't know a lot about lawns but I reckon you will have to spray with a broad leaf weedkiller, though I don't think you will have a lot of grass left when you have done.

bbam

Looks like creeping buttercup..

AFIK there are three approaches..

1
You could try a weed+feed combo from the likes of woodies or garden centre, not sure if it works on the buttercup but it should. I've used it on smaller lawns and results are good.

2
Some gardeners use commercial agri products. I'd only recommend it if your confident with such products as if you mix or apply it wrong it can affect grass badly.. An MCPA spray would do your job.
I recently picked up a galon of it for ~€20 and it will do an acre.
You'd probably need to oversow with lawn seed after as killing off so much weed will leave it very bare.

3.
I'm sadisfied to have a "garden" at the back of the house. Happy once its green and I don't worry about weeds other than thistle.. Its for rough and tumble football and camogie..

paidi_ed

Thanks for the replies. I would say I will go for option 1 as I would like to let the grass start to win as the buttercup is taking over tbh. I am not familiar with commercial agri products.

When cutting the lawn I should remove all cuttings far away from the garden to stop it spreading I imagine?

Paidi

looksee

Buttercup will not spread like that from bits of plant, once its cut it will wither.

I would spray it before cutting as you want the maximum amount of leaf to accept the spray.