Separating The Good Weeds From The Bad

In your fight against weeds you've probably come across any number of different types. And chances are equally likely that you went straight for the herbicide, or started pulling them up as soon as you saw them. But believe it or not, some things that look like weeds can actually help be helpful to keeping your lawn green and healthy. And conversely, things that look like flowers and add color to your lawn could be hurting it.

The good

Clover is a plant that most lawn owners immediately think of as a weed that needs to be killed. But before you start digging up or spraying your clover patches, consider the fact that it may be helping your lawn. Contrary to most other weeds, clovers can actually add nutrients to your lawn, and even help to keep other weeds at bay. By taking up space on your lawn that could otherwise be occupied by malicious weeds, clover can promote a healthy yard. It even has the added bonus of looking nice. So next time you see clover on your lawn, before you immediately start pulling it up, think about its benefits to your lawn first.

The bad

Dandelions are to most people, a nice looking plant. They add a bit of color to the lawn, and can even be eaten. But they are actually a weed, and a bad one at that. The presence of dandelions in your lawn means that it has a problem, either with the soil or the grass itself. You should remove dandelions as soon as you see them, because they are deep rooted and take up a lot of space that should be used by your grasses roots. They take up more than a fair share of nutrients and water as well, making it harder for nearby grass to grow the way it should. After pulling or killing the dandelions, be sure to check the soil and maybe add some fertilizer to it to ensure your neighboring grasses grow in strong.




The ugly

While not technically a weed, when different species of grass start growing on the same lawn the effect can unattractive. Just imagine a whole lawn of perfect Bermuda grass, with spots of wild growing meadow grass. It throws off the whole look of your yard. It is risky to kill the intruding grass with herbicides, because it can kill your existing lawn as well. You need to make sure you get the whole root pulled up, or the grass can easily grow back. After you get the other grass out, make sure your soil has the appropriate nutrients and plant the type of grass that is in the rest of your lawn. Be sure to keep an eye out for intruding grass, because you may not consider it as a weed.

Not all weeds are created equal, as we can see. Some are malicious, such as the dandelion, while others can actually help your lawn stay healthy like clover. And still others aren't even weeds, but can make your lawn look unattractive. Whatever the case, be sure to be constantly checking and maintaining your lawn and weeds won't sneak up on you.

How The Medieval English Planned a Home and Gardens

Andrew Borde is the first writer who gave directions in English about how to plan a house and grounds. Much of his advice was practical, although often he saw fit to drag in a somewhat irrelevant quotation from the Bible, or a passage from some classic author to which we should not attach much importance. He was soon followed by Thomas Tusser with "A Hundredth Pointes of Good Husbandry," which has been interestingly edited under the auspices of the English Dialect Society. Hill's "Profitable Arte of Gardening" and his "Gardener's Labyrinth" also add to our information concerning the gardens of the Tudor period.

The choice of site was given careful consideration, and an unexpected importance was attached to the view. "After that a man have chosen a convenient soil and place ... he must afore cast in his mind that the prospect to and fro the place be pleasant, fair and good to the eye to behold the woods, the waters, the fields, the dales, the hills as the plain ground." In the opinion of all the early writers, the garden and orchard were always to be located as near as possible to the house, and to be considered as an integral part of the same premises.

The approach to the house and gardens was through one or more courtyards, where peacocks sometimes answered the purpose of watch-dogs. "The peacock is a bird of more beautified feathers than any other that is, he is quickly angry, but he is far off from taking good hold with his feet, he is goodly to behold, very good to eat, and serve as a watch in the inner court, for that he spying strangers to come into the lodging he fail not to cry out and advertise them of the house."

Doves too dwelt in the courtyard or in the garden. "A dove-house is also a necessary thing about a mansion place," Borde says.