Bad Weeds? You Bet Your Grass!

A Garden Rescue in Toronto's Little Italy-Palmerston Neighbourhood

What's the worst weed to deal with?  As with most things in life, "it depends" on where you garden, what you are growing, whether or not you can or want to spray herbicides, and your health and mobility,  among many factors. I've come across a cute definition of a weed as a flower that hasn't been appreciated yet but you could also say weed is a plant that's in the wrong place.

What comes to your mind as a "bad weed"? Dandelions? Crabgrass? Japanese Knotweed (!) Again, it all depends on the context. If you're the type that loves a pristine carpet of turf, you'd likely find a single dandelion that has the audacity to emerge particularly egregious. And if you've been trying to eradicate creeping bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides) from your garden bed over the decades, I commiserate, since that's what I've been doing for clients it seems for years.

But would you consider lawn grass a weed? From my experience, you bet your grass it is.

I was reminded of this when Terry, the client, asked me to clean up (i.e., weed) the front of his rental property in Toronto's trendy (read: ridiculously expensive, but the city's in a real estate bubble so what's not expensive?) Little Italy-Palmerston neighbourhood.

He calls me once a year (maybe twice at most) to deal with the front garden. Since it's a rental property, the tenants naturally have nothing to do with area's upkeep so things tend to go wild until someone (me) gets hired to deal with the situation.

Before arriving, I always wonder how "bad" things will be and in this case, they were bad indeed!

 Above is a "before" picture of the north slope which has more than a few maple saplings.

 Here's the south slope. The property line runs about half way so the left side is part of the work. The groundcover is periwinkle but you'll easily notice the many grass clumps which have emerged. Removing grass from periwinkle on a slope equals pain for this gardener.

Here's the view from the sidewalk looking one way...

And the other way....

Coming up the steps.... 

A view of the garden looking left towards the front door

and backwards 

Here's the view looking down from the front porch or landing

Nothing ornamental about this grass, just plain turf growing up and through the periwinkle (Vinca minor) groundcover. This view is from the front porch or landing looking the other way.

A Few Hours Later....

We've tried growing more periwinkle on the left side of this slope but the transplants never get established since the variegated goutweed is almost impossible to remove completely without a herbicide 

 A lot less "meadowy" with the grass clumps pulled out. 

Palmerston Toronto Front Garden Cleanup after 

Palmerston Toronto Front Garden Clean up after 

The walk to and from the house is now safe without the fear of some critter running across your feet 

A fresh layer of mulch to keep the weeds at bay

There are actually some perennials here! 

Not a bad view from the porch now

Bye bye grass, until next year...