Pulling Weeds in Lawn - Collect them or Mulch them?

[l008com]

I treat my lawn 2 to 3 times per year and water it as best I can. It's not a perfect lawn but it's in pretty decent shape overall. Like probably most lawns, around mid summer is when the largest amount of weeds start growing. In the past I had huge years-long battles with crabgrass that I have more or less won at this point. But whenever I see any growing, I pull it out. I also get tons of small blooms of clover all over the place. They tend to grow out of one pretty strong central stem so they are very easy to pull out.

When I'm pulling weeds, often times its while I'm mowing, so a lot of the time I'll just throw the weeds over into areas of the lawn that I haven't mowed yet, so the mower can mulch them up. But sometimes if I'm making a "thing" out of pulling weeds, I'll bring a bucket with me and dump all the weeds I pull into the yardwaste bucket.

SO THE QUESTION IS. which option is better? I know some weeds can grow as new plants if part of them is cut and left on the ground. But I imagine that after going through a mulching mower, those bits probably aren't robust enough to grow? And of course if the weeds are seeding at all, those go in the bucket. But I get almost everything early enough that very few of them seed.

So are there weeds I should be collecting, and weeds I should be mulching? Is there benefit to mulching the weeds? I always hear that clover is good for a lawn, does that include when its mulched and sprayed all over to decompose into the lawn? Or is there so little benefit to mulching the weeds that its pointless to do?

 

[Anniekay]

Clover adds nitrogen to the lawn and the bees love it and since our bee population is dwindling, leave it in there to help them out.

I think you are after a "perfect" lawn. Ahh, that is a no- win situation. I would just carry on weeding out deep rooted weeds like dandelion and the newly sprouted crabgrass, that would be enough.

So long as you keep the lawn mowed with a mulching mower and mow sooner than the weeds can go to seed, your lawn will look good. The only grassy weed that looks awful is that crabgrass and you've handled that.

If what you really want is for your lawn to look like a golf course, best to talk to those people and be prepared to spend lots of money and time.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Most of the bits of weed that can start a new plant are bits of root, stuff like convolvulus. Continuous mulching can lead to an underlying layer of dead stuff, I run a mechanical rake across it every so often and then go over with the mower with the box on, I get quite a bit of moss as well as dead stuff. I keep a black bin for lawn mowings and anything else, like weeds, that goes through the mower. It gets pretty hot, hot enough to kill most weed seeds even if the composting doesn't get them, then I bury it because it usually makes a solid lump unsuitable for mulching, buried it makes a good moisture reservoir and the nutrients hopefully seep up with the water. I recently finished a trench, took out the top soil, removed about another eight inches of sub soil, then put six inches of wood in the bottom, grass cuttings on top of that, then compost then top soil back on, layered in with a bit more compost. A lot of work, but experience tells me the results will be worth it, and go on improving as it all rots and settles. I grew onions this year that I planted out half of onto a bit I had improved quite a bit with compost and manure, and half onto a strip I had done this to just next to it. We had a heat wave and drought that actually killed the ones on the improved ground, my rainwater was going to the greenhouse peppers and tomatoes. Those with the wood and stuff under them are doing well, just coming to maturity.