Spring Weeds

[l008com]

Does anyone know what these are? And more importantly, how to kill/prevent them?



This grow all over my lawn every year. Particularly in the areas where the grass is struggling. I know, the best way to prevent weeds is to grow your lawn nice and thick. Well thats already my goal and in most areas it's a success but in some problem areas, for many reasons, the lawn struggles.

And these things pop up. Early, before any grass starts growing. Way too wide spread to pull up by hand.
I do put down weed killer twice a year. Once in the spring and once mid-summer. But these things pop up very early, before anything does down. They seem to go away once the lawn starts to grow and they start getting mowed once a week. But they still drive me crazy.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Looks like cress to me, and I reckon I can already see some setting seed. I wish I had a solution that would allow me to eradicate it in my garden, but even if you run the mower over it to take off the flowers it will probably only produce more lower down where the mower won't get them, sorry, no solution I know of. Cursing them roundly gives some relief, if you pull them be careful what you do with them, they are quite capable of flowering and setting seed on top of the compost heap.

 

[l008com]

When I do pull some, they go right in to the yardwaste barrel and ultimately trucked away to who knows where. I guess my only solution is to keep trying to nurse that area of the lawn into a thriving sea of green.