We initially planned to have a backyard of mostly pre-existing fruit trees and weed blocker and woodchips in the surrounding area. Unfortunately neighbors on all sides have I'm guessing is dove's-foot crane's-bill all over their yard and it's taking over. Should we be worried they will consume our whole yard? Is it okay to let them spread? With all the neighbors it is difficult to prevent any seeding in our yard. Open to any suggestions or tips 🙂
by hiro4
6 Comments
This is Bermuda buttercup, *Oxalis pes-caprae*, with tiny bulblets that is a crazy invasive winter/spring non native weed. It’s really pretty but will take over the garden. It shouldn’t be encouraged to spread and will die back to its bulblets when ground dries out. Apparently it doesn’t seed outside its native range so my pulling the top growth off doesn’t help much.
It’s really easy to weed. Just go out once a week and pull it gently, bringing the roots with the plant. Keeping it down is worth it in the long term.
Beautiful swaths of yellow flowers if you let it go. Bees enjoy. I let mine bloom and take them out when it’s done
I call it Yellow Wood Sorrel here in Ontario, Canada + its one of the better weeds I pull from backyard and plant emersed into kids fishtank!
https://www.reddit.com/r/walstad/s/VP240xDHTn
“Weed blocker” – assuming you mean a geotextile – will make battling this invasive weed even harder. Skip it and look into natives recommended for your eco zone
Looks like Oxalis to me. One of my worst weed enemies here in Melbourne, Australia.
Pulling it out needs to be done very carefully to try and get as many bulbs out as possible. It is very hard to get rid of by hand weeding. I’ve only managed in very small areas at a time – just ignoring it in others. To eradicate I had to pull them out carefully as soon as I saw them, always taking care to get the bulb. Doing that for a couple of years took care of it. Thankfully you get a break from that job over summer.
I’d suggest pulling all the weed mat out. That does not help with this as undoubtedly you’ll find a ton of those little bulbs under the mat where they like to clump together.
One thing that would work is chickens. They will happily scratch through and eat those bulbs. I used to have them and could just dig up heaps of soil filled with it, dump it in their run and let them go at it. If at all feasible you could build a run right over the problem area and let the chickens sort it out for you.