TLDR: Wild amaranth and poinsettias are quickly taking over my entire yard. How do I get rid of them / get something better for a yard to start out competing them?
This is my first time having a yard and I fear I've made some mistakes and it's really getting on top of me. The grass has gotten quite patchy and this wild amaranth and poinsettias are absolutely taking over. It started last spring and I tried my best to weed them out last year but they've come back even stronger this year. My biggest concern is the poinsettias being dangerous to pets. But the amaranth doesn't seem great as a yard ground cover either. I tried setting up a little area as a garden but the amaranth has absolutely taken over that area and I'm not seeing anything from the tomato and onion seeds I planted.
What do I do? I've accepted I probably need to container garden but for the yard it's not like I need a perfect green grass backyard (in fact I'm kind of against it) but I don't know where to even begin on trying to get seeds that would be able to out compete this stuff. I'm looking at one of the Native American Seeds grass mixes or would love to plant some edible things in there too but am so lost on how to get my yard set up for those to be successful.
by Goat_patrol
4 Comments
Drastic solutions? Cover the entire yard with organice cardboard (no wax, paint or tape) and a 4 inch layer of bark mulch or straw on top. You can get free mulch dropped from chip drop. You can plant what you want by clearing a circle to put a plant in it, that also reduces evaporation and water needs. Next fall you can spread Texas native wildflowers if there are areas you don’t need to plant in. Other less practical solution cover the whole yard with plastic or tarps for a full hot summer which bakes the weeds and seeds.
Are you trying to grow crops in the areas in the photos? That all looks more like open yard. Pull out the plants you don’t want, but imo if it is green and doesn’t have stickers I usually leave it. False poinsettas specifically I used to pull, but now I leave them – my dogs have never shown any interest in them. They won’t grow in the compacted soil where you walk. Other stuff will outcompete it over time. The only things I routinely pull now are burr clover and hedge parsley and cleavers and sometimes an overgrown thistle. But what else do you have going? Bermuda and nut sedge? What do you want to have growing there? Get some native american seed mix and see what comes up. But my yard is full of cretanweed, so idk.
Let those natives grow. It looks fine.
What are we wanting here? A lawn? If you just want low growing ground cover, all you have to do is mow frequently – at least once a week, and water one inch a week and your Bermuda grass that’s there will absolutely come back anywhere the dogs aren’t completely trampling it.
If you want to be extra you can fertilize it in the spring.