Topic: creeping buttercup

[Annemieke]

I've got a big patch of just creeping buttercup in my garden - it used to be grass! How do I get rid of it without using poison? Would putting carpet over it for a while help? Or is it just a matter of slog - pulling them up, and staying at it forever? Any suggestions welcome ....

[Robert_Brenchley]

The stuff's hard to get rid of, but it is possible, by being completely ruthless. I've never tried getting it out of a lawn.

[Unwashed]

I've got a big patch of just creeping buttercup in my garden - it used to be grass! How do I get rid of it without using poison? Would putting carpet over it for a while help? Or is it just a matter of slog - pulling them up, and staying at it forever? Any suggestions welcome ....

Is it in a lawn or a bed?  Regular mowing helps in a lawn, and I imagine some aeration with a fork will help too, and a good lawn feed so the grass can out-compete the buttercup.  Rake the lawn too before cutting so you can chop some of those runners.

I've had it in my allotment beds and it's not so bad if the soil is well dug as you can easily weed it out with a fork.  If the bed's infested just roughly dig it over without pulling any out.  Some will die for being buried, and those that emerge you weed out by hand, though if you're on heavy clay it's more difficult and digging in manure will help lighten the soil.

[Annemieke]

It used to be a bed long ago, after that we just let it grow over with grass (wouldn't call it lawn!), but gradually it has become buttercup. I don't think there is much grass left in this area.
I've been offered some seagrass carpet though - do you think that would help?

[Unwashed]

It used to be a bed long ago, after that we just let it grow over with grass (wouldn't call it lawn!), but gradually it has become buttercup. I don't think there is much grass left in this area.
I've been offered some seagrass carpet though - do you think that would help?

What are you trying to achieve?  Do you want to turn the area into a productive veggie plot, or lawn area, or something else?

[Annemieke]

Just a piece of grass, not too tidy necessarily, like what's around it. And I don't want to spend too much time on it, but nor do I want to use poison .... I suppose that's asking too much?

[Unwashed]

Just a piece of grass, not too tidy necessarily, like what's around it. And I don't want to spend too much time on it, but nor do I want to use poison .... I suppose that's asking too much?

Not at all, perfectly reasonable.  Just mow it regularly and short and sow a generous sprinkle of grass seed at the end of September and again in the Spring, and the grass will start to out-compete the buttercup, especially if you dress it with a bit of Nitrogen in the Spring.  It'll not be a show lawn, but there should be more grass than weed after a year and it won't have taken much effort and no poison at all.

[Annemieke]

Thanks, that is very useful, I had more or less given up on it but I'll try that. Love A.