What factors contribute to weeds growing on grass? “Weed” generally has a negative connotation. Do weeds benefit grass/the land in some way or are they the sum of poorly maintained grass?

Question

Title!

In: 2

Answer 1

Technically, there is no such thing as a “weed”. Or, put another way, a “weed” is an “unwanted plant”. So, a rose bush can be a weed if you don’t want it growing in the middle of your lawn.

Answer 2

As mentioned, weeds are unwanted plants. The types of weeds we commonly see are basically fast growing, fast spreading plants. In established forest/bush they can’t compete (because bigger, stronger but slower growing stuff has shared out the sun/uses all the nutrients/etc).

On a lawn however, they can grow quickly above the grass and get loads of sunlight – it’s perfect for them. They may also sap nutrients/water that are needed by grass (or other plants you want to grow in your garden).

For grass, the easiest way to keep it weed free is mowing. Garden grass is able to be cut nice and short and regrow happily, whereas the weeds loose a lot of energy each time. So if you regularly mow your lawn, the weeds will die off.