My lawn is all sorts of dry after the PNW heat wave, but the weeds sprouted up like a forest.
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It’s because there’s so many things that can be considered weeds and very few things that you’re actually trying to grow. The weeds are whatever is opportunistic and the environment is just right for but the things that you want to grow may not match it as well as any random plant that happens to fall in place
Oftentimes, the plants we consider “nice” garden plants get that reputation specifically because they are more difficult to grow. Anyone can let their lawn go to fast growing native and invasive plants like dandelions, clovers, etc. but only those who have the resources to maintain a garden and lawn of other plants are considered good gardeners/home owners. It’s a societal thing.
Even if you opt for a wildflower lawn (like I have) that takes fewer natural resources, if you want certain plants (like the poppies and bachelor’s buttons native to my area) you have to give them a chance to get established before being choked out by opportunistic “weeds” that use the strategies of being fast growing and spreading out wide to cover more ground. Once the native wildflowers become established however, these weeds that grow quick and dirty aren’t an issue anymore. It’s just the initial germination and growth from bare dirt.
My guess is that you are trying to grow non-native plants like lawn grasses and ornamental flowers, which are not adapted to your area and this take constant care or they will be outcompeted by other plants that have centuries or even millennia of evolution in the climate to help them.
A lot of plants we bring to our gardens may not be within season or native to the region where we live. We have to make a number of adaptations for them, including specialised fertilizers, watering schedules, pesticides, etc.
Weeds, on the other hand, survive and thrive in quite a few harsh environments with whatever resources they can get their hands on and often compete for resources with other plants. They are also native to the area and climate in which your garden is located and are happier in a wider range of soils than the plants you chose to have. Some of these weeds have underground roots that help provide them with resources and energy, and normal weeding will not rid your garden of these since they can be deep. Weeds can also self-fertilize and a number of them may even attempt to poison neighbouring plants with toxins.
Different plants like different amounts of rain or heat or sunlight or soil composition, and obviously they grow best when they have exactly what they want
Weeds aren’t a special kind of plant, it’s just a generic name for a plant that grows where humans don’t want it grow. The plants that grow everywhere do so because the local environment is perfect for them
As it turns out, what humans want is usually incompatible with nature. The plants we want (like lawn grass) are actually very incompatible with the natural environmental conditions. They struggle or die out frequently and need constant human intervention to survive conditions that are perfect for plants that we don’t want
Grass needs a lot of water to keep its green colour and fresh growth. Weeds do well with the bare minimum, especially after fresh rainy shower, also many weeds have long roots going deeper than grass roots hence can access water deeper within the soil. Grass roots do not grow much during summer, they develop during winter time, so there’s no growth on grass roots during summer to search for water saved deeper in the soil.
Because a “healthy lawn and plants” is completely artificial and unnatural. Many “weeds” are native, natural plants that are supposed to be there.
Lawns were originally created by wealthy people as a way to show off, because it was assumed that only rich people could afford the expensive upkeep needed. Middle class began copying the rich and now homeowners in general force plants to grow in a way that is completely contrary to nature because they are expected to.
Which is fine if that’s what you want, but fighting nature takes time and effort.
While alot of good explanations given, answer was given thousands of years ago- Book of Genesis- sweat of the brow to eat thy bread. Lord cursed the earth with weeds and thorns after the garden of Eden.
Why are weeds so easy to grow? But why is weed so hard to grow? 🤠
“If dandelions were hard to grow, they would be most welcome on any lawn.”
Andrew Mason
I read somewhere and maybe someone else can expand on this but most grasses we use in lawns aren’t native to the places they are planted so they aren’t as good at growing in those areas the weeds being native have a leg up
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