Wet, wet, wet: Gardeners getting a late start; lawns full of weeds

If you didn't realize it, this has been an extremely wet year. Many vegetable gardeners are just now beginning to get into their gardens to plant both row crops such as corn and beans and plant crops such as tomatoes. One gardener told me he didn't think he was going to be able to plant anything in his garden this whole year.

I would like to suggest that you may still be able to plant vegetables. You may need to add some peat moss to the soil to help absorb all of that moisture. There is still plenty of time to plant vegetables, both plants and seeds. You will just be harvesting a little later this year.

Lawn owners are also affected by the extremely wet spring. They are having a hard time finding a day when it is not raining, or a day when the lawn is dry enough just to mow their grass. They are also finding that the weed population has exploded in their lawn.

Most of the weeds they are used to, such as dandelions, chickweed, and crabgrasses. One of the grasses that they have been seeing a lot of is nutsedge, which is really not a grass at all. It just looks like one.

Nutsedge usually grows faster than surrounding lawn grasses. So it will often be taller than the blue grass, fescue, rye, Bermuda, or zoysia grass in the lawn. It always seems to grow in small clumps. The seed head is usually a light yellow color.

Since nutsedge is not a broadleaf weed or a grass, the herbicide needed is not the common trimec, 2,4-D, dicamba and MCPP, nor the common post emergent grass herbicides. The herbicide, sulfentrazone, also commonly sold as sedge ender, will eliminate nutsedge. It may take more than one application. I would also suggest that you use a sticker when applying the herbicide.

I hope this helps you eliminate a wet weather weed in your lawn so you can have that beautiful green expanse of foliage. Happy gardening.