The Common Yellow Weed That's Surprisingly Beneficial For Your Lawn

One of the biggest nuisances for homeowners when it comes to their lawns is dealing with weeds. A lot of work and planning goes into having a beautiful yard, but even with the best of intentions, it's easy to accidentally do one of the things that can secretly ruin your lawn. It may feel like knowing how to get rid of weeds is one of the secrets only professional landscapers know, but some of the weeds you have growing in your yard can actually be beneficial to your lawn.

Say hello to black medic weed (Medicago lupulina). Despite its name, this weed is actually a lovely yellow color, and can be beneficial to your lawn in a variety of ways. Other names for this plant include hop clover, black clover, and yellow trefoil. It is native to Asia and Europe and was introduced to North America as a fodder crop. Now, you can commonly see black medic weed along roadsides and in meadows in dry, sunny regions. This surprisingly useful weed is good for your garden, improving its quality by creating a symbiotic relationship with bacteria that fix the nitrogen levels in the soil. It is also the perfect plant to be used as a green manure crop to help replenish soil in the garden. 

If there are areas of your yard or garden where you want to improve the soil, consider planting black medic weed. With the proper care and maintenance, you can improve your garden without the plant getting out of control. Although black medic weed is an annual that dies off after the flowering season is over, it acts more like a perennial because of the large number of viable seeds that it produces. 

Plant black medic weed in locations that get a lot of sunlight. This plant dislikes shady areas and will thrive in parts of your yard where it can get up to 6 hours of sun daily. Before you sow your black medic weed seeds in the ground, soak them for 12 hours in warm water, which will encourage germination. If you are using black medic weed as a green manure cover crop, early spring will be the ideal time to plant it.

Although black medic weed can thrive in almost any type of soil, it does best when planted in moist, well-draining soil with a pH level of 6.0 to 6.8. Black medic weed doesn't like acidic soils and won't do well if the pH levels are too low.  Although it has a reputation for taking over the areas it is planted in, the whole plant can be removed with relative ease. If you stay on top of the maintenance, you won't have a problem with it spreading where you don't want it.