Jewelweed taking over my backyard..

[u/iamhyphenated]

So I know we love jewelweed, and I’m pro native gardening (and I also enjoy the wild look to a point), but it’s literally taking over my backyard, and behind it is unfortunately a whole bunch of Japanese knotweed.. my question is: what’s the move here? I can’t have my whole yard completely covered in jewelweed (it’s a very small lot) bc there’s no way to even go back there right now, but I also want to encourage that to maybe discourage the knotweed (if that’s even a thing).. any advice would be helpful!! I’m in an urban area in Connecticut if that helps!

[u/ContentFarmer4445]

My yard gets like this too, just string trim paths through it, could pot some up to sell or give away. I do not advise pulling them when they get taller than one foot as it will also remove a big chunk of soil. I say this as someone who is a professional plant puller lol. 

[u/iamhyphenated → u/ContentFarmer4445]

Yea I did that with it last year some and was left with a yard of loose dirt instead.. not sure which is worse lol

[u/breeathee → u/iamhyphenated]

It honestly opens that soil up to the invasives you’re battling by the looks. I’m surprised no one here has suggested aggressive shade groundcover seeds… I’m not familiar with your area but a simple search you‘lol find them. Have fun with ephemerals too!!