Would seeding the coarse grass paths around my allotment with yellow rattle work as a means of reducing the vigour of the grass?
Yellow rattle, Rhinanthus minor, is parasitical on the roots of many meadow plants, drawing nutrients from them. It doesn’t mind the odd bit of grazing, but it won’t like being mowed regularly. To establish it, you’d have to lower the fertility of your grass and leave it to grow longer. In short, it’s best suited to a meadow.
One solution is to make sure path edges have a good slant towards the bed, as this helps when edging them: it doesn’t cut down on work, but it does make the job easier, and the more you cut, the less vigorous the grass will be at the edge. I had similar paths on my allotment until I replaced them with bricks. I scalped off the grass and laid weed-suppressing membrane topped with bark chippings. After a season, most of the grass was gone and I laid down bricks. You could also resow with clover: it’s less vigorous than grass, so won’t need cutting as often, and has the benefit of feeding itself, and the soil around it, with its nitrogen-fixing roots. Perennial white clover works best in paths. Don’t let it seed, though, because it will spread.
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