Shovel, hoe and weed pulling maintenance you should be doing on your prairie right now:

shovel- Wild Parsnip (don’t touch the sap, or you will get a blistering sunburn wherever you contacted it), salsify (already going to seed so bag it), Dame’s Rocket (looks like phlox), milk thistle, quack grass (bag it), Reed canary grass

(bag it), sour dock

Hoe- Canada thistle, foxtail barley, wild buckwheat (field bindweed), Venice mallow (just now emerging), wild lettuce, red clover, alfalfa

Pull, bag and dispose: Wild oats, smooth brome, Kentucky bluegrass

This list isn’t exhaustive but it is what I have been seeing lately. A healthy prairie requires maintenance, especially here in Iowa where everything wants to grow in our fertile soils.