Susan is also blogging at GardenRant.Delawning My Own Garden
Why did I rip out my lawn? Because I hated mowing, and I wanted plants that offer more for wildlife and for my own enjoyment than turfgrass. NOT because I think lawns are inherently evil, as I explain here in my Standard Disclaimer about Lawn Removal.
My Front Garden Story — Lawn to Kitchen Garden to Pretty Groundcovers
In the fall of 2007 I ripped out the oval-shaped lawn and attempted to grow food – but there wasn’t enough sun. Now I’m experimenting with assorted groundcovers, and may add a bird bath. (For growing food, I’ll try again next year on my sunny deck – in containers.)
Here are my blog posts about this process, with great suggestions in the comments:
- In Help turn this front lawn into an edible landscape I announced my good intentions.
- After ripping out the lawn I desperately needed veg-growing advice.
- And after planting imperfectly, I reported that this Virgin Veg-Grower Vows to Do Better Next Time.
- Finally, Radical Front-Yard Farmer Throws in the Towel reveals that without full sun the edibles idea wasn't workable.
My Back Garden Story — Lawn to Pretty Groundcover Weeds
The much larger back lawn met its demise, too – composted with leaves. The design goal in this lawn replacement was to keep the space open and low — visually and functionally similar to a lawn. Plants needed to be able to take a bit of foot traffic – at least for weeding and removing litter – and withstand having the garden hose slung across it in the summer. Also, they needed to require no mowing and no watering – at all – and not cost a lot. I priced several low creeping perennials but they spread too slowly and would have cost from $1,000 to $2,000 to cover the area within one season. (Because it’s on a hillside, covering the ground quickly is essential to prevent erosion.)
The solution: First I enlarged the borders. Then for the remaining ex-lawn, the dominant plant is Sedum acre, which arrived here as a weed. It was already thick around the dry streambed, so I removed several plugs, planted them in the bare space, and in 3 months the ground is almost completely covered. Other weeds I’ve allowed to stay are the edible purslane and the native smartweed (Polygonum pensylvanicum), now blooming in fuchsia.
Of course there were weeds I removed, like the butt-ugly crabgrass and plaintain, and the too-tall ones like black-eyed susan.
The only money spent was for a few dollars’ worth of white and red clover seeds. Clover is drought-tolerant and “fixes” nitrogen – captures it from the air and converts it to a form usable by plants.
The following fall planted what I hope will look like a rivers of crocus and chionodoxa (“Glory of the Snow”) across the space and expect to be thoroughly dazzled next spring.
Blog posts about this project, with awesome comments from readers:
- One Gardener's Quest to be Mower-Free. That story on GardenRant elicited some great comments from gardeners and professionals about how they're coping with lawns and alternatives thereto.
- This article about killing the whole lawn and pondering what to replace it with got more great some comments.
- Next, how removing the lawn led to rearranging all the borders, too.
- Of course there had to be a path through this new thing, whatever it might be.
- And I always inject my Standard Disclaimer about Lawn Removal to make the case that lawns are often necessary and can absolutely be grown organically and without a lot of supplemental watering.
- About the creeping perennials from Stepables, arriving, and after finally reviewed here.