losing the lawn: reducing and re-thinking conventional grass

Ecologically, we are (and really always were) in a time where we cannot continue to see conventional mowed lawns as the solution for the open spaces around our homes. They require lots of fertilizers and added synthetic amendments, lots of water if you choose to keep your lawn green in the summer, and lots of time mowing. Lawns provide very little habitat value to pollinating birds and insects badly in need.

Don’t get us wrong! We love a lawn where it makes sense and we’re not all-or-nothing designers. Lying on a cool lawn with kids, dogs and friends is a simple pleasure hardly topped by many other outdoor activities on a lazy, hot summer day. We aren’t ALWAYS anti-lawn and we love putting one in where we know it will be used, loved and well cared for. So what we’re proposing is that you keep the grass you will picnic on and get rid of the rest of it. And for your kids and dogs, take advantage of a lawn at a public park near by.

Yes, your conventional lawn in the grand scheme of things, is such a tiny drop in the bucket when thinking about making lasting ecological change. But the thing is, the fences and property lines dividing our plots from our neighbors don’t mean much to migrating birds, insects, frogs, deer, whatever is in your local ecosystem. If we think of all of our properties as puzzle pieces in a vast landscape, we begin to see the benefit of getting rid of the grass. If all of us would remove some grass, what was once seen by local fauna as an urban habitat puzzle with missing pieces - disjointed patches of resources - may soon become an almost complete puzzle with interconnected habitat corridors through cities and other developed areas.

We urge you to embrace your wilder side and stop worrying about perfect lines and edges. Allow yourself to be excited by seasonal change and a little over growth, to be moved by the sudden cheerfulness of bulbs popping in spring, the softness of cosmos petals in a fall sunrise, to be amazed at the amount of finches eating seeds in your yard in winter, all in the space where your lawn used to be.

One of our conventional lawn to drought tolerant front yard transformations. Are you convinced yet? :)

So what do you do once you’ve ripped it out?

Plant a Lawn Alternative

There are much more ecologically beneficial lawn seeds that provide a mix of grass, clovers and other ground cover species that feel good under your feet. Some of our favorites come from Protime Lawn Seed and Northwest Meadowscapes. These lawns don’t always require mowing and if you first seed it in the fall you can let it go dormant in the summer, so no irrigation is required.

*A now-mow native meadow from* *Pro Time Lawn Seed* *requires no synthetic fertilizers, no supplemental water after the first year of establishment and grows to 8” tall.*

We are also all about the native sedge Carex pansa that you can find over at one of our favorite local plant nurseries Xera. You can plant plugs about 10” apart and wait for this soft, floppy, lovely green sedge to grow into a mass.

use a mix of other groundcovers

Seeding yarrow, creeping thyme or speedwell is an inexpensive way to cover lots of ground with drought tolerant, low growing vegetation that needs very little care. They all flower beautifully and the yarrow and thyme are native. If you want more ideas for under-foot plant species, check out Stepables.