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mkirklions

>Additionally lawns are an unnecessary waste of time for most people and have a large carbon footprint.

I made a serious attempt to do ANYTHING but a lawn. Here are the issues-

No grass= erosion. This + weeds makes a dirt yard impossible.

If you want to 'farm' there is tremendous maintenance involved

Turf is expensive, but might have been a solution.

More concrete= hotter. This is bad for the environment.

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So is the solution to let native plants grow all over your yard? We did this for 1 year, but my wife ended this.

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> So is the solution to let native plants grow all over your yard?

Yes, but that doesn't mean you have no discretion or control over what is growing and how. The key is that you want to choose things that require no supplemental watering or nutrients like most non-native lawn grasses do.

Choose native grasses that are well-adapted to your climate. This may mean dormant / brown periods of the year, but this is perfectly natural. There is a mental hurdle to clear about an aesthetic that isn't going to be achieved.

There are many native ground covers that are also available, and many that flower to provide habitat and support for animals. Both these and grasses can be mowed to an acceptable height.

Wherever possible, put in native wildflowers or shrubs/trees. These sustain other life and they look amazing.

I'm compromising with my wife and only mowing a small portion of the yard we have and I won't touch the rest. I might try and introduce some native wildflowers, like milkweed, though. We live in a more rural part of the country though so it's maybe easier to do such a thing here compared to a subdivision or something.

You could introduce all kinds of edible plants on your yard; some berry bushes, a small apple tree, raspberries. Don't garden, just rip out the stuff you don't want. Let the remaining plants find their place and time.

You'll have a nice little garden in a few seasons.

> So is the solution to let native plants grow all over your yard?

We're currently planting berry bushes, nuts and clover in large parts of our yard. It's fairly low-maintenance and as a bonus the clover is and excellent food source for our rabbits and chickens.

I used aggressive native plants from my area. These included Jerusalem artichokes, Indian Hemp, Joe Pye Weed, etc. in the sunny areas. Virginia knot weed, etc. in the shady areas. They colonized my yard very well and even kept the English Ivy at bay.

I had no issues with erosion. The plants lived for years and established rhizomes and extensive root systesms.

You can go for natural hard surfaces like stone, brick, gravel mixed with native plants and grasses. Native trees typically do a good job of crowding out the ground by consuming all the resources but will help fight erosion; trimming a tree every couple of years is less work than mowing twice a week.

Lawns are a major soil conservation and labor saving measure. They have a lot of qualities that suck but the alternative is more costly and requires quite a bit of work and skill. Any dummy can maintain a lawn or hire folks to maintain it for cheap.

That's more or less what we do. One section I seeded with grass and mow regularly. It's only around 50% grass now (after 10+ years), but it's short and green and looks like grass. Another section I cut with a scythe once a year in autumn. It looks cool in the summertime when it's in flower, in winter when it's cut down it just looks like the rest of the garden

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