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> just stop mowing

Oof.. this must be regional. Around here if I stop mowing I would have a yard full of tumble weed, goat heads, and white top. All of which are invasive species. The best I can do with native plants that will live without much intervention is sage brush and compacted soil which is neither pleasant to look at or pleasant to live in. =/

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I definitely agree that the advice is regional. I live in Arizona and I've been working to transform my backyard though some managed neglect with some success. The big thing for me was knowing what plants live in my yard: what to keep and what to remove. After killing the bermuda grass, I did get some nice volunteer sunflowers that I've encouraged to the point that we yearly get a good amount of them on our back porch (water settles in the area when it rains). I've added some globe mallow and other natives over time. I've also learned about all the different invasive weeds in my neighborhood (globe chamomile a.k.a stinknet is a plague). This past winter/spring I added more wildflower seeds which turned out pretty nice. I'm hoping over time I can get more native plants or at least more desirable plants to out-compete the less desirables so it gets easier to manage. In the end I think it's more work than a lawn and takes some education, but to me it's infinitely more interesting and enjoyable to work on.

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