Most of our lawn issues are linked to the thirst for bigger homes and larger yards. We buy properties with lawns that only a decathlon contender could keep tidy with a push-mower. So we are forced to use gasoline-driven machines that spew out spectacular amounts of pollution.
And only someone with a hermit’s patience could excise 12,000 dandelions from the same lawn….so we are forced to use herbicides.
And surveys indicate we waste a third of our water – beautiful, pure water – on keeping these areas green.
So, in the long term, reducing the lawn area is the best, almost the only option to have a reduced negative and more of a positive. Because you can replace that lawn with beds crammed with beautiful plants….
How to reduce it?
- First, do it by degrees. You will ruin your back and lose all patience if you try to do too much, too soon.
- Have a plan to replace the lawn WITH something. Why is bare earth more beautiful than grass? It isn’t. So have some plants (perennials, preferably) lined up to step into the breach.
- How to get rid of lawn? Here I quote from the expert site:
- Lay down a coat of newspapers 10-12 pages thick on top of the lawn inside the bed, overlapping the newspaper pages by 5 or 6 inches whenever they meet. You are creating a barrier that virtually all grasses and most perennial weeds will not live to penetrate.
- Cover the papers with six to ten inches of wood chip mulch. If it’s windy, it helps to lay a small section of papers, then cover it with mulch before laying more papers. Wetting the papers with water from your hose may also keep them down.
- Then consult www.lesslawn.org or https://www.wildflower.org for what to plant instead!
Good luck! Make your garden lovely!
Questions? Comments? E-mail me on johnnydogmatic@comcast.net