Kill your lawn, use ground cover
this post was submitted on 17 May 2024
49 points (100.0% liked)
Environment
3923 readers
2 users here now
Environmental and ecological discussion, particularly of things like weather and other natural phenomena (especially if they're not breaking news).
See also our Nature and Gardening community for discussion centered around things like hiking, animals in their natural habitat, and gardening (urban or rural).
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Grass yards are so ugly i dont get how people like them (Yes i realize for high traffic areas its somewhat needed)
My family's yard has diffrent sections of field, and they get so pretty the longer you let them do their thing! Id rather have a feild of flowers then some ugly grass that never gets used.
Uhh. The best is to remove grass and replace it with nitrogen fixers like clover, then plant trees..
Where im at, if I didn't mow until June my lawn would be three feet tall and i'd have several tickets. Still, I don't mow until may, and then just the front for another few weeks.
You want biodiversity? Don't weed, don't spread any pesticides or growth chemicals, and don't let the natural grass go so long it chokes out the other plants. And the real key, is don't do any of those things for years. From the street, my yard looks like a yard. It's a different color than the neighbors, but it's still green. Up close, it's a salad. More violets, Moss, clover, flowers, wild lettuce, and a hundred things I can't identify than grass. Its full of bees, caterpillars, beetles, butterflies, and stick bugs.
I got my neighbor on board, and we're single handedly keeping fireflies alive in the city. I started seeing bugs I haven't seen since I was a kid.
As an added bonus, since it's a smaller proportion grass, I don't have to mow half as often to keep it looking 'nice'.
I'm not an ecologist, but I feel like it's a solid step in the right direction.
unfortunately for me the bind-weed and dandelions take over very quickly.
I love dandelions!
I don't know what bind weed is, but I like dandelions okay. You kind of have to, you're never going to win against them.
Just tell yourself bees like them.
if there is something more insidious and prolific than dandelions, its bind-weed. its a crawling, climbing vine with spade leaves and little purpleish flowers. climbs everywhere and chokes the shit out of everything it covers. the root system goes deep and wide. very hard to get rid of once it takes hold.
You can fight back against the dandelions by eating them.
Eat them to absorb their powers.
You should weed-out the invasives like grass though. Without chemicals, of course.
Nail clippers it is.
Most of the grass i have is different from my neighbors, so I would assume it's some kind of native saw grass. The blades are significantly wider and more coarse.
I read a report that suggests longer grass encourages small mammals to set up breeding areas and that mow in June kills them. Animals like shrews, hedgehogs, harvest mice, they're all being mowed up.
By mowing normally and leaving the hedgerows intact we allow animals to choose safe nesting spots.