With what can we replace our lawns?

bédé · March 2023

My answer is nothing, really.

We have to balance the ecology with aesthetics and use. Liitle is left.

Obelixx · March 2023

You could do simple things like letting the grass grow longer and cutting less frequently; laying permeable paving; planting thymes or other drought tolerant plants......

https://www.rhs.org.uk/lawns/drought-care

bédé · March 2023

What are the biggest negatives for the environment in gardens? Let's draw up a list of possibles:

A well-kept lawn
A meadow
Something in between (a weedy lawn)
An articifial lawn (concrete, textile and the like)
A bush-rose garden (with all those ugly stems and eco-unfriendly bare soil)
A shrub-rose garden
A vegetable patch
Paths, drives patios and terraces.
The house plot itself
....

Come on, you can add to this list yourselves.

When we've got a long list we can rank by positives ans negatives.

Obelixx · March 2023

Now you're changing the subject and the answer to how to replace lawns surely lies in what people use their gardens for.

Who says rose beds have to be full of bare legs? Sensible gardeners cover the bare soil and legs with other attractive plants.

Space and ingenuity permitting, we can have all of the above except artificial lawns which are a big ecological no-no.

wild edges · March 2023

It's the wrong question really. The question should be more along the lines of 'what do you do with the bit of the garden that doesn't have to be lawn?'. People shouldn't be shamed into not having a lawn if they want one but, at the same time, they shouldn't be shamed into having a lawn. Shaming other gardeners is what has led to the over-use of chemicals and the mass uptake of plastic grass. People are more ashamed of weeds than of plastic grass even though weeds are generally the better option.

debs64 · March 2023

What’s this thread for? Suggestions to replace lawns? Comments on the environmental impact or otherwise of lawns? I don’t have a lawn, rented house so not my choice but I must admit I don’t miss it. I only have a small garden and no lawn means more space for beds and hard landscaping for pots.

robairdmacraignil · March 2023

I think the phrase variety is the spice of life applies here and the best thing to replace lawn with, is with as much wildlife friendly plant variety as we can manage. I still have a good area of lawn but prefer it not to be a grass mono-culture so am happy to see some common daisy, clover, self heal and some other wildflowers in it and don't add fertilizer or chemicals to discourage them.

I also like having other plant types growing and applied a thick layer of manure over a section of the lawn for a few years now to extend the area for other plants including vegetables, fruit, shrubs, trees and annual flowers. Got a new area converted from lawn over winter that I have just added some flowering currant and some Myrtle seedlings so will have to see how that progresses before deciding on how much lawn to get rid of for next year.

Happy gardening!

Palustris · March 2023

Lawns really only originated as a feature as a boast. "I am rich enough not to need all of my land to grow food." Then it was taken up by Victorian suburban gardeners when a lawn mower was invented.

Replace the grass with a more diverse spread of plants would be my answer, if I was allowed to by she who is always right.

clematisdorset · March 2023

I always think it is a pity when a swimming-pool full of chemicals could be instead, a wild-life pond or even a wild-swimming pool, sans said chemicals.

Busy-Lizzie · March 2023

I have lawns with wild flowers in them which are mown in summer. It would be far too expensive and too much hard work to replace them with anything else, such as flowers, paving, gravel or even veg beds. There is a paved terrace. I have a big veg garden too and flower beds and borders, roses, perennials and climbers, all of which I have made borders for and planted. My garden is in France where gardens tend to be on the large side. I'm lucky enough to have a wild flower meadow too, with grass, which the farmer mows once a year for hay for his cows.

OH has his house in Norfolk, the garden is a mini version of mine but no veg. Grass is easier and nicer to look at than other surfaces we think. Doesn't have to be weed free, so long as it's green. There is some gravel and paving around the house for a table and chairs.

bédé · March 2023

I can add to the list:

Deciduous hedging
Evergreen hedging
Mixed native-plant hedging.
Trees (doesn't have to be woodland)
Coniferous trees.

With what can we replace our lawns?

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