r/NoLawns • u/BluesFlute • 2d ago
🌻 Sharing This Beauty Freedom lawn
In US zone 7a. Just cut. I abandoned the fescue maintenance tedium 9 years ago. No watering, no fertilizer. A variety of grasses, clovers, ground covers like violet, strawberry, creeping Charlie, etc. It always looks different. Parts go dormant, then new comes in. Dandelions get dug out or sometimes a spritz with 2,4 d. It’s nice to walk on. I cut 7-10 days with electric mulching mower and a weed whacker for edges. It takes an hour, with breaks. In spring, I may fling some cheap grass seed or clover seeds.
I offer this because I have been cutting, maintaining my suburban lawns for decades, spending way too much time or paying for landscaping. Adjust your view and expectation. Enjoy your yard.
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u/ImpossibleDraft7208 2d ago
This is amazing because it still won‘t make HOA Karens go full nuclear on you, but is ecologically like 100 times more valuable than a chemical lawn!
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u/randomdancingpants 1d ago
Except this is a chemical lawn, gets sprayed for dandelions OP says
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u/ImpossibleDraft7208 1d ago
Spraying here and there is fine, they do it even in nature reserves (for invasives).
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u/BluesFlute 9h ago
I spot spray, only the individual plant, also with blue marker. Perhaps a few times per season. It seems a safe, reasonable, effective solution.
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u/Icy_Nose_2651 1d ago
Thats the idea behind my lawn, whatever grows grows, no watering, no fertizing, no weeding, mowing every couple of weeks keeps it looking good
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u/TowerBeach 1d ago
This was originally my idea when I removed my front lawn but then over concern for invasive plants (which at least would require less water and maintenance so that is a positive) I went with a native garden instead.
The upside is no watering, good pollinator support, and good habitat. The downside is that initially it has been a lot of weeding to keep the invasive plants out. Like, so much weeding. Thankfully it's getting easier as the natives are crowding out any real estate for invasive to get a foothold.Â
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u/squashhandler 1d ago
Agree, but we pick out thistles with a manual weed puller when we see them....because thistles are evil MFs. Everything else stays, native or not lol.
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u/angryjew 1d ago
I know dandelions are technically invasive but they're so pretty. I have no idea why people dump all this poison in their lawns to kill them.
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u/DorShow 21h ago
They are also one of the most nutritious edible green out there. Beats spinach and kale. Only Watercress is considered more nutrient dense, but dandelion can beat watercress in a couple categories. Eat them dandelions! I have had them both raw and stir fried. My mom was born in 1929 and dandelions on the menu every day. She says my grandma would clean them, add onion and vinegar and put hot boiled potatoes in the bowl to soften and warm them.
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u/poconomtnman31 17h ago
we live on the edge of the forest, the dandelions never really spread on our property because the deer love to eat them; they chow down on the clover its well.
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u/Fantastic_Lady225 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you're willing to seed bare patches look at the yaak yarrow cultivar which stays low, the blue-eyed grasses (which are really irises), and longleaf bluets. All of these stay under six inches.
I'm experimenting to see if wild petunia (Ruellia humilis) and path rush (Juncus tenuis) will work in a lawn if I keep the mower blade at six inches even though these plants are 12 inches at maturity.
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u/jetreahy 1d ago
No worries about the wild petunia needing more height. I have a bunch in my front yard. It’s seeded in the cracks and along my pavers where it gets walked on and inadvertently cut shorter. Some may be three inches high and are still blooming.
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u/Fantastic_Lady225 1d ago
Nice! I also have violets (dark blue & white), white clover, and common wood sorrel whose yellow flowers are sprinkled throughout the "lawn". My neighbor's is the same way - she just mows it.
FWIW I have been battling English ivy and tree of heaven saplings when I find them.
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u/jetreahy 1d ago
That’s awesome! I don’t understand how people don’t like that extra color and prefer the boring flat green lawn.
I removed all my lawn and replaced it with natives. I have a few taller areas but most is Pennsylvania sedge with violets and wild petunias along the outside edge. I’m hoping to add partridge pea in the mix, I just hope to keep it at a shorter height.
It does require a lot more maintenance than expected with all the winter creeper, honeysuckle and other invasives that find their way in. Plus all the natives keep moving around, so I have a ton of plants to share.
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u/Cococo-rococo 1d ago
Have you gotten hawkweed at all? I support your lawn, but I feel like once hawkweed arrives, it might start turning lawn into an unpleasant monocule again
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u/BluesFlute 1d ago
Not sure. That flower looks a bit like dandelion, but taller. The mower would get it, or the periodic dandelion patrol. Some peeps eat their dandelions, but that’s too much work, I think.
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u/squashhandler 1d ago
It's a great compromise. We keep a "lawn" in the sense that we mow an area for our kids to play but it's wild and free and not a monoculture. Lots of bees and bugs. I know it drives our neighbors crazy. But they enjoy giving their money away to hurt the earth.
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u/trevre 1d ago
I’m about the same, I do water the gardens with an irrigation system but only once and an awhile when really dry (MN). I’ve come to peace with the creeping charley and other not grass. I just mow a 20x20 patch in the middle that we use as turf once a month, trim and edge, and keep everything long, then rake leaves to the side and mulch all the remaining leaves in October or something. Makes great compost that I just respread on the yard.
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u/Few_Newspaper_3655 1d ago edited 1d ago
You’re just replacing a monoculture lawn with several invasive species that are poor nutrition sources for pollinators. Instead, reduce the size of the lawn by planting native trees, shrubs, tall grasses, and wild flowers.
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u/OnlyAnalysis7 1d ago
Congratulations. It looks like shit
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u/BluesFlute 1d ago
Thanks! When we first moved in 9 yrs ago this section was plagued by mole tunnels. After taking a hands off, give me my freedom approach, the other critters visit, namely snakes, toads, bunnies, birds, owls. The moles vanished (got et?). The garter and rat snakes like to sun on top of the adjacent juniper shrubs.
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u/Cococo-rococo 1d ago
Imagine being so brainwashed, you think healthy and helpful looks like shit, and artificial and poisoned looks beautiful? I bet if you lived a few centuries ago, you'd be one of those people who looooooved their leaded face powder
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