Reduce Your Lawn Use: Save Water and Effort

Ditch the lawnmower, lower your water bill, and explore a variety of plants and gathering spots. Lawns are ideal as active play areas for people and pets, as well as circulation paths through the landscape. Thanks to their uniform color and texture, lawns often serve as a place for the eye to rest within an area of high visual intensity. However, lawns can be depleted of water resources and require regular mowing, fertilizing, weeding and aeration. Most home landscapes are colorful, attractive, and offer many opportunities to create sustainable options.

Are you interested in reducing the amount of lawn you need to maintain?

Here are a few ways to help you look at the landscape with fresh eyes and move beyond the lawn. Get rid of lawns that are struggling to survive. Place your lawn in deep shade or on a dry slope. It’s also a good idea to keep your lawn away from burning pavement, for example, the typical “hell lane” between the sidewalk and the street, or the narrow space between one driveway and another.

Remove unruly grass. Aim for narrow side yards, areas around trees and shrubs, and spaces smaller than 12 feet by 12 feet. Mowing, trimming, fertilizing and watering these small, awkward areas is difficult and time-consuming work. Remove lawn areas that are not used for active play or recreation. Front yards are prime candidates for this treatment. It’s usually a small space that can be a beautiful showcase even without grass.

The style of your lawn less landscape should reflect the architecture of your home. Replace your small lawn with a low-maintenance perennial ground cover. Small spaces and hard-to-reach spaces are best done with low-maintenance solutions. Once established, ground cover clumps are simple and soothing.

Choosing the right plants can save you time and money by eliminating lawn mowing, reducing water consumption and significantly reducing the need for fertilizer. Choose plants that have interest in multiple seasons, whether it’s flowers, colorful foliage or winter texture. Some ground covers can withstand light foot traffic. Creeping lilyturf, shown here, is grassy and evergreen. Depending on the growing conditions in your garden, you can choose additional periwinkle, creeping thyme or summer buds.

More plants for pathways replace your lawn with larger ornamental plants for visual impact and increased biodiversity. For larger spaces, you can use a mix of perennials, shrubs, trees and grasses without planting lawn. This type of landscape modification solves the monoculture problems inherent in lawns. Increasing plant diversity welcomes birds, butterflies and other wildlife and generally creates a more normal ecosystem. A large lawn is a visual desert.

Replacing these with a greater variety of plants creates a feast for the eye that creates interest and encourages interaction with the landscape. Color, texture, form, scent – all the garden elements we cherish can transform a boring lawn into a beautiful outdoor space. This is certainly large-scale gardening that requires planning and maintenance, but choosing the right plants can be an enjoyable and sustainable lawn alternative.

 
A walkway or stepping stone path, as shown in this photo, can help organize larger spaces and encourage exploration. Make your landscaping more productive by replacing your lawn with
edible plants. Since grass is not edible, how about replacing it with vegetables, herbs, and fruits? Lawns that struggle to survive in hot, sunny areas may be ideal for food production. Think beyond the 4×4 box and consider terraces and other structural improvements to add visual weight and year round interest to your garden. Enhance your current lifestyle by replacing your lawn with a gathering place.

Don’t use your lawn for active games and play?

Take advantage of both sun and shade and create a variety of outdoor spaces in your landscape that are quiet, intimate, and large enough for the whole group to enjoy. The lush vegetation, the sound of splashing water and the warmth of dancing flames are always welcome. A comfortable gathering space is probably the least maintenance and water-saving option for enjoying the outdoors while your lawn is replaced.
The lawn is gone! If you’re looking for alternative inspiration for a low-maintenance, sustainable, and attractive yard. (Add Company Name) is a great resource for detailed information on low grass landscaping, including how to remove existing grass. We can also suggest plants suitable for your area.
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