Low Maintenance Yards

Warm weather is here which means everyone can enjoy the outdoors. Our lawns and gardens can provide “rooms” and places for families to gather and to have fun. After all, your garden is a part of your home  isn’t it? Love the idea of a beautiful outdoor space but hate all the work involved?  Let’s look at ways to look after your yard that aren’t going to take a huge amount of time or effort.   Just remember if you live in a neighborhood with restrictions and guidelines for landscaping, check with the association for accepted lawns before you make radical changes.

Reconsider Your Lawn

Since most of the time and money spent on lawns is mowing and watering grass, investigate alternatives to your current grass lawn. The idea of a thick green expanse of grass originated in the British Isles.  Their climate and rain make having an abundant lawn easy. I live in Florida.  Grass isn’t really a natural thing here, and it takes great amounts of water and care to keep a green lawn. 

First, look at your growing zone and what works for your environment. Are you in a water restricted area?  What grasses grow well in your environment?  Check with local master gardeners and nurseries.  According to a NASA study on lawns, 50,000 square miles of grass covers the United States, which the EPA estimates accounts for one-third of Americans’ water usage. If you have to have that green lawn, consider other grasses than a carpet of thirsty bluegrass.  95 percent of American lawns are bluegrass.  TreeHugger has a great list of 10 drought-resistant grasses for low maintenance.

Consider replacing your current lawn with a “no-mow” grass. There are seed mixes introduced to produce a green space and little to no mowing. “No Mow Lawn Mix” is great for open, sunny spaces where native prairie grasses once grew, such as the cooler, medium-rainfall areas of the upper Midwest, Northeast, and Pacific Northwest. Verde Buffalo Grass is another drought-tolerant lawn alternative. They say it saves time and water, and is better for your allergies.

Replace Grass With Other Plantings

There are many posts online about the use of plants to substitute for grass and to eliminate the constant need to mow.  One interesting post at The Spruce is on xeriscaping plants .  Great information and ideas to reduce water usage through choosing the right plants for the yard.

I like the idea of replacing grass with clover. I know many of you consider that a weed. Did you know it was used extensively until the 1950’s?  White clover seed used to be included in the typical lawn seed mix, being appreciated as a ground cover with numerous attractive qualities. What do clover lawns have over grass lawns? How about drought-tolerance, cost-savings, and less impact on the environment? Interested? Clovers are insect-resistant, compete well with weeds, and don’t have to be mowed often, making these low-maintenance plants a superb substitute for grass. White clover grows just 2-8 inches tall and requires little or no mowing to keep it looking tidy.  When I was in elementary school in Tennessee decades ago, the school yard had lots of clover in the grass. We loved it. A group of us would sit in the grass during play period and pick lots of little white flowers and make clover chains. Make a circle and wear it around your neck as a necklace.  In the spring and fall, lots of clover necklaces were worn in the classroom.  It was a great place to play!

Note: I’ve been informed by a knowledgeable reader that clover attracts wild rabbits who find it a gourmet meal.  Rabbits are not the cleanest animal I’ve been told. If you live close to the woods, it might not be the best choice for you. If you live in a subdivision away from wild creatures it might work for you.

Moss is an excellent choice for wet, shady areas.  Take out the grass and put in moss. No real maintenance and it’s velvety appearance is pleasing.  Moss is a natural as a filler between stones or on the side of a path or walk through shaded, moist woods. It grows well in rock gardens.  

Use ground covers for your lawn like phlox or red creeping thyme which give you green coverage and seasonal flowers.   HGTV  has beautiful photos of all kinds of ground cover. Pick one that works for your area and sun.   If you have a deer problem, check out the article on deer-resistant ground covers.  HGTV gives all the information needed on 18 tough ground covers.  For the lowest maintenance, choose a ground cover that is native to your area.  I use purple wandering Jew, periwinkle, and dune sunflower in my yard as ground cover and low maintenance plantings.  They work well with my hot climate. Houzz has a great post with 7 low maintenance lawn alternatives for more ideas.

I am in love with an old neighbor’s side yard close to my house. Looks like he seeded for flowers and it is beautiful!  No mowing this summer for this yard. 

Replace Grass With Stone, Rocks, or Shells

Here in Florida some people choose to remove the grass and go for a low maintenance stone yard. With a barrier cloth on the ground and then a load of stones, your lawn is attractive and has low maintenance. If weeds do pop up, use a mixture of white vinegar and water to spray the yard for weeds. Please avoid toxic weed killers. While this total stone approach may not work in other climates, rock gardens can be a nice addition to any yard. Rock gardens typically contain drought-tolerant plants that don’t need much care. Moreover, the rocks, themselves offer a decor that never needs to be watered or tended to in any way whatsoever. See The Spruce’s post, Rock Gardens For Low Maintenance Yards, for more information with a database of plants like phlox below. 

Another neighbor edges her driveway and flower beds with shells.  I’ve seen it used in Florida, Georgia and Alabama.  Shells for paths, drives, etc. are popular along  the Gulf coast. When you live by the Gulf or ocean, shells just seem appropriate and I love the look.

Replace Grass With Edibles

I’ve visited 2 gardening friends who grow food in their yards before.  David and Torah mostly grow in the huge back yard.  Jim replaced the front yard lawn with a beautiful edible garden. He is quite artistic with carrots edging the beds.  Your edible plantings can be attractive as well as provide your family food.   Be sure to consider fruit trees, bushes, and vines appropriate to your area,  Who wouldn’t want to see an apple, cherry, or peach tree bloom and produce fruit? If you want an easy ground cover that provides herbs, consider chamomile, thyme, or mint.

Make it attractive

One of the most common reasons that people end up ignoring their gardens is because they don’t really like looking at it. This often happens because their garden has become ugly or just plain boring. Well, the answer to this problem is pretty simple: just make your garden more attractive. Think about how you really want it to look and make that happen. See garden planning for forms to help plan. Inject some color into it with flowers, use garden fountains to make a statement, create rows of plants for a neat, orderly style, or let things grow where they fall for a more natural look. Whatever style you like, embrace it and inject some of that into your outdoor spaces.  When my neighbor tore out the grass 2 years ago and had a truckload of rocks spread through the yard, I feared it would be a boring beige rocky mess. Just rocks. Then came a palm tree, the fountain and finally the eagle sculpture and bench which completed the look. I am more of a plant person but his yard works for him and is very attractive.  I like the fountain, eagle statue and bench which help complete the yard and give it a polished look. 

Make it part of your routine

Sometimes it can often feel as though the moment you turn your back on your garden, it becomes overgrown. The best way to deal with this is to make taking care of your garden a part of your regular routine. That way your garden doesn’t have the chance to get too overgrown, and it’s a whole lot easier to take care of it.

Hire a professional

Of course, if there’s a lot of work that needs doing in your garden, then one of the best things that you can do is to hire a professional. After all, if you need the lawn replaced or a tree chopped down, it’s probably a good idea to reach out to someone who really knows what they’re doing rather than attempting to deal with it on your own.

In conclusion, the key is to think of your garden as just another part of your home. Sure, the other parts of your home aren’t impacted by things like the weather and having your backyard outside keeps it kind of separate, but that doesn’t make it any less of an important part of your home. Give it the kind of love that you would to any other part of your home and you’ll find that you enjoy spending time in it a lot more because of it.  Make a plan for changes that are lower maintenance. Add your maintenance chores to your seasonal to do lists.  Then enjoy your green spaces.

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