i tried wilding my little forward strip but unfortunately my neighboor's derelict property has those aggressive tree of heaven and my sewer and water pipe runs through there.
so it has to stay cut grass (including the root suckers/saplings) or i will have very expensive repairs to do
Okay, I did it
what's your next order?
Even if its full of native flowers covered with pollinators?
God, I have a ton of lawn. Few acres of it, really. Got quite a bit more of other stuff. I gotta figure out what I'm gonna do with it.
Right now my back field is just all grown up and a guy cuts it for hay. I'm planning on a wildflower meadow back there, and keeping some bees. Gotta get my tractor ready and all planned out to see what I'm gonna plant and how I'm gonna do it.
The lawn portion I'm not sure. My food plot will go there certainly, but that's only so much. Maybe I'll tear it out and do all clover at first. Idk. I'm open to suggestions.
If you're actually going for real nature, consider your local ecology. Do not by a large pack of wildflowers because those are nationally packed and usually aren't considered native so can be invasive (which can also effect your local wildlife and the plant won't fair as well in extreme's for the area that a local plant would survive). Remember, bugs and animals come back to an area knowing a certain species of plant is there for them to survive or reproduce at, making more competition they aren't familiar with harms their chances.
I would consider letting it grow naturally up and if you really want to do something than let the neighbor know so they stop cutting it down for hay (just make sure you're actually gonna do something with it). Let the natural seeds that distribute get into the area and establish. Learn to take clippings and identify local flora when you see a cool plant you want, like a more scientific pokemon game if that interests you.
I'm doing something similar with some acres the previous owners just continued to massacre with mowing and looked like a barren wasteland. It took a few years for the right establishing plants to grow up and protect the other smaller and more delicate plants but this year is the first year it looks like a natural environment. I've been identifying what each growth is and it's been fascinating researching them. Right now it's a mini bee sanctuary because something is always in bloom and for the times only one plant-type is blooming I'm taking clippings and propagating them elsewhere on the property so there's always a bunch of flowers at any point in the year.
I would start with propping up your local bee community since they survive on their own and you may fall in love with them. I have a bunch of ground and carpenter bee's in my area that I don't want to harm with an invasive colony like the honey bee's. There's also TONS of local honey producers so I just feel like I'm running after a gimmick since it's already available and there are bee groups I can join that go to all the different farms for education and socializing. Any bee person would love some help if you went out and joined them.
If you want to get really technical, there's landscaping creating berms and swales etc. But to get started I suggest watching some Andrew Millison videos as he's great with visuals and knows his stuff when it comes to permaculture. How to Fix a Broken Ecosystem
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
If you have a tractor you are made in the shade. Kill the lawn by repeated tilling then plant wildflower seeds from Ernst
Here is a good PDF guide for organic site prep
Reach out to your state's department of conservation they love encouraging this and are happy to help
I do have a tractor, which I absolutely love. Unfortunately, my beautiful old gal is going to the tractor doctor, but trying to get her ready to plant this fall.
Yeah, I talked to a department of natural resources guy at the state fair, and received a free packet of wildflower seeds, but I need like a few hundred pounds of it. I gotta email some people.
I'll check these links, hopefully find a good seed mix.
Currently trying to get rid of a lawn and boy howdy is it a pain in the derriere
I smothered mine it was a lot of work
what if they have a bunch of trees and are used to grow vegetables and shit?
hates when any land outside a house is used for anything but nonedible fuzzy green squares of obedience.I say this from previous experience. If it's edible, if bees like it, if it's actually harmonious with the local ecosystem, they will destroy it themselves if they can get away with it.
I know but it just boggles my fucking mind.
Lawn veggies are class traitors
Landlord won't let me replace the backyard with native ferns and forbs.
But what if it effects the property value??
I do zero maintenance outside of picking up dog poop. My whole yard (which is smaller than most houses lmao) dies in the winter and then I get to see what grows to replace it in the spring. It's like the soil is a loot box.
Of the many things I don't miss about living in CA, the
assholes that would passive-aggressively flick lawn service business cards on my steps, call "code enforcement" because there wasn't an HOA, and even snuck their mowers over to destroy my carefully cultivated and legal native plants as well as my edible gardens overnight under smug smirking plausibly deniable pretenses of "someone helping you out" is on the very top of that list.shoulda put up a wall like you live in europe or something.
one of the weirdest fucking things about america, seriously. the lack of fences.
a people whose brains have been entirely cooked by "my house my castle" individualism bullshit, who live and breathe pRivAte ProPErtY, yet they dont put fences up?!
This country is absolutely irredeemable.
if that happened to me, I'd be placing some steel rods in the fucking grass next time to ding up the blades
snuck their mowers over to destroy my carefully cultivated and legal native plants as well as my edible gardens overnight under smug smirking plausibly deniable pretenses of "someone helping you out"
💀2️⃣🇺🇸
I like my little postage stamp of grass out back, but I'll eventually get rid of it. Working on mulching the fuck outta the front to replace it with low irrigation native pollinator treats
I just cut mine, nothing special. Most of it is the leach field for the septic system, so it’s naturally healthy cuz of my poops. I do zero maintenance outside of cutting it once a week tho.
I too, hate myself.
Same, I hate it here (it's my parents house so I don't have much of a choice).
I feel you but mainly because I get to hear a lawn mower almost every day since different people outside my apartment are mowing on different days. The noise pollution is unbearable sometimes.
The stench of two-stroke gas motors, especially from leafblowers and lawnmowers, produces many times as much effective pollution as a full-size SUV.
Two-stroke engines need to be banned for most applications. Electric equipment only. And honestly even then I feel like you should need a permit to make that amount of noise, and it should be like the rules for animal research, you need a plan to replace or minimize where possible.
Do you really need to be weed whacking along that fence? Is it actually gonna be a problem? If so, do you really need to be doing it weekly? Would monthly suffice?
the fucking lawn machines are so loud and just constant. the suburbs are unironically louder than the city because of dipshits growing a crop of fucking grass
Death to America
My landlord had a lawn but at some point become obsessed with astroturf with big rubber mats under it, so whenever it rains we get enormous puddles of weirdly clear water
Ok
I mow the weeds. Zero other maintenance. Lawn is full of clover and other random weeds. It’s patchy but generally green looking at it from the street which is enough to keep the HOA off my ass
They're such a waste of land and resources. Would love to have useful plants growing around my neighborhood. Or even just some sheds/outdoor storage. But no. We have to have these stupid fucking lawns in front of every house for the entire town.
best take
You do really want to get rid of these fucking things, they hurt so bad