Lawn Alternatives
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Richelle
Posted: Jun-27-2005 at 1:53pm
I just discovered your website and am hoping someone will give me some advice. I live in Tacoma, Washington. My back yard gets sun pretty much all day long. It is currently grass but I would like to replace the grass with a low growing ground cover that is easier to care for (e.g., no mowing. less sprinkling, drought tolerant), will stay green all year long (even in August), and can be walked on. I've gotten several recommendations (mauve, Reiter, caraway, coconut thymes) and now my head is spinning with confusion.
Anyone have recommendations? What is the best time of year to plant thyme? Would spring or fall be better than now?
Thank you very much for your help. I really appreciate it.
Fern
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: Jun-27-2005 at 3:18pm
I think any of the low growing thymes would be a very good choice. Pick the flower color you want. I don't think the time of year will make a big difference. The most importamt thing to do is sure there are no weed seeds in the soil. Maybe sheet mulching with newspaper amd weedless soil before planting? Thyme does need well drained soil too. I know I do get weeds coming up in my low growing thyme, it isn't tall enough to shade the soil enough to keep out all the weeds I have around growing around here.
Fern
Wanda
Location: Puget Sound corridor
Posted: Jun-27-2005 at 8:20pm
Hi Richelle and welcome to Rainyside! I am feeling a little crabby today so I will apologize in advance if I come across harshly. I don't mean to.
This sounds like a really odd project. If there were a good replacement for grass that didn't require mowing and was weed-free you'd be seeing it for sale everywhere. The truth is, almost nothing chokes out weeds like lawn. And almost nothing is as boring as lawn. And many of us here have preached against using mono-cultures - basically planting just one thing as a ground cover. That is not really gardening. It does very little for the diversity of wildlife you want to attract and doesn't make your yard into your sanctuary but rather makes it look like wall to wall carpetting.
Instead, take a look from a few feet back and think hard about what you want. If you really need a play-place for kids then some kind of lawn is probably in order and there are varieties that are more drought tolerant and require less mowing but you'll have to search them out. If you just want a few square feet of steppables then the thymes would be nice and you can just count on weeding them. Even if you use weed-seed-free soil, the seeds will eventually blow in and you'll have to weed which is (in my opinion) way harder than mowing. Then around the outside of your steppables you can plant a garden with shrubs and trees and flower beds and veggies. But to want a big flat sunny area with evergreen steppables sounds like a fiasco. You will be on your knees weeding, and weeding, and weeding. And for what? A big flat sunny area with green stuff. I think you can do better than that!
I hope you decide to build a garden instead of a green canvas. It sounds pretty in principle and maybe you have enough means to hire out the weeding and it will look great. I am reminded of the beautiful moss garden at Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island where we all ooohed and aaahhed until they told us that they hire a full time gardener who works 5 days a week, 8 hours a day maintaining the moss garden. Yikes! Anyway, keep us informed! And Welcome!
-Wanda
Garden Spider
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Jun-28-2005 at 9:14pm
There aren't too many ground covers that compare with lawn--grass takes more abuse than just about anything else.
That said, I really don't like lawns--they are high maintenance, and take a lot of water.
In our front yard, and along the north side of the house, I removed every inch of lawn. I put in a bulb garden and a butterfly garden, and most recently, a very small rock garden. It is actually higher maintenance than the lawn was, as it takes as much watering, and far more weeding, trimming, grooming, etc! I have a foot path of weathered brick from the parking strip to the front porch, and at one time, planted creeping Thyme between the stepping stones. I now have it covered with black plastic, to kill the weeds. Next Spring, I will replant it, and hope to keep the weeds out. Weeds are very difficult to remove from the middle of creeping Thyme, and keep the Thyme looking decent.
In the back, I want to take out most, but not all, of the lawn. We have dogs, and they need some grass where they can play, lounge around, dig, and potty in.
You do have several options:
1)divide the yard into thirds--1/3 lawn, 1/3 ground cover, 1/3 flowers, shrubs, or other plantings.
2)put in a rock garden--boulders, large stones, smaller stones, and gravel paths, with ground covers and rockery plants for plantings.
3)put in a woodland garden--large trees, smaller trees, lower bushes/shrubs, non-woody plants, ground covers, with paths meandering among them.
4)put in any sort of garden, with paths among the plantings--cottage garden, Asian garden, medicinal herb garden, whatever you like! The goal would be to remove the lawn, if that ends up being your preference, but not to have a flat expanse of ground cover.
Barb
DebbieTT
Location: Washington, Kitsap Peninsula
Posted: Jun-28-2005 at 9:40pm
Nichols has what they call an ecology lawn mix, which is a mixture of grasses, herbs, clover and other small growing things. I think that would be a pretty alternative to lawn. It will still need mowing but it doesn't need as much watering as other lawns do.
Ecology lawn mix
"These are carefully blended turf mixtures, combining grass, sweet clovers, wildflowers and herbs. You will find the Northern and Dryland Ecology Lawn Mixes to be reminiscent of the old English mixed herbal lawns for which many of our customers have inquired."
cjmiller
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: Jun-29-2005 at 3:10pm
I had never thought about it, but my patch of wooly thyme always has some annoying weed growing in it. Right now there are several blades of fat grass that I know are attached to a wicked white root that has a grass blade sprouting system about every 2 inches which disrupts thyme roots if you endeaver to pull as much as the root as you can, if you weed just the grass above ground you can look forward to many more fat blades all summer. Right now I am impressed with a ground cover commonly called wire vine--Muehlenbeckia--which I am using on a very steep bank--I dont know if you can walk on it because of where it is planted, so I dont really know if it is a good substitue for grass or if I am asking for a bigger problem in the future, as it is also hardy and spreads significantly. 4 inch pot to 6 x 8 foot bank cover in one year.
Carol
Richelle
Posted: Jun-29-2005 at 9:27pm
Thank you all for sharing your expertise and experience. You have given me lots of valuable guidance and food for thought. Believe me, I will not be killing my lawn off today or tomorow. Mowing doesn't sound nearly as bad as it did a week or two ago. Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!!
DebbieTT
Location: Washington, Kitsap Peninsula
Posted: Jul-02-2005 at 10:08am
You are welcome Richelle, please let us know what you decide!
Fern
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: Jul-02-2005 at 6:26pm
I planted the creeping or pearly wire vine, Muehlenbeckia axillaris, last winter and it was cold hardy. It can take some foot traffic they say. Since it only grows 2 inches high it may let weeds sprout. I think the rule is that the ground cover should be 4-6 inches tall to stop weeds. Fern
cjmiller
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: Jul-03-2005 at 8:49pm
When I mentioned this thread to my husband his immediate response was: Pour cement and paint it green. Years ago we had a mailman who was, without a doubt, the weirdest guy I have ever known. He always "solved" any problems with off-the-wall solutions. However, he had to take his green ground cover out, because 1. he didnt get a permit, and 2. it covered all the utility entrances to his house! Don't use cement and paint it green.
Carol
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Jul-03-2005 at 11:35pm
cj, your story reminded me of the lawns I saw years ago (we won't say how many) when I visited a high school friend in Tucson. Yup, you guessed it, green painted concrete. Almost as many had green gravel. It looked so out of place. But hey, now they can put down fake lawn. I just saw what is basically astroturf being pitched for lawns in a magazine (Sunset?). There's a house a few miles from me that has fake lawn out front. I was blown away when I saw it. Not my thing but hey, you don't have to water, feed, weed or mow it and it's always green.
Garden Spider
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Jul-04-2005 at 8:31am
Here in Seattle, there were some apartments that were a built in a U-shape, with a courtyard in the middle, and yes . . . it was concrete, painted green, with those old-fashioned metal lawn chairs, painted all different colors. The building isn't there anymore--I guess it was just too ugly to live.
When I visited my mom in Arizona this last spring, I saw some of those artificial lawns. Down there, it makes sense. Lawns are SO demanding of water, in the desert. My mom and stepdad don't have lawn, they have a desert landscape, with rock. It's very attractive. But the rocks get darned hot during the day. They do have some ornamental plants, but Mom said that before anything is planted, they have to dig out the caliche, haul it away, and then haul in topsoil. It's a major ordeal to put in one small flower bed, let alone an entire lawn!
Sure can't see any reason to have an artificial lawn in Oregon, though . . . I guess it is low maintenance, but geeze . . .
Barb
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton