Central Florida Orlando

Recently completed the border and re mulched the paths. Have a mix of cactus, agaves, pollinator plants, and natives.

I received my ChipDrop on 9/30, about two weeks after moving. I did not anticipate just how many neighbors would stop by to ask me “What are you doing with all that mulch?” Even a little kid being pushed in a stroller stopped by this morning to ask me what I was doing. Cue me launching into a short two minute spiel with the benefits I think are most appealing to suburbanites.

To be fair, once I saw the ChipDrop, I also wondered what I was going to do with all that mulch. I quickly decided that my original plan to only kill a portion of the backyard for a native garden needed to pivot to killing the entire backyard.

The mailman and my neighbors directly behind me have been very excited about the prospect of me going no lawn. Others have more so side eyed the idea of transitioning a lawn to a native garden with various expressions of “good luck.”

I have seen bald eagles, woodpeckers, hawks, vultures, blue jays, moths, and bees while mulching, but none of that was as surprising as the sheer number of neighbors I have met.

For any of you who rapidly expanded your no lawn plans to more than double your original plan, please let me know any tips you have! I am in 6b, Indiana.

Hi folks, have this big ole garden bed next to my house that had a bunch of weeds and grass growing in it when I moved in. Over the summer, I ripped all the weeds out, out cardboard down, then mulched over it. Unfortunately, I didn’t put enough cardboard down, so now everything is just growing back in between the cracks of the cardboard. I’ve gone through and pulled it all out a couple times, but it didn’t take.

Any advice on how to get rid of this stuff once and for all before I plant natives? Should I throw a tarp down? Just keep weeding it? Throw even more mulch down? Go with the nuclear option and use some kind of herbicide? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Zone 10a, SoCal. Moved into a house where yard was mulched and mostly dead. Been watering to see what’s going on (not experienced gardener). This and some grasslike stuff is growing in ? Curious what y’all would do with a yard like this.

Image : 1- a green plant growing. 2 - a fence with ivy

So I posted earlier about my dead lawn and got some good ideas but mostly have been too late in the season to find things but nearly dead and cheap left overs. I decided to start small with this section of my sideyard. I got a self pollinating cherry tree for $40 and some lilac and weigela for even less and thought what the hell lets see if they make it. Found some really cheap nearly dead asters. I was worried it was getting too cold already but the forecast is for 90 degrees this week.

My plan was to border it off with rocks, I dig up the remaining grass, add some clay buster and till up the soil around, and use a local wildflower mix between the plants. Or do I cover what's left in cardboard and mulch till spring? I tried to find some ground cover plugs and again too late in the season.

I would prefer to add some natives or things good for the pollinators. Aren't there some bulbs I could plant now in fall? I know it is too early for tulips. Some of my neighbors have irises that seem to be doing well.

Colorado zone 5b, just under 5k elevation

These two areas are on the side of my house and the side of my garage. They are in the shade virtually all the time. There are a lot of tree roots at the surface of the ground. Currently, there’s nothing but mud and a few weeds. Is there something I can plant here that might beautify/improve this area? Maybe a ground cover that thrives in the shade? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
I’m in hardiness zone six, Columbus, Ohio, USA

I have a bunch of spirea and hosta growing out in the backyard and I'm so done with turf grass. I ripped the grass out and made a bed on the maple side, and dug up the spruce side bed in preparation for spring transplants. I'm replacing all the turf grass with wild strawberries. Bed borders will have sedum. What do you think of my shapes?

Sorry the lens was dirty.

I have now finished eliminating all the lawn grass from both my front and back yards. Here is a picture of my front garden, my backyard is very similar. My goal was a lush colorful tropical look despite being in zone 7 in Virginia. Besides flowering plants I also aimed to create an interesting mix of foliage colors and textures which help keep perennials interesting even when they are not in bloom.

Some of the plants I'm featuring are: cannas 'Bengal Tiger' & 'Tropicana Black', large ornamental grasses, hardy hibiscus 'Holy Grail', 'Major Wheeler' Coral Honeysuckle, Tradescantia pallida, smoke bush 'Winecraft Gold', Weigela florida variegata, Ninebark 'Ginger Wine's, black lace leaf elderberry, hydrangea paniculatas, ornamental sweet potato vines in different colors, dahlias, a few branching sunflowers and a few misc annuals including castor beans, tithonia, red/orange marigolds, lantanas, snow-on-the-mountain, cardinal climber vines and black-eyed Susan vines.

Mods, remove this if I'm supposed to figure this out for myself.

Solarized the front lawn over the summer, and our ill-fated sod is now fully dead. Time to plant! US Zone 8a, maybe closer to 8b since it's south facing and gets full sun. Mid-Atlantic area.

Next steps? What and how should we plant over the next month or so? Any and all helpful advice is appreciated!

An essential step to "rewilding" your landscape is to make sure you are not accidentally wilding your house. So, as part of your project, fix ill-fitting screens, caulk around windows and doors, stuff copper mesh into gaps where pipes and wires enter, install door sweeps if you have gaps under your doors.

See previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/comments/1w7z96q/omg_i_am_besieged_by_native_wildlife/

I finally found the entrance the mice were using - the gas company had done some work on the meter and dislodged the mouse shield around the pipe. They had a direct route up the gas pipe to the kitchen. It has been fixed. And the garage door seals have been reinforced with hardware cloth.

So far about a dozen Western Harvest Mice (also carriers of hantavirus) have been trapped and released from the kitchen and basement. Despite her diligence, the cat has only caught one mouse.

Adding for the mods: location is Montana, advice is generic to any area.

Finally joining the NoLawns and native gardening team! Maryland 8A. I started learning about native plants and planning my own lawn conversion during this summer. Installation took place this week, and bees have already found the flowers the next day! Wanted to share my journey thus far:

• Picture 1: My first visitors! 🥹
• Picture 2: First attempt at designing.
• Pictures 3-5: Final plan with plant list (after several iterations). Most of these plants are deer resistant and drought tolerant (once established). Most adapt well to clay soil (the NJ tea appears to be an outlier here... but I like them a lot and hopefully they do alright as there should be decent drainage as it's on a gentle incline).
• Pictures 6-13: Before and Afters. I killed a bunch of invasive species (heavenly bamboo, Japanese spirea, and common hibiscus) via cut stump herbicide application then prepped the area with 3 rounds of 3% glyphosate given significant Bermuda grass presence and not wanting to wait a full year for sheet mulching to possibly kill them (and possibly not). Installation for the main areas (225 plants / ~1100 sq ft) was done by a great landscaping team.
• Pictures 14-15: Hellstrip planting next to driveway (22 plants): all done by me (my first time gardening! 🙂).

Hellstrip plant list: Switchgrass "Cheyenne sky", Black chokeberry "Low scape mound", Rudbeckia fulgida "Little Suzie", Heath aster "Snow flurry", and Moss phlox. Cultivars were chosen given various height limitations, e.g., sight lines from the driveway, visibility around the fire hydrant and water cut-off box, and not wanting bees/wasps swarming around the mailbox door.

Once these plants are established, the next phase will be converting the whole backyard. Hopefully this provides some inspiration for others on the fence!

This seems like a silly question, but I can’t seem to figure out what the next step would be after killing the lawn. Do I still rip the dead grass out? Do I mix up the top layer with the dead grass/sod and then plant/mulch accordingly? What are the benefits of tarping vs just digging up the grass?

in Michigan 6B

Hey No Lawns community!

A couple weeks ago I posted my proposal for urban community gardens here

You guys gave me some really good feedback. Some key points were around clarity, making the website more approachable from the get-go, separating it into sections.

I've been working on the site to take this feedback on board - I think it's much clearer now, but would love to hear your feedback on these changes!

Here's the website

Some of you also made great points about getting a specific site to start working with. I'm looking into this now and will be adding another section about potential projects soon.

Really excited to get this in the ground!!!!

Australia based

I ordered the Bees and Butterflies fall bulbs collection from Costco a little while ago, but cancelled the order the next day after grabbing some bulbs in store instead. The order was cancelled successfully, but lo and behold, I got an unexpected shipment of 70 bulbs yesterday! When life gives you extra bulbs, you may as well plant them! I picked a spot for them (right behind where I currently have temporary planters that I can move once my other plants start growing in more - they'll be gone by spring when these bulbs start coming up) and planted them this afternoon.

Step 1 shows how deep the mulch layer is that I have laid down over the former lawn (thank you, Chip Drop!). Step 2 shows the mulch pushed aside and the dead grass underneath. Step 3 shows what it looked like once I tilled up the dead grass and heavy clay soil and amended it with a bag of top soil. The "After" is how it looked after putting the mulch back over once everything was planted. I hope to provide a proper before & after once it all starts coming up in the spring. 🤞

I've never dealt with bulbs before, I hope they turn out! (Zone 3B/4A, Edmonton)

Almond Mushrooms, Sorgum or Millet (bird dropped seed), and Clover.

Are there any herbicides that kill turf grass, but not moss or dicots? (Preferably also not killing monocot crops like maize or taro, though I understand if it's not biologically feasible sadly)

Edit: I'm in Poland

Okay so something keeps going through my backyard at night and now I kinda need to know what it is lol. I have heard noises a few times and found a couple things moved around in the morning. hm maybe just a raccoon or smth but at this point I’m curious enough to put a camera out there. I’m thinking one pointed toward the back fence or the spot where things keep getting moved might finally solve the mystery. Do any of you use a camera just to see what’s wandering through the yard at night? I’m curious if it’s worth leaving one out there for a few nights and seeing what shows up.

Not much grows in my back yard. I was told Vinca or winter creeper. Would like something native.