Traditional grass yards significantly damage environmental resources and are missed opportunities to embrace native, pollinator-friendly plants that restore biodiversity to your property.
However, traditional lawns also negatively impact homeowners, who are often required by HOAs to maintain them despite the high costs and constant upkeep.
In a recent Reddit post, one homeowner celebrated with r/NoLawns followers about finally being able to ditch the grass in favor of better alternatives.
"Lawn has been the bane of my existence for six years," the homeowner wrote in the caption. "This is the year it goes."
The homeowner explained that they live in a drought-prone area in the Mountain West and got stuck with a Kentucky bluegrass lawn when they bought the house.
"HOA demands the lawn be maintained (they can't see my backyard!!), but native landscaping and xeriscaping is acceptable," they wrote. "Finally have the funds and time to start removing turf grass and thinking of doing a combination native/drought-tolerant plants, ground cover, and pollinator-friendly flowers."
The photos accompanying the post share "before" photos of the lawn in an unattractive state. The homeowner asked Redditors for inspiration and ideas about how to map out a design and plan for lawn removal. Fortunately, the homeowner's HOA will agree to this plan. Not all HOAs are so reasonable.
One Redditor suggested checking out r/nativeplantgardening for regionally specific advice about finding native plants. This was helpful advice, as the original poster joined that subreddit and found a few local native plant groups.
That's a great starting point for upgrading to a natural lawn, which can reduce your water usage and bills, eliminate toxic pesticides and fertilizers, and save a ton of time on mowing. The National Audubon Society's Native Plants Database is a valuable resource for finding bird-friendly native plants, and clover lawns offer a low-cost, low-maintenance alternative.
"We're using the cardboard method to kill the grass," one Reddit user shared in the comments. "Covering the cardboard with wood chips, and eventually, the cardboard will biodegrade."
Another Redditor chimed in, "We did ours in sections, would take a large cardboard box whenever we got one and make a square in the yard with it, cover it with a few inches of soil, then plant what we wanted."
"That's going to be so much nicer when it's flowers and garden," another encouraged.
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