From “Leave the Leaves” to “No Mow May,” we have inspiration to “do less” to our gardens and lawns. No Mow May, or No More Mowing? What if you were to take it a step further and get rid of lawn altogether?
What role does your lawn serve for you (aesthetic, play space, lounging area)? Can it be reduced? Maybe traditional lawn grasses can provide walking paths through a prairie, a meadow, or even an edible landscape.
The Traditional Lawn
Development and the removal of forests, meadows, and other habitats have contributed to declines in insect species, bird species, and general biodiversity. Lawns are the largest irrigated crop in the country, but what do we get out of them? Some property owners apply fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides to their lawns, encouraging just the grasses to grow, only to mow down the growth and discard the clippings.
Lawn grasses are usually composed of non-native single species or a small group of species, and require significant inputs. Cutting grass blades short stunts root growth (above ground and below ground typically develop in proportion to one another), resulting in shallow roots with limited reach. As a result, a traditionally maintained lawn has high added water and nutrient requirements. Lawns are raked, seeded, watered, fertilized, and mown from April through October. All of that work to achieve a neat, green lawn can add up to a significant amount of time and money.
No Mow May
Turfgrass on its own doesn’t provide food for pollinators. The “No Mow May” movement started in the United Kingdom as an effort to allow the grass to grow longer, the insects to emerge undisturbed, and the flowers in the lawn to bloom to feed those pollinators. You can learn more about No Mow May via Bee City.
Compared to the northeastern United States, the UK is much warmer – ranging from a USDA Zone 7 across much of the interior areas to a Zone 9 along the coastlines. That’s equivalent to coastal New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, southern New York – down to North Carolina. In short, much warmer areas than most of us are in. To allow pollinators time to emerge and flowers time to bloom, is No Mow May the right fit for us here?
There are other options to the traditional lawn, as well as other approaches to landscape management that you might consider.
Traditional Lawn Management
If you would like to keep your lawn (maybe for aesthetics, kids, pets, or picnics), you can simply modify some of your typical management practices to increase its ecological value.
- No Mow to Low Mow: Reduce mowing and let the lawn grow longer (3.5-4”) by raising the deck of your mower and/or mowing a little less often. Mowing every two or three weeks can increase flower blooms and provide food for hungry bees and other pollinators. This will also allow the grasses to develop a deeper root system, making them better able to uptake nutrients and fight off weeds. You’ll be able to water less often, reduce fertilization, and, in the end, your lawn will probably look greener!
- Address compaction: Topdress your lawn with a little bit of compost. This will increase microbial activity which will break up dense soils. It will also increase fertility and the moisture holding capacity of the lawn – less fertilizer and less water! Heavily compacted soils can also be aerated if needed.
- Embrace “weeds”: Allow the low-growing flowering plants to stay!
“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Lawn area is plantable area! Do you have a small area you don’t know what to do with? Or a large area you don’t know what to do with? A turfgrass lawn isn’t the only option!
Increase Species Diversity
With increasing focus on encouraging biodiversity, supporting pollinators, and mitigating habitat loss, there is a shift toward “rewilding.” One way to create a more natural area is to replace an all-grass lawn with a meadow or a combination of low-growing species that provide the openness of a traditional lawn, but without the mowing.
If your goals include keeping the traditional look of a lawn, there are non-native replacements for typical turf grass species. Greater diversity brings greater ecological value.
- To maintain a grass-filled space, try planting an “Ecolawn” (also called Eco-grass or a No Mow Lawn) that includes a mix of grass species that grow in spring and fall. You can typically mow just once or twice in summer, and they require little to no watering or fertilizer once established.
- Mix in some white clover, which tolerates drought and shade and fixes nitrogen which supports green, leafy growth.
These options are commercially available, can be well-established in one or two seasons, and are affordable. However, they have limited ecological value compared to native plantings.
Native Options
To take your “eco-lawn” a step further, create a “native lawn” with a mix of species that can offer flowers and even fruit, such as:
- Yarrow (Achillea) tolerates light foot traffic and feels soft underfoot, tolerates mowing, is drought resistant, and tolerates lean soils.
- Sedge (Carex pensylvanica) doesn’t require mowing, water, or fertilizer. It is low growing (5-7”), tolerates full sun to full shade and can handle light foot traffic. Sedge spreads via rhizomes, but you will typically need to buy plugs, as seed availability is limited. Sedges can serve as a host to 30+ native caterpillars.
- Wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) can handle foot traffic; requires no watering or mowing; has high ecological value (flowers, tiny strawberries, hosts 80+ native caterpillars); and it spreads. It will typically fill in by year two (use caution near ornamental plantings).
- “Heal-all” (Prunella vulgaris spp. lanceolata): In the mint family, heal-all has blue-purple flowers and provides value for bees. While it’s not widely commercially available, seeds can be collected.
- Bluets (Houstonia): These delicate, early season blooms do well with moisture and part shade can be a nice addition in mossy areas.
- Violets are edible to humans and also serve as a host plant for pollinator caterpillars, such as the Fritillary.
Cornell’s Lawn Replacement
Cornell Botanic Gardens has created a Native Lawn Demonstration Area. Planted in 2009 with 21 initial species, the site was designed to show how well low-growing native plants can perform with little maintenance, and without pesticides and chemicals. The “native lawn” was intended to be watered only minimally and mown just once or twice a year. Cornell notes that some herb plants were added, and native species from adjoining areas have also established themselves. The native plant variety supports increased biodiversity for pollinators and other insects.
Learn more about the demonstration area (including a video on how it was created) at the Cornell Botanic Gardens website.
Transition to Meadow
If you don’t need something short that looks like a “lawn,” maybe you’ve thought about transforming part of your yard into a meadow.
Where to begin with making a shift from grass to meadow or prairie? If you just decide to stop mowing and see what happens, it’s not likely that a flowering meadow will be the result. For the best chance at establishment, start building from scratch.
To remove existing vegetation you can try:
- Solarizing: Cover the vegetation with clear plastic sheeting. When the sun hits the plastic, the concentrated greenhouse effect will essentially “steam” the vegetation. This process can also kill off the “good” microbes, so once the vegetation has died off, add some compost to the area.
- Smothering: Like it sounds, this involves covering the vegetation thickly with a dense layer of cardboard, wood chips, and compost, or large tarps for large areas.
- Herbicides can also be used, but be sure to do your research before using one. Some can affect more than just your target, can harm pollinators, or can remain in the soil after the vegetation is gone.
When it’s time to add your desired plants, you can sow seed, plant plugs, or do a little of both. Some plants you might want to add to your meadow include:
- Prairie dropseed
- Little bluestem
- Tickseed
- Echinacea
- Yarrow
- Hyssop
- Mountain mint
- Monarda
- Milkweed
- Butterfly weed
When first starting, include annual grasses and native perennials. The grasses will provide a temporary cover to help minimize weeds while the perennials get established. Early maintenance will include watering and weeding but, as time goes on, less care will be required.
Visit Xerces for a free guide to creating a pollinator meadow from seed.
While No Mow May is a great way to raise awareness, and a helpful early-season step, the most important things you can do to support pollinators are to plant regionally native plant species, provide natural nesting areas, and reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides on your property. Don’t forget a water source, and enjoy the blooms!
