I don’t want this much ornamental grass, what do I do? Let nature take over a patch of it? Hire a landscape designer for a minimum of 10k? Please send help.
More info: I’ve stopped using -icides and I have a robot mower at 3.5”.
I have let a patch grow wild and added a couple apple trees and wildflowers. The city code enforcers want to mow it and fine me, but I don’t plan on letting them.
I’m kinda against fences because they feel pretty anti-social and I’m already only allowed to see people if I use a car. Then again, fences seem like the only way to combat these crazy deer.
I don’t want to design it myself because I want to believe that professional landscape designers do more than just plop stuff around on a whim.
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As others have suggested, shade out the bullshit with a diverse array of fruit trees and other useful vegetation in order to reclaim the land and grow an abundance of food at the same time. Even if you can’t devote much time and energy to it, planting some vigorous (ideally native) pioneer species and hardy fruit trees and then just tossing seeds in there on a regular basis will go a long way toward exterminating the grass. I also second the recommendation of clover as a groundcover.
I don’t know exactly where you live but Praire Moon Nursery, my favorite midwest native plant store, has wonderful seed mixes. You can just cut low and overseed if you don’t want to do anything. They recommend mowing over for the first few years anyhow and should survive and thrive for periodic mowing.
If you want to go crazy I recommend building something on it but that is more work. You can even start with a native meadow and replace it with fruit trees etc. If this is what you want to do to create a Food Forest I recommend Gaia’s Garden for an intro into permaculture and maximize productivity for the land
- stop using weedkiller and insecticide – save a little money and save your own health
- add in inoculated clover seeds – “inoculated” adds in bacteria that makes the nitrogen more available to other plants – pick a clover that is relatively native to your area – up until WWII and the proliferation of modern weedkillers, healthy lawns were a mix of grass and clover
- leave the dandelions alone – ALL parts of a dandelion are edible – the leaves are a classic bitter green (goes really well with a dressing made from walnut oil, mustard, and balsamic vinegar) – roasted roots used to be a coffee substitute – early buds can be pickled as an alternative to capers – and yes, dandelion wine is actually a thing
- throw in lots of native flowers – attracts the pollinators that keep the rest of your garden going strong
- if you must mow, don’t mow shorter than 6 in / 15 cm – encourages stronger, more robust growth
- take up scything instead of mowing for personal exercise
Put a fence around it and label it a local insect and wildlife habitat.
It’s low effort and you get self-righteous environmental points.
Unfortunately things are not that easy. At least in western europe, if you let a patch of land sit there for decades, it will eventually turn into a forest. While forests are nice, they are not necessarily the most biodiverse places.
Some regular destruction of plants (mowing, animals grazing, etc) is beneficial for biodiversity.
Syntropic agriculture practices achieve this and some semblance of a forest at the same time. Chop and drop. Smother the grass with mulch.
Very interesting. Thanks for the link!
TIL I should be a landscaper.
My two cents is plant fruit trees that will do well in your area. Or get goats. Or half and half.
I also vote trees, and edible plants. Let it grow into an edible forest for future generations.
