While lawns have a specific use, they are largely unnecessary. Personally, I won’t remove all my lawn since I have young children who need a wide-open area to run and play.
However, I HAVE reduced the size of my front lawn by about 30% and 2 years ago removed it altogether in the backyard. I also only water my lawn MAYBE once per week right now, which only began last week, whereas, since last October, I have MAYBE watered it once per month. Guess what, folks, my lawn is still green!
What’s the difference? I water for 25-30 minutes at each watering. However, I have very sandy soil. If you have a heavier soil, you can’t water that long. Please ask one of our staff how to water deeply in difficult soils.
If you are thinking about letting your lawn go dry or removing it, there are alternatives if you still want the lush green views, but with zero maintenance, we would recommend that you look into an artificial lawn. Here are three extra points to consider:
A. Do you have any established shade trees in or near (20′-30′) the lawn?
If so, you will need to provide supplemental water to those trees. Trees are often not watered properly, leaving them to seek out water on their own. They usually tap into the lawn and use water from there since we typically water it more than anything else. So withholding water from the lawn can stress some trees.
Letting trees die or stress severely is costly not only to replace but also in the energy increase that you will need to cool your house (provided the tree shades your house). Ask one of our staff about your particular situation.
B. What will you do with the area once the lawn is reduced or eliminated?
Be sure you have a plan. Leaving bare soil will increase the evaporation of moisture from the soil and allows for soil erosion, neither of which is good! We recommend a 3″ Mulch to hold onto soil moisture.
C. Will you be replacing the lawn at a later date or is it gone for good?
Are you planting Low Water Use plants? Again, have a plan. If you replace it later, you can mulch it and let it dry. Why mulch? This will prevent weeds from growing as the lawn dies and help hold deep soil moisture to hopefully save the lawn’s roots. Did you know that the roots of lawn grasses can grow as deep as 10′?
I hope these points help you decide whether to keep or remove your lawn. Do you have questions? Please leave them in the comments below, and I will answer!
-Adria