this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
877 points (98.1% liked)

No Lawns

2072 readers
1 users here now

What is No Lawns?

A community devoted to alternatives to monoculture lawns, with an emphasis on native plants and conservation. Rain gardens, xeriscaping, strolling gardens, native plants, and much more! (from official Reddit r/NoLawns)

Have questions or don't know where to begin?

Where can you find the official No Lawns socials?

Rules

Related Communities

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 116 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The only thing I would object to it the visibility of the fire hydrant.

[–] GCanuck 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I thought the same thing. But it does look like there’s a stone path leading to it. Still, perhaps a post with a sign would be a practical solution.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Hopefully there is already a blue reflector on the road. Where I am they are used to mark hydrant locations for easy finding at night.

I imagine other areas could use a different color reflector though.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’m a bit surprised at how far into the parcel the hydrant is placed but they also practically don’t exist around here, is it common to have them basically on your lawn?

[–] brianorca 11 points 1 year ago

Around here, if they are not directly in the sidewalk, (or there is no sidewalk) they still have a cement apron around them and are near the curb.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Cannot believe that someone would prefer 2022 photo instead of 2023...

[–] theragu40 25 points 1 year ago

The 2023 pic is beautiful and looks really nice. But if we're comparing in good faith, it's also pretty obvious that the 2022 photo was taken in early spring when nothing is growing.

There's surely a lot more plant life on the bottom anyway, but it would not look that vibrant if it was all dormant right after winter like the top pic.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

TBF, the 2022 photo looks like it was taken in the winter (no leaves on trees, empty/dead garden beds), and a 2023 winter pic would look about the same but with more empty/brown garden instead of grass.

[–] WhatAmLemmy 7 points 1 year ago

Once established it's probably significantly less water and maintenance too. Just trimming and weeding every quarter instead of mowing, fertilising and/or watering every few weeks.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

home owners association: "I'm calling the police!"

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Doesn't even need to be an HOA, plenty of municipalities don't accept anything but lawn in front of the house.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or just a neighbor with no life that studies ordinances.

My parents have a neighbor that waked around the block with a tape measure, measuring how far from sidewalk people had trees or shrubs. Township ordinance said it had to be 6 feet away.

She then called the city and reported everyone in violation. The neighbor never met most of those people. She was just bored with no life.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Wish we could pass a law against nuisance tattle tails. Have to prove you were somehow affected by the issue in order to report it otherwise you get fined for being excessively nosey and ignored.

I'm sure there are all sorts of problems with this idea, but a guy can dream.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (6 children)

No way the bottom one doesn't need any watering? No?

[–] hactar42 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If it's local, it's designed to survive on its own. I'm in North Texas and this summer has been hell on everyone's lawns and gardens. The exception for me is my garden with trailing lantana. It is completely unaffected and growing like mad while everything else is drying up and dying.

[–] ThunderWhiskers 10 points 1 year ago

Also in North Texas and also have thriving lantana while nearly everything else is dried up. I'm kinda at my wits end.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago

The goal is to have local plant which can survive in local climates. Then you don’t have to water as much or ever.

[–] Rilichu 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Big reason why grass lawns require so much constant watering is because they have pretty bad water retention. Having a thick layer of foliage protects the soil from direct sunlight which prevents it from drying out too quickly. Much of that water you see people spraying onto their lawns is actually just gonna evaporate back into the air before the grass even has a chance to use it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Turf grasses are also very shallow rooted.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The real question is do you have to weed or do other maintenance? I'm looking for a zero maintenance yard not just a zero watering

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] hodor 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm sure no HOA would ever fight you for this. /s

[–] Potatos_are_not_friends 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And that's why when buying a house, avoid ones with a HOA

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I think HOAs are luckily rare in Canada.

[–] Potatos_are_not_friends 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The comments here really are interesting.

"2023 is going to attract snakes or bugs" ah yeah that's how nature works.

2022 is when you work against nature.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I immediately thought about insects. Is it not how it works?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

If you do it right yup, and your yard becomes a hotspot bees and other pollinators

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

After attracting pollinators the last few years, I finally attracted crickets, grasshoppers, and spiders in my little urban sanctuary this year. I considered it a compliment from nature

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

It's a legit question. Are these yards more likely to result in additional home repairs due to destructive pests? I'm significantly less pro nature when that nature has destroyed my home by chewing wires, eating the wood from my support structure or causing leaks and water damage. I've dealt with rodents causing thousands of dollars in damage before and it completely sucks.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

a whole tree in one year? that seems misleading...

[–] OskarAxolotl 14 points 1 year ago

I think the tree was already there. It just didn't have any leaves.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

There's two trees, the big one is more in frame in the second image

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

While working on my graduation thesis at the natural sciences faculty, this is exactly what we studied: the usage of autochthon plants as a replacement for garden varieties in an urban context

Edit: grammar correction

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] edoorklep 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I want to do something similar to our front yard, which is currently mostly grass as well. Also some patches for butterflies and bees will be needed.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

simple start is adding native clover and dandelion to the grass (and obviously not spraying herbicides or pesticides)

  • clover adds nitrogen (and was a traditional part of lawns up until WWII)
  • dandelions attract pollinators and every part of dandelions are edible
  • don’t trim/mow shorter than 6" (15cm) – triggers grass grazing response rather than damage response
  • once that’s established, then you can move onto planning and design
    • native wildflowers, bunching grasses, erosion control, vegetable garden, fruit trees
    • for a garden area, the turf can be flipped over for a basic sheet mulch starter
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] aceshigh 4 points 1 year ago

looks good. wonder about the total cost (garden + burned down house).

load more comments
view more: next ›