Anyone gotten rid of their front lawns?

I'm thinking about getting rid of my front lawn next year. It is not that large and my back yard is so full that I would like more room to grow stuff.

Has anyone done this and then regretted it or put it back? Or are they very happy that they did?

I have nearly gotten rid of my front yard. :) I am pretty much down to mower wide paths between beds. I do not regret it at all and the thing I like best, is that my neighbors and people that take walks get to enjoy my plants. People often stop to ask what something is, or to compliment the plants and my hard work. That is pretty nice. I love the look on their faces when I offer to dig them up some. LOL

our backyard is all woods, it's right up to the house. so all we have is the front yard. I'd take it all up and put in beds with walks if DH would let me, that and the water situation. I love mine. it's not for most people, but if I want to garden, it's here or nowhere.

I'm making progress on getting rid of the front yard. It's the only area that gets full sun, so the tomatoes go there, of course! I have been slowly taking over the grassy area with beds, mostly flowers and shrubs, but also including the tomato area, and one for raspberries. I guess it's now about 40% lawn, down from 95%.

I am quite pleased with the results, and wish to increase the beds a bit more. I must leave some lawn for my old dachshund; she has a ramp to the front door (back surgery 2 years ago... no steps allowed!) and the back yard is too far away.

My front grass is going away at an alarming rate (Roundup). It is my only yard for shade so far since my trees in the back and side yard are small so I needed it to plant hosta's in. I have put in a berm and water feature at the front door with the hosta's all over along with other shade lovers. Have put in walkways between berms and along the house. No shrubs against the house to have to fight when I want to wash windows or paint the house. I love what it looks like and I have gotten plenty of compliments.

I have a small front and back lawn. I have never had a lawn in front. It is solidly packed with flowering trees and flowerign plants. I love it. I have to make the most of all my space. I have noticed that in my neighborhood more and more people are removing at least parts of their lawns and planting them with a variety of plants. The U shape is popular with the U being various widths of plantings and the center of the U lawn.

I am trying to get my DH let me get rid of his small grassy area in the back now. So far he refuses!

Thanks everyone, a portion of my lawn will be leaving today and I'll be moving some day lilies from the back yard and am going to buy some different bulbs at the nursery. I'm so excited that there is more room to plant. I wonder what the neighbors will think with corn in my front yard next year.

My front has been gone 2 years now. I covered it with newspaper and 4" of mulch. By the following spring the grass became 'composted' earth and was ready to plant in. A very easy method and organic.

golddog, My problem may be that they layed sod in before we bought the house and there is plastic mesh about 2" down under the grass. We have been in the house 9 years and this plastic mesh looks like it could be around for another 100 years. Oh well, I'm just going to pull up sections at a time and amend the soil under with compost as fast as my compost bin will make or my plant budget will allow.

Kathy, most of our front lawn is also history. Even if you have the mesh under your lawn, cover the grass up with newspaper weighted down with something for a couple of weeks. The grass will die completely, and it just peels off, and it will be much easier to get the mesh out completely.

Half our front lawn died during a drought a few years ago, so I made a thyme lawn. It thrived all during last year and this year's drought, never got watered at all. Stays green all winter, too :) Many beds and borders scattered through the remaining half of the yard makes almost no grass! Yippee! I would love to get rid of the rest of the grass lawn, but I have been vetoed (so far). Little by little, I am encroaching :) Neighbors love my yard so much they are emulating me, too. Fewer and fewer blasts of lawn mowers every day, string trimmers, all the other noisy things that suburbs attract. And the best thing is, with all the trees, shrubs, flowers, etc. boy do we have songbirds! And butterflies. And hummingbirds. And frogs. And locusts. Oh well, can't win them all ;)

Lupinelover, your thyme lawn sounds wonderful! Have you gotten different kinds of thyme growing or is it all the same kind? That sounds like something that could work here too. Not mowing sounds wonderful!!!!!!! My DH concurs with that. LOL

lupinelover, I have wooly thyme growing in different areas all over my backyard and it spreds like mad. Is this the kind of thyme you are growing? The newspaper idea sounds like a plan and I will be trying it in small sections until all the lawn is gone before long. Thanks

My thyme lawn was based on one I saw at a public park/garden. http://metroparks.co.franklin.oh.us/inniswood.htm#features They used 8 different kinds of thyme that were all different: either variegated leaves, different color flowers. I chose 8 different kinds, 4 prostrate and 4 more upright growing, again, different colors though. I put them in a kind of patch-work design. My mistake was using mother-of-thyme that swamped some of the low growing ones. I removed it this spring and replaced it with better kinds. It is magnificent! No mowing! No pest problems (except bees :) No irrigation needed after it is established. It stays green all year. I can't say enough great things about my thyme lawn, except the woolly thyme doesn't thrive here: too humid :( I would adore a lawn made of woolly thyme.

you know lupine......don't you really think, many gardeners or yard owners, I should say; spend more time and money on their lawns than on their gardens......our lawn has been diminishing for the ????? past years and still ????? more perennials and lower growing roses!!!! Elaine

Although, if the grass is removed, weeds of all makes will enter. Our town has removed the grass from around all the monuments and such. Filling with wood mulch. After 3 months the weeds are in places 3' high. So in this case removing existing grass will create a high maintenance area (remulching and weeding). My garden is definitely high maintenance with the removal of grass. But I now have my favorites wall to wall. Mrs. Cooke, 2 houses down, told one of my neighbors that I have a lot of weeds. Weeds they might look to her, but to me the garden is just what I want it to be.

golddog, your yard looks wonderful and so much more inviting then lawn. Sitting on your front chairs you will see so much more bird and insect activity that it will seem more alive. I can only hope some day to have a front yard like yours.

Hi Kathy, that is actually the back. The front is just as full. Here is a before and after photo.

golddog, it is just wonderful. How much time a week to you think you spend?
Kathy

About 2 hours a day, plus more if a project is underway. Watering made up for most of the time spent with the dry summer. Mulching in the spring is really, in the long run, a time saver. I am going to mulch this fall with the big 'chunks' of mulch for sale in bags. Hopefully I won't have to do a lot of mulching next season.

Golddog, I love your new landscape! I hope you can find lots of mulch. It makes a huge difference in my yard, too :) Much less weeding to be done when I have a deep mulch. I just have problems finding one that isn't a home to slugs.

Elaine, I read a shameful statistic a couple of weeks ago. Americans spent more on lawn care last year than India took in income taxes. 40 billion dollars. It should almost be a crime to waste that much money on grass.

golddog, you have taken your yard from mundane to magnificent!! We also eliminated our front lawn several years ago and replaced it with garden. It is a full north exposure and not real big so we left the grass strip at the street as a buffer.Since we live in a residential area on a state highway it is subject to foot traffic and salt spray in winter.The rest is hosta, bulbs, a lilac, redtwig variated dogwood and a few annuals- love it especially in late summer when all the surrounding lawn areas are brown and dry.MW

wow! ladies i'm so glad i stopped by here this morning. what incredibly gorgeous homes you have and ideas that send me into a tizzy :) the only thing i have to say about that old bat that lives down the street is she's jealous and green with envy. such is her loss, that she can not enjoy the beautiful art you have created for all to enjoy.

i still have a whole big front lawn, but that is ok i'm working up to different ideas as i go along and make new beds and learn more and more from my friends here at dg. i love that thyme lawn. a patchwork. sounds like you made a quilt out of your front lawn. :)

thank you for sharing.
debi z

I'd love to get rid of almost all of my lawn but unfotunely I have 5 acres,lol.
We don't have a mature tree on the place either so it's slow going to get it all covered.

lupinelover,

I have two little creeping thymes that I started beside the house, and I'd love to have a whole yard of thyme, it seems to be doing really well despite the awful drought problems we have had this summer up in Northeast Ohio.

My main question is, Did you plant individual plants or seed?

Janie, I started with plants. In the spring I bought 2 pots each of the different kinds I wanted. I pulled them apart to get small plantlets. After they were established and started to grow, I made stem cuttings, and got 80 new plants. By fall they had almost completely filled in :)

Thyme (except for mother-of-thyme) doesn't come true from seed, so if you use it, there is absolutely no guarantee what you will wind up with. It roots very easily though, also you can do layering, serpentine layering, mound layering for the upright kinds, etc.

OK, I'll bite, what is layering, serpentine layering, mound layering?

Our neighbors are entirely anal retentive about their lawns, I am delighting in the idea that we could have a beautiful, blooming, great-smelling, MOWER FREE lawn in our front yard!!! What a savings in water bills alone!

Hi Kathy,
I have also eliminated all of my grass..front and back within this past year. We only have a small patch of grass on the side of the house for my small dog. I live in a very residential neighborhood and most of my neighbors have very manicured yards with no interest at all.
My front yard is very small and the little bit of grass that was there, took up most of the area and was very boring when we moved in 4 yrs. ago. I created this new design for my love of the garden and I get lots of compliments about all of my flowers and the new look it gives my house.

This is a picture of my house BEFORE and below is a picture of AFTER.

Donna

This is the AFTER picture.

Donna

Donna, the after picture looks so much better. Your front yard looks approx. the same size as mine and it looks like you get quite a bit in that size. Do you grow any veggies in the yard? Thanks, Kathy

Ravenbuck, I'm in the same situation! 5 pretty bare acres. Lots of tree seedlings that we've planted the past two years, but only two ponderosa pines that are mature. We also tore out lots of the landscaping we had done to build the new house, so next spring is going to be a major overhall here. Unfortunately, the landscaping that we tore out was around the trailer house, and that was the best grass we had. The rest is prairie grass, clover, sage and weeds. Gonna be a lot of work ahead of us here.

But, I think I'll plant a fair share of it to grass too. I kind of like grass as long as it's nice grass that we can throw a blanket on and have a picnic, look at the stars, or read a book. I love the night time. I don't think I really would want 5 acres of all flower beds and veggie gardens. They are a lot of work, and since we have a garden tractor, mowing isn't all that hard, actually it's the easy part.

I'm thinking it will take me at least 10 years to get this 5 acre yard the way I'm seeing it in my mind. Maybe 20, since some of the trees are slow growing.

By the time I retire, I hope to have my 5 acres planted the way I want them, and somewhat maintenance tollerable. If that doesn't happen, I hope to win a lottery so I can afford a gardener when I get old.

Okay, kicking the soapbox away and going back to packing for moving.

SoCal, real nice job, it is VERY attractive. I would imagine you are having an influence on the neighbors, maybe not right way, but slowly and surely.

I've been passing by this thread for days! Sure wish I had stopped by earlier! Wonderful ideas and pictures.

Lupine, is there a picture of the herb garden at the Park link that I'm missing? I would sure like to see your garden and/or the one at the park. I'm going to be doing a lot of landscaping on a new lot around a home sitting on a hill and the thyme idea would be great for part of it. Thanks. Rose

Kathy, I have a small veggie garden on the side yard, next to the small patch of grass. This summer I had tomatos, peppers, tomotillos, chives and cilantro. I usually have a lot more herbs in there, but didn't get everything planted in time.

Goldog, I'm not really sure about my influance on my neighbors. Many of them don't do much gardening and they have blow and go gardeners to do their lawns. I have tried to share my seeds and plants with them, but they say "NO thank you". lol I'll just keep doing what I like.

Donna

We're in the process of killing off about 200 sq. ft. of front lawn directly in front of the porch. We plan to put in mostly trees and shrubs, but there will be room for a few flowers (of course!). Over the years we've done a number of beds and islands and each time learned a little bit more about doing it the right way. Most of our grass is bahia which is VERY tough and invasive. But we have a cunning plan....

Hopefully, we will be able to keep the grass and weeds out by following these steps: First, I've applied a strong Round-up solution twice in two weeks to kill the grass. Next, we will till up the soil and add amendments (leaf mulch, Black Kow, etc.). Then we will put down a good fabric weed barrier covered with mulch. At this point, we'll probably go ahead and plant the large stuff we have in pots, but wait until spring to put in any perennials.

Wish me luck.

SoCal, I love your front yard! It may take a couple of years before your neighbors get the hint to start their own conversions, but it will happen if it is like around here. Very gradually people in our part of town have eliminated or greatly reduced their front lawn grass and put in other things, and one or two neighbors follow suit within a few years, and after a while, about 1/3 of the homes in the vicinity have done similiar kinds of things. The best part is, none of them are identical, so the city looks, and behaves (horticulurally speaking), much better. Many fewer plant diseases than normal, etc.

Roshana, I have been looking for a good photo of the thyme lawn at Inniswood, but I haven't found a decent one. I put a pretty poor photo of mine below, but I don't have the ability to take a wonderful photo. Maybe I can lure a good photographer to come get a better one next spring :) Right now the shrub barrier is overgrown, and I must wait until the winter to prune it back. That's one of my brothers, by the way. The missionary.

Janie, about layering: it is a method of propagation. To layer means to put a stem down on the ground, weigh it down with something like a rock or a garden staple, put soil on top of it. Leave the tip of the stem out of the ground, just bury part of it. New roots will start where the stem touches the ground. Serpentine layering means to do it several times (like the concrete alligator sections sold in stores), and mound layering means to mound soil around the crown of the plant, and every stem that comes up through the plant will develop its own roots. You lose the mother plant that way, but end up with multiple baby plants. This is the fastest way of layering to get many plants, but you sacrifice the original one.

Simple and serpentine layering is the most reassuring way to propagate plants: the new plant stays attached to the parent until you cut it free, so you can be sure new roots have formed before it starts life on its own. You don't have to have special equipment or grow lights or anything. Many woody plants are easy to increase by layering, you just have to be able to bend a branch down to ground level.

I found a link with a photo of other thyme lawns.
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_herbs/article/0,,HGTV_3595_1395883,00.html

Thanks for the picture, LL and the link to the picture of a thyme garden. Looks fabulous! I think with the info you have given here, we can make a go of a thyme hillside. Rose

Good luck Roshana! And anyone else who is going to grow one. They smell so good when you walk on them. The advice about putting stepping stones is only important if it is a path that gets walked on very frequently (like from the driveway to the front door). If you would want a sidewalk, then put in stepping stones. Otherwise, thyme stands up well to occasional (less than once a day) foot traffic.

Thanks again, LL! I'm looking forward to it. I found a few more pictures of thyme on google. I put together one that showed thyme used between pavers and another thyme garden. I think I will have a use for both types! Rose

Thanks, lupinelover for sparking our interest and helping us be more creative in our plans for our lawn!

I found some more interesting links and information on how to do it... I"m really excited about this!!!

http://www.highcountrygardens.com/articles/thyme.html#planting

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/838/43467

http://www.co.mo.md.us/services/dep/greenman/fragrant.htm

http://www.kaydalelodge.com.au/WORK/Thymex.html

http://www.oscseeds.com/showdet.asp?proID=7103

http://www.oscseeds.com/showdet.asp?proID=7101

The more I read the sooner I want to get started!

Enjoy!
Janie