I hate to mow

I live in tn NJ suburb and have a medium sized uneven lawn I hate to mow. My neighbors keep their lawns looking nice, so I need to do something. I am recently widowed so my budget is limited. What can I plant? Clover? Ivy?

Keep away from the ivy unless you want it to cover everything.. and I mean everything. I'm still trying to get rid of it. Very very invasive

White clover is wonderful. It used to be packaged in with the grass seed, until the first broad-leaved weed killer came out. It killed the clover, so the herbicide manufacturer started a program to persuade lawn owners that clover was a weed. It worked. Look for Dutch white or New Zealand white clover seeds. Johnny's Selected Seeds carries it and so do many others. Just broadcast the seed over any thin or bare spots and run the sprinkler for awhile. It starts to grow tall, but it will mow down just fine and then self-adjust its growth. It will spread slowly and self seed, but it's not obnoxiously pushy. Its blooms will attract bees for a short time in the summer, so watch how you walk in it barefoot during that time. It is very good about shading the ground, which both discourages weeds and reduces the need to water.

Do NOT get red clover; it's very invasive.

Set your lawn mower to its highest setting; your lawn will look fabulous and you won't need to mow or water as often. When you do water, run the sprinkler for a few hours no more than once a week.

I've seen entire lawns replaced with pachysandra. It is green all year and you never have to mow. I have a 3' x 50' strip of creeping thyme in the area between the curb and the sidewalk that I never have to mow, or even water, ever.

For shady areas, you could try dwarf mondo grass. It fills in nicely over time and never needs to be mowed.

I decided to try to establish a low-maintenance lawn, since I don't actually mow or water my lawn enough to keep it healthy and green. So I over-sowed with some slow growing grasses like blue grama or buffalo grass, wild ryegrass, white clover, various creeping thymes, and chamomile. I can't quite remember, but I think I might have thrown some red clover in too because it was a pretty colour -- reading your post, carrieebryan, I'm really hoping I didn't!

Supposedly, once it's established, it'll only need mowing about once a month and will rarely need more water than the rain gives it. Hopefully it will also smell wonderful.

There's a creeping rosemary, also, which isn't hardy enough for Toronto but may work for you. Periwinkle is another one to add to the red clover category -- pretty but invasive.

Just for fun, Paul James had on his show this weekend a lawnmower robot, LOL Like the just like the ones that clean your floor, only with blades! Gotta love it!

Hi From Scotland, we have had these Robot mowers here for a while now but they dont get a good name, more bother than they are worth.
I have one of the older robot models, his Name is Alex, had him 43 years and still going strong, just chuck him a beer now and again and he is as happy as, never seems to complain about going outside to cut the grass, in fact he say's it's the place to get peace and quiet, wonder what he meens by that???? or was he trying to be funny, better go get his cold beer from the cooler eh. happy gardening all. WeeNel.