Lawn alternatives? Will grass reinvade?

[BewareTheBeardedDragon]

Mowed my lawn for the first time this year today, and I hate mowing around the washing line. It's just a pita.
Then I thought, maybe I could replace that part of the lawn with an alternative that doesn't need mowing. But I don't think I could replace it all, because I have rather vigorous dc who would probably wreck it on the main lawn. The laundry lawn (😂 makes my tiny garden sound grand) doesn't get played on much, and hardly walked in because there's a rotary line which is almost always in use all summer, so it would be a good place for a lawn alternative.

Roundabout way to maybe give tmi, before my actual question - there's no break between the play lawn and the laundry lawn. There're not all one thing - there's a raised bed that separates the two, but the lawn is kind of a 'c' shape so the two meet at the back of the 'c'. So will the grass just re-invade if I turned the laundry lawn grass less? Would I have to make some sort of physical barrier to prevent this?

[MrsBertBibby]

I'd have thought it will.

You could put a barrier by sinking something like sleepers into the ground, so you can run the mower over it rather than having another bit to trim) and can walk straight over.

[BiddyPop]

We started by using the bricks from a tiny decorative wall that was removed to make a circle in the lawn around the rotary dryer, and lifted the turf to fill with small stones. Then we later removed all lawn (it was small, weedy, and a lot more hassle to maintain than worth do the non-enjoyment of it) out the back and put in a weed suppressant membrane and nice pebbles.

It's been like that for at least 14 years now, and the only problem is where the circle of bricks sometimes shows up as a wet outline when water is draining from the house behind us (higher up the hill). I once did a job on 1 side to lift the pebbles and remove ( the worst of) the mud that had built up under them having spilled out from the vegetable bed alongside it. But the very few weeds that do grow in that mud are easy to remove generally, when wandering with a G& T in hand the odd evening.

[BiddyPop]

The barrier between what had been the lawn and the veggie beds is a thin metal strip (made for gardens) Pushed down. You can push it almost flat with the surface so it's almost invisible and it will do a good job.

[peridito]

I've just been looking at alternatives to grass - might be an idea ?

www.victoriananursery.co.uk/Chamomile-Lawn/

www.victoriananursery.co.uk/Creeping-Thyme-Lawn/

www.victoriananursery.co.uk/Heath-Pearlwort-Lawn/

[BewareTheBeardedDragon]

Ooh thanks @peridito - I have sadly had to discount creeping thyme due to my clay soil, but the pearlwort looks very interesting and I've not come across that one!

[BewareTheBeardedDragon]

I'm a bit confused about replacing grass. Lots of the lawn alternatives out there are also listed as lawn weeds and the lawn are sites suggest that if you don't deal with them they'll choke out your lawn grass. I'd quite like that to happen so that I didn't have to either dig it out or cover a large area in cardboard or newspaper for a long period to kill it and then have to deal with mud as new things established.

But would that really happen, or would I just end up with straggly grass growing through the new 'weeds' and still have to mow? I know you can overseed clover, which I'm considering, but I can't find any info on how long (I'd at all) you then have to not walk on the lawn to let it establish?

I found some birds foot trefoil seeds in my seed store, and have sown some yesterday, since it's very pretty and grows in my front lawn anyway. Ideally I'd like to end up with a nice mix of low growing plants that are more beneficial and drought tolerant than grass. Hmm.

[endlesswicker]

Oh no, don't introduce pearlwort into your garden on purpose - it is incredibly invasive and goes absolutely everywhere.

[BewareTheBeardedDragon]

Yeah - I did get that impression from my research. I'm currently thinking perhaps a mix of microclover, daisies (there anyway), bird foot trefoil and any other weeds that invade... might work in terms of low maintenance and less invasion potential into the flower and veg beds. The invasion is one of the things I hate about grass.