To sow an alternative lawn?

[AssassinsEyebrow]

I'm so fed up with the summers killing off my lawn - it's not just this year, at least 2/3 of it die every summer now (never used to!)

I'm thinking of resowing it now with clover because I've seen some posts online with photos that show clover lawns survive the heatwaves. Has anyone here done this and can you tell me how your clover lawn looks now?

Open to other lawn alternatives too!

You say it kills off the lawn - but it does recover once the rains come again surely? You are not having to resow every year are you? It goes all dried up and brown but it will grow back.

Having said that I see nothing wrong with having an alternative so why not. Could look nice. Clover, camomile, wild flowers even.

It's actually a good idea as it's likely future summers will also be subject to longer dry periods, so finding an alternative makes sense. Clover does withstand drought better than grass does in that the leaves remain green for a lot longer, where grass simply hunkers down and waits it out - the top leafy growth dies back but the plant remains alive until normal conditions resume. Clover also has lovely flowers that are helpful for pollinators, while grass does not (grass is wind pollinated when it's allowed to flower).

My own lawn has land drains because it's prone to winter flooding as we're on clay soil. The grass dies back first above the land drains so I have bare brown stripes, soooo attractive. I now have patches of clover in places and they have coped better with the drought. I won't replace the grass with clover because it doesn't bother me enough, but if you want more reliable green, I would do it.

This is the very thing that I've been pondering OP, I only have a small lawn as I keep cutting bigger borders into it! I think this summer watching the blackbirds sadly trying to peck for worms in a dustbowl has tipped me over the edge
There is nothing really like a lush lawn to set the garden off but I think those summers are in the past, so I also like the idea of thickly mulched pops of ornamental grasses & bulbs & happy birdies scroffling through it all!

I have a lot of clover in my normal lawn and it does survive the heat and dry spells a lot better than the grass that should be there. I do not mind the clover at all, but my in laws are terrified of the child going barefoot and getting stung by bees. Clover attracts bees. Anyone in the family with a bee allergy?!

We changed the regular grass turf lawn for a wildflower lawn a few years ago, had a couple of years of that and now we have planted the whole thing with perennials, with a paths through it. We just got to the point where we didn't know why we had a grass lawn, so got rid of it. I love it now.

there are some lovely grasses you could plant

We’ve done this over the last couple of years. We’ve planted a tapestry lawn instead. Low growing, carpet forming perennials that you can walk on. It’s taken a while and we had to dig up the existing lawn first but when the whole area is covered in a mass of tiny flowers it looks wonderful. We’ve done a mixture of solerolia solerilii, isotoma fluviatilis, pratia repens and sedums.
There has been much more wildlife since we made the change and we never have to mow! Plus in the recent heatwave when all grass lawns were dry and brown, ours was green and flourishing.

I noticed that too, all the clover patches stayed dark green

plant creeping thyme

Native - emphasis on this word - wildflowers have longer, stronger roots than grass, so yes they survive longer. We have poppies areas on our lawn, haven’t watered them, they’re still going.

And clover flowers will offer more to insects above, although I think they fuck with the nitrates in the soil so not the best for the animals underneath, and if you are a gardener then you know how vital good soil is. You’d need to look into it and weigh it up.

There are a few option here from what I recall. Clover, wild flowers, creeping thyme, chamomile. I think there are some more drought resistant species of grass.

Keeping the grass slightly longer will help it ti develop deeper root systems which will help it too. Maybe not as long as mine though 🙈

All the clover patches in our lawn have shrivelled to dark brown now - but we are on quite shallow soil which dries out quite readily in that part of the garden. I’d love to plant a camomile lawn instead but it’s just too much work to contemplate while we still need a lot doing to the house.

Most of my lawn is clover now. It does much better year round than the grass. West facing and a clay soil, a dark swamp most of the time Nov - March, then it bakes hard in the summer. It looks lovely with the flowers, it took a lot longer to die off and will come back more quickly than the grass.

We are slowly replacing our lawn with a mixture of clover, wildflowers and creeping thyme. The difference it has made to local wildlife has been amazing to see, and it has stayed green and abundant throughout the heatwaves.

Sounds amazing, what did you plant?

Yarrow is the only thing thats green in our lawn at the moment, it tolerates low mowing easily when it does have a normal rain year.
I’m not at all worried about the grass and clover thats usually there though - it’ll spring back as soon as it rains.

Clover is a nitrogen fixer - like broad beans, peas or vetches, through nodules on the roots. It only improves the soil and I can’t see why it’d be detrimental to animals underneath? You plant things like that on a veg patch to dig in to improve the fertility.

What a great idea . It never occurred to me to consider this . Now I just have to figure out how to keep dogs off it long enough to grow .

Camomile patches are the only green in our desiccated park.

I'd love to see photos of your alternate lawns if anyone willing to share?

I can’t recall what the negative thing was, I read about it years ago and have forgotten it, I assumed nitrogen but that must be something else. I don’t remember, that’s why I said the OP need to look into it and weigh it up for themselves.

I'm going to asd in some creeping rye grass over this winter. It's really course and forms a thick mat. My problem.is bald patches from where it's been crispy and walked bare. Creeping rye is what they have have ( or similar ) in Spainsh resorts. It grows along the ground like ivy.

Our lawn is on London clay and the only thing that has survived is the dandelions.
The grass was patchy before this drought and the patches are now much bigger and barer.

I doubt very much that they'll grow back so may need to re-turf it.
What can I re-turf it with that will survive future droughts?

In general you don’t want excessive clover in agricultural grass swards as it takes over and too much isn’t ideal for grazing or a haymaking crop, but in a lawn it’s fine. Good for the insects and creepy crawlies!

Ah okay, I garden for wildlife mostly and a few years back read something about why it wasn’t the best for earthworms and it stuck with me so we chose other species instead. Probably should revisit though, and not give false information on threads!!!

This sounds lovely. I'm not having much luck with the wildflower lawn. Mainly just looks like long, unkempt grass. What perennials have you planted?