Garden Lawns - Old fashioned?

[Fungkew]

I can’t help but think the lawn is primarily a waste of space.
Always strikes me as something people maintain to keep up appearances rather than something they actually want.
I hate seeing a ‘perfectly manicured’ lawn in the knowledge that it has most likely had no end of fertiliser, weed killer etc applied to achieve its perfect appearance. In my opinion they are very dated and the space could be put to far better use.
Hopefully younger generations will put this space to better use. Most people probably don’t even consider that grass seed is a plant that is supposed to grow tall, not have its head chopped off every couple of weeks. The clover that grows among it is natural. What’s with this horrendous human obsession with perfection. It’s just soulless and anti nature.
I hope that the younger generations replace it with something more useful and environmentally friendly, unlike their mindless predecessors.
Dont even get me started on artificial turf…

Broadly agree OP.

There’s also the amount of time they consume with the lawnkeeping.
We removed the grass on our back garden as it slopes up away from the house so was a pain to mow ( slope ) and couldn’t be used ( slope ). 3 years later and we have a variety of shrubs, plants and trees planted. Lots of birds and bees too.

However I think artificial grass can have its uses. Small courtyard gardens where grass struggles to grow but the owner doesn’t want hard paving everywhere for example. Edited to add, but might have young kids or a general requirement for a soft ‘grass’ area.

We have an acre of lawn, we use no weed killer on it and every year we leave a patch to grow long, this has a couple of paths through it, we spend hours maintaining our garden (and have a gardener one full day a week), it may be old fashioned by its lovely.

A "perfect" (wimbledon) lawn is horrible, I judge those owners hard. Really bad for the environment. We need "weeds" and variety. No one needs to water or use weed killer on a lawn. I do did out any thistles or ragwort as they get in the way, everything else stays.
We need space to sit out and for kids / pets to dash about. The surface doesn't need to be pure grass.

*dig out.

I agree ! Although my lawn is useful play space for my DC when they grow up I think I will add lots more beds. I do really like a more wild lawn with bits left long. I have a small lawn at the front of the house which Im going to get rid of next year I think.

I love my lawn! It's somewhere where my kids can play, where I can hang washing out to dry, where my pets can lie in the sun, where my DC can pitch a tent and camp out, where my DD can do gymnastics al fresco...It's definitely not a waste of space here and I wouldn't buy a family home without a decent lawn.

I do agree re the "perfectly manicured" look, and have no problem with clover, which maintains its lush green look even when the actual grass goes brown in the summer. And I hate artificial grass with a passion.

What would you have people replace their lawns with, OP?

I have a lawn. I don't use weedkiller or spend hours on it. We use it to sit on in nice weather or play swingball.

I like to have a green area to offset the flowerbeds. I don't want artificial grass, paving or decking but I want some open space, and a lawn fits the bill for us.

The dog needs somewhere to poo that isn't in my flowerbeds.
Other than that I am not sure what you would have in areas where you want to rest your mind.

About a third of our garden is lawn, where do your kids play if no lawn it's where the playhouse and slide etc are patio seems unforgiving. The rest is flowers/bushes/veg beds and a green house.
It most certainly does not qualify as manicured though and has never seen a drop of fertiliser or weed killer

And I watch the blackbirds, green woodpeckers etc poke around in the lawn.

We have lawn c1/8th acre amongst extensive flower beds / borders / hedges, orchard etc c14acres. No fertiliser or weed killers at all, just a mulching mower so the worms do their job. So it’s not 100% grass and does have clover etc
more broadly I do agree that pure grass lawns if that’s all there is are a horrible monoculture and certainly not supportive of nature

I have a lawn and I love it. I do nothing to it except mow it, no weedkiller or feed on it and I tend to not worry about the odd weed that grows in it. I love the feel under my bare feet, I love the smell when it's cut and I love to see the birds pecking away on it. The cat used to love loafing around on it.

Most people I know have a lawn and no one manicures it to bowling green or golf course standard, they just maintain it.

One friend got rid of her lawn and had the artificial lawn laid, I definitely won't be doing that.

Love our lawn - no weed killer or fertilisers used.

It's not a waste of space - it's a green space

Disagree. Ours was the best playspace when kids were young, now they're older it is still used for pitching tents/ dens etc and as a great space for me and DH to relax in. It looks good, much better than a patio etc and is better for the environment.

We have a massive lawn and don't use any chemicals on it. Our garden is huge and we wouldn't be able to maintain it at all if the grass was dug up and used for something else. We also have wildflower meadow and lots of insect friendly planting. We use no nasty chemicals at all in maintaining it all. Also the dog loves the grass.

Would love to hear what the alternative is OP

Any kind of gravel, deck, patio needs more maintenance, less wildlife friendly, less child friendly

Massive veg patch? Great if you're Tom or Barbara.. masses of hard work

Plastic lawns? God forbid

I prefer cottage gardens, but as pps have pointed out lawns provide masses of space for kids, socialising, washing etc.

I'm fortunate to live somewhere rural where gardens are large and most people have two, so do a bit of everything, including ponds. We are surrounded by moors, pastures, reserves. I'm not worried about wildlife here.

But I don't see what the solution is for town-folk. In my nearest town most gardens are small, it's natural they want to maximise their outdoor living space by having a lawn. I wouldn't say most people are neat freak about it, only a few.

Perhaps parks should change? Most kids parks locally are huge playing fields (where no sports are ever played) with a bit of tarmac + play equipment off to one side. Something better could be designed. Even mowing less often would be beneficial to wildlife.

Oh I love a lawn! I let mine grow long sometimes but also love it when it's freshly cut. It seems to enhance the look of the flower beds when it's short.
I have never, ever used weedkiller! I never would. On my beds I have lots of flowers for pollinators.

Broadly agree, but I’m holding onto mine while DS still likes playing football in the garden daily. Once that stops, I’m planting a small stand of birches and will plant areas, and am going to plant a small orchard in the back.

We have half an acre of lawn. We are surrounded by woods and at least 200 of our own trees. So yes I do a lot to it to keep it nice because it’s so shady. I tend not to weed kill except in the lower garden where creeping buttercup is rampant. If we didn’t bother we’d be three foot deep in moss as I leant to my cost.

what would I replace it with? more trees? They are expensive to maintain. Flowerbeds (which I already have plenty of) are even more work than the lawn.

We have a well manicured organic lawn in the front, along with masses of wildlife friendly plants in the borders. So far this year I have counted 11 species of butterfly and it constantly buzzes with bees on warm days. I like the contrast between the lawn and the flowerbeds.

In the back we leave the lawns to grow a bit longer, but they are still usable for parties etc, and only cut the grass in the orchard once a year. The whole place teems with wildlife.

We have a lawn, but not a manicured lawn. It has a variety of weeds. It provides a home for ants and beetles, daddy long legs and worms. It is a meal table for black birds and robins. Corvids and pigeons. Flocks of starlings. Only this week a green woodpecker was teaching her baby how to feed on our lawn.

Do we cut it? Hell yes, otherwise we would be constantly covered in ticks.

I’ve got a fairly big lawn area but it isn’t sterile. It has daisies and clover, buttercups, vetch, self heal and speedwell all growing in it (and the odd baby thistle!). I like my ‘weeds’ and they are left to do their thing so long as they can deal with me mowing regularly. I also have a few wild patches with taller wild plants such as nettles, thistles, dock, brambles, teasel etc. They are contained but left alone to do their thing. Each year I find something new growing in them. I also have lots of shrubs. Flowers are a bit sparse this year as the weather seems to be wet on every day off I have so I’ve done less than usual.

It's really not necessary to do anything but cut it now and again. I see the birds pulling worms out of ours regularly which pleases me and I'm amazed at the diversity of wild flowers it includes, daisies, clover, buttercups, speedwell etc really pretty. We always do NoMowMay to let stuff flower.

We now a path through ours but otherwise leave it wild. As for fake grass, it needs banning.