SiM's anti lawn thread.

[fishnmagician]

SiM,

I want to join you in your anti lawn crusade,

but I need help.

 

I have about a half acre and it's heavily shaded,

Help me reduce my grass in an asthetically pleasing manner,

 

and I wouldn't mind a garden, I just don't think I have enough sun.

[Little]

Concrete with a drain in the middle. A little hole in the concrete with a dead tree sticking up through it-think South Bronx.

[fishman]

I have 1/2 acre of deeply shaded yard. Being as I once made a living mowing grass for the State Parks, and mowed my parents' 1.5 acres for years, I really despise lawns.

 

20 years ago I decided to let the 10 feet along the back property line go wild. Now, in the summer I can't see the back neighbor's house.

 

I also don't mow the back until it goes to seed (screw the neighbors opinions). I now have a combination odlow ground cover and thick moss with patches of day lilies, lily if the valley and whatever else doesn't need maintenance.

 

I mow maybe 3 times a season to keep the big stuff down.

 

Lawns ain't natural.

[Mike]

Wait a year. The Democrats will have a program in place to rehabilitate your lawn for you.

[fishnmagician]

Wait a year. The Democrats will have a program in place to rehabilitate your lawn for you.

 

 

 

so bitter.

[Mike]

It's just the booze, I mean my wallet, talking.

[fishnmagician]

It's just the booze, I mean my wallet, talking.

 

 

often the same thing.

[Steve in Mass]

Turn the area over with a rototiller. Buy a few hundred (or thousand, depending on the six of the area) daffodil bulbs, and plant them.

 

Then get a few pounds of mixed wildflower seed that is intended for shade, and over seed the area on top of the daffs.

 

NOW is the time to do it (don't wait more than 2-3 weeks, as it will be too late)....

 

Then in the spring, the daffs will come up and bloom. After they die off, the wildflowers will come up and bloom all summer, and re-seed themselves for the next year. and the daffs come back every year, spread, and naturalize, just as the wildflowers will do.

 

No watering needed ever, other than a first watering when you plant.

[SallyGrowler]

I planted more trees and expanded the beds around the trees.

A brick apron will come off the back steps - eradicating more lawn and creating room for a nice smoker like a WSM or a good off-set fire-box.

 

Lawns are evil.

[Homerisadope]

Asphalt your property. Not just the lawn, but the entire house. It should look, when you're done, like a parking lot surrounding a giant lump of tar with window holes. One hundred foot light towers to replace the trees, and you're done.

[fishnmagician]

I dont' have a tiller,

and doubt my ability to rent one and get this done in time,

but I will keep it in mind for next year,

any recommendations on bushes that will thrive in shade?

I wouldn't mind some privacy over the fence.

[SallyGrowler]

any recommendations on bushes that will thrive in shade?

 

rhododendron, pachysandra, box-wood will do ok...

[Steve in Mass]

any recommendations on bushes that will thrive in shade?

 

I wouldn't mind some privacy over the fence.

 

Burning Bush (sorry, don't know the proper name, I can look it up later).

 

 

They do well in shade, grow VERY fast, and are spectacular in the fall (my row of them is awesome right now). They also get some berries that the birds like over the winter.

 

 

However, they are deciduous (loose their leaves in winter), so you will loose the privacy in the winter months. But they also have interesting, somewhat flat branches and stems, so that lends a nice touch to the winter garden.

[fishnmagician]

I have a couple of non burning bushes in the back right now,

 

everywhere else in NJ the burning bushes get a bright crimson,

but in my backyard.

[Steve in Mass]

Hmmmm.....are you saying that they never turn red and just drop their leaves as green?

 

Most be that democrat in you that you have infused into the leaves.....