I've basically been letting the grass in my back yard grow all spring. Cut some paths through so my small dogs could easily navigate and small patch for my senior dog.
Then I saw the foxtails I thought I had killed were back. I started cutting the grass so I could get better access to the foxtails and my allergies went crazy. Instant runny nose, eyes burning, etc.
This has really dampened my enthusiasm. (/rant
First those nasturtiums are beautiful!!
I'd would be curious how others feel, but for me #nolawns is a long term goal or process and a part of that process is actually mowing.
I tried stopping mowing and I loved all the different flowers and grasses that grew. But we were quickly over run by a rat sized vole that loved the habitat. Then I also noticed I wasn't keeping up with topping or pulling all the different plants that I didn't want propagating (thistles and other invasives).
Anyway I think having lawn is on my path to nolawn. I can onnly take on so much space at a time, so I just keep converting areas to no lawn areas and I continue to mow the rest.
I agree with mowing. Due to the pollen and the foxtails mowing is better until I replace the grass. It will be a little while and I'm ok with that. There are a few areas I removed invasives and want to get some natives in there to stop the weeds.
Yeah it's definitely a process. I've been trying to expand all the places I have natives and plant more. Also I keep expanding our garden. But I've 1.5acres that was "lawn" when I started, so still lots of mowing for now.
Yeah this topic was actually something we added to the Reddit wiki. Unfortunately grass just holds up well up traffic so I feel like most yards that have kids and pets will have at least some grass and I think that's fine. It's funny because it's called no lawns but it's more like, less lawn more natives. But that was a discovery we made song the way.
Yeah as with everything the idea more nuanced then it's slogan, "NoLawns!". I appreciate the NoLawns sentiment and simplicity of the slogan (for lack of a better word). I can see that maybe "Less Lawns, More Native Plants" isn't quite as catchy. :P
Haha yeah definitely less catchy