your garden
Diarmuid gavin moves on from a grass lawn and lets a sustainable meadow take its hold
This spring i have decided to dig up my lawn. While it’s a lovely feature in the garden, a beautiful green oasis, i want to replace it with plants that are more sustainable and healthy for our planet. The biggest drawback to lawns is the lack of pollinating flowers for bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects.
As we cut lawns so regularly, the grasses don’t get a chance to flower. And the “weeds” that appear, such as dandelions and daisies, also get their heads chopped off as soon as they dare to bloom. Or worse, we finish them off with weed killer.
Add to that the energy costs of lawnmowers, the need for sprinklers to keep the lawns green in high summer, and fertilisers applied to get that emerald sheen, it’s probably time we examined the alternatives.
The simplest solution is to stop mowing and let a natural meadow form. At the very least you will get flowering grasses.
if there are any weeds that you don’t like, you can remove them by hand and then add in wildflower plugs or seeds to introduce some colour.
On richer soils, grasses generally outperform wildflowers so a floriferous meadow can be hard to obtain.
One method is to introduce a semiparasitic plant such as yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor). it’s a yellow flowering annual plant which hoovers up nutrients and water and thereby reduces the vigour of grasses, and allows other annuals to have a chance to flower.
On larger areas you could mow a pathway through. That’s both practical and pleasing since you have a contrast between clipped and unmown grass.
if your soil is free draining and in a sunny position, how about a thyme lawn? Once popular in Edwardian times, thyme releases a beautiful fragrance underfoot and when in flower will create a purple lavender carpet.
it’s drought resistant, establishes quickly and will be low maintenance, requiring a good shearing after flowering to keep it in shape.
Thymus coccineus is a creeper with deep pink flowers and is very popular with bees. Thymus serpyllum ‘Elfin’ is a compact variety which is highly suitable for creating lawns.
Woolly thyme (Thymus pseudolanuginosus) has silvery-green leaves with a fast-spreading habit.
A patchwork quilt effect looks great – achieve this by mixing up these varieties and plant around six inches apart. it can also be sensible to include a pathway through if you have heavy foot traffic over this area.
Clover lawns are another possibility. it’s more drought tolerant than grass, deliciously soft underfoot, and a better option for dog owners who are struggling with pet urine stains on the lawn.
if you already have clover in your lawn, you could also throw some seed down now to encourage more plants. And don’t mow your lawn after they flower in summer so they can set seed and gradually take over.
Clover is a nitrogen-fixing plant – this means it adds nitrogen to the soil, removing the need for fertiliser, and will smother most other weeds.
it’s attractive to bees and on a warm summer’s evening smells like honey!