13. Low Maintenance Lawn
Tips for a low fuss lawn
One of the major chores of the garden from spring to fall is mowing the lawn. I am testing out a few tricks to help make lawn maintenance a little easier. I learned these tips from landscape architect Bunny Guinness — she is a wealth of information on gardening.
Suggestions from a pro
Bunny’s tips:
Lawn mowing robot
Mowing friendly edging
Reducing area
Selective cutting
Item number one is still on my wish list, but I was able to act on tips number two through four right away. My test area is the front lawn. I pulled out the existing, uneven edging and expanded the border area near the house. I also reduced the area of the lawn at the south (page left) corner where the lawn is hard to reach with the lawn mower. Lastly, I am only mowing the crescent shaped lawn area, and leaving the rest as a wilder grass meadow (page right), for now.
Lawn edge options
In a low maintenance lawn area, the lawn edging type is crucial. A tall lawn edging element requires follow up with a weed wacker to get all of the stray, tall grasses that the lawn mover cannot reach. Three easy solutions are a flush edging element that the wheel of the lawn mower can ride over, a small trench at the edge of the lawn for the lawn mower wheel, or the no edge solution where you simply dedicate a section of grass to grow taller.
I wanted to re-use the existing tall edging. My solution was simple: turn it on its side. My installation was on the lazy side as I did not do the proper gravel base, weed barrier, and tamping of native soil below the edging. Remind me in April 2024 for a one-year durability update!
The next step is to keep mowing, add plants to the border area, and wait for my trees to grow.