Pain in the grass: alternatives to high-maintenance lawns

It’s autumn, and that means it’s time to sweat over your lawn; raking leaves, reseeding bare patches and winkling out dandelions and other weeds. Have you ever stopped to think, this is too time-consuming?

There’s also an argument that lawns are not environmentally friendly; a monoculture kept evergreen with chemicals and copious water. No wonder more and more people are choosing not to have a lawn. A recent survey by interior design website Houzz revealed that 22% of respondents were reducing their lawn size, while 12% were ripping them out. Designer Charlotte Rowe says she now steers clients away from lawns in small gardens, because they look incongruous, instead introducing gravel and paved areas with planting.

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Sow a mini meadow

Wildflower patches are popular, so is a mini meadow a practical alternative? “It depends on how you use it,” says Toby James from Wildflower Turf . “You wouldn’t walk across a wildflower meadow or play football in it, because you’d flatten the flowers. The real benefit is the associated biodiversity.” In terms of maintenance, James says, it’s a couple of cuts a year, which beats dragging the mower out every weekend from March to November. During spring and summer it’s a flowering meadow, but in autumn and winter, after it has been cut and cleared, it may not be so appealing.

Weave a tapestry lawn

For something with a little more interest and colour all year, it’s worth thinking about a thyme, camomile or “tapestry” lawn. Lionel Smith researched this new type of lawn at the University of Reading. It’s made from mowing-tolerant flowering ground cover plants rather than grass. He found it attracts lots of wildlife, absorbs rainfall twice as fast as a turf lawn and doesn’t need feeding. It even benefits from occasional footfall, but probably couldn’t handle a daily penalty shootout.

With this type of planting, Smith says, you can expect a “floral spring, a pretty summer, a subdued autumn and a leaf-dominated winter”. There is no prescribed plant mix, so you’d have to experiment depending on situation, aspect and soil; Smith recommends starting with native species such as yarrow (Achillea millefolium), creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) and white clover (Trifolium repens), and non-natives such as scarlet pirri-pirri (Acaena microphylla), brass buttons (Leptinella squalida) and shamrock pea (Parochetus communis).

Another plus is that a tapestry lawn needs mowing only two to five times a year. So long as it’s managed regularly, you shouldn’t have more than 30 minutes’ weeding annually.

Give moss a chance

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Damp areas in shade will struggle to support plants, and any lawn is likely to be infested with moss. One option is to follow the lead of David Kinsman and Diane Hewitt of Windy Hall, Cumbria, and give in. Inspired by Japanese gardens, the couple have encouraged expanses of moss to flourish and paths run through a dazzlingly green landscape covered in soft mounds of bank haircap moss (Polytrichum formosum).

To follow suit, clear the ground of vegetation, then reintroduce pieces of moss on a firm, moist soil surface. Get started by collecting 10p-sized pieces (it’s fine to collect uncultivated “wild” moss from your own garden or someone else’s land provided you have permission) or buy larger batches from trianglenursery.co.uk. They will connect up over time, but you’ll have to hand-weed while they establish. There’s no mowing, maintenance or feeding regime, but if there are trees overhead, net the area in autumn to make leaf collection easy, because you can’t rake a moss lawn.

Fake it

If you need a place for kids to trample about, none of these options will be suitable, and even a grass lawn will soon develop tell-tale bare patches. Artificial lawn is becoming an increasingly popular choice, used most commonly in dense shade.

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At Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire, head gardener Anne Marie Owens chose to put a section of artificial grass under a large chestnut tree in 2008. “It still looks good today,” she says. “It can be raked, leaf-blown and power-washed.”

Garden designer Arit Anderson has used fake turf from the Artificial Lawn Company on small, low-maintenance projects. But there are some things people should be aware of, she advises. “It’s like a carpet – on a hot day it gets warm underfoot. And it usually arrives in sections that are 4m wide, so in larger spaces there may be a visible seam.” Artificial grass can flatten over time, so part of the maintenance regime is sweeping it in different directions to keep the pile up.

You can DIY install; one of the biggest issues is that the base has to allow the passage of water into the ground below. Many companies supply the carpet and recommend fitting it on to a kiln-dried sharp sand base, but Anderson doesn’t think this is ideal as weeds can still permeate. A supply and fit company, such as Wonderlawn, will remove existing lawn, install a permeable sub-base and lay the artificial grass, lifting the pile with a motorised brush. Director Barry Wright says each site is different, but it costs around £72 per sq m to get artificial grass laid professionally (installing a regular lawn costs about £15‑20 per sq m).

The cost makes artificial lawn a real commitment, so it is worth considering that it is the least environmentally friendly option to manufacture; and although it doesn’t need mowing or feeding, it doesn’t support any biodiversity. “I wouldn’t use artificial lawns in larger spaces,” says Anderson, “as natural lawn alternatives are always better.”