Imagine having a landscape that doesn’t need maintenance, mowing or fertilizing. It’s possible — if you’re willing to let go of the lawn.
We’ve all heard the phrase “bed of roses.” And many of us are familiar with a garden bed. Perhaps we should consider that all we really need is a bed of grass.
Instead of a vast swath of your property being a monoculture turf grass that requires mowing, watering, fertilizing and weeding, consider instead a “bed-sized area” of native grass that requires very little of those responsibilities.
There are several reasons people feel the need to keep their lawn. For dogs to conduct “business” or little humans that need outdoor time. The desire to walk barefoot in the yard. Or just the cultural neighborhood ‘norm’ to have grass.
But in reality:
- Dogs don’t need a quarter-acre of grass to do their business.
- Children (and you) can walk their adorable bare feet in a bed-sized lawn and be amazed by the butterflies, birds and other pollinators that are attracted to the native garden beds that surround it.
- You can create a more diverse and less water hungry landscape by planting native, drought-tolerant plants.
Let’s be honest. It can seem like a daunting task when you look at the front, the back, and sides of nothing but grass. So, instead of removing it all at once, take it apart in sections.
Side yards are the least used and usually least successful grass area. Whether there’s too much shade, an AC unit there, or no gate, it’s the easiest to convert.
Back to our ‘bed-sized area of grass’ for the main area of your yard. Your main choices of turf are generally non-natives: Bermuda grass, St. Augustine or zoysia. Each requires maintenance, mowing and fertilizing. Bermuda grass will try to invade your garden beds – so why not give it its own bed?
You have native grass choices as well. So, if you must have grass, let’s make it the kind of grass that needs less mowing, chemicals and watering.
There’s even two local products ready-made for the purpose: Texas native Thunder Turf, from Native American Seed in Junction, and Habiturf, a native Texas grass mix sold as seed from Douglas King Seeds.
Each are a mix of three short greenish-blue turfgrasses (buffalo grass, blue grama and curly mesquite). They should be spread onto bare ground with a single bag of seed, watered in for two weeks until it sprouts, and grown into a plush carpet that would make fescue envious. Then, the once-a-month water requirements can usually be entirely provided by rainfall even in hot summers.
Thunder Turf and Habiturf are best in full sun, and have a soft, wispy look and feel. They are very drought tolerant.
Just for fun here are some examples of people embracing beds of grass.
