No-Mow Landscaping – Quiet Princeton

The most effective way to reduce lawn maintenance–both mowing and leaf blowing–is to convert part of your property to a no-mow, or low-mow, area. There are a number of options. To stimulate your thinking, here are some examples, together with references to sites that give advice on how to create these increasingly popular gardens.

A NON-NATURAL LOOK that is commonly seen:

Plastic Landscaping. The lawn could be Astroturf, the bushes made in a factory, the mulch could be colored Styrofoam. This kind of look only became possible with high-power leaf blowers. But it is not natural at all.

SOME IDEAS FOR YOU ON ALTERNATIVES TO A CONVENTIONAL LAWN

An alternative garden. No need for mowers or leaf blowers here

No mowers or leafblowers needed here either. This one was converted from a traditional lawn

Suggestions for ground cover and slow-grow grasses

More examples are given by Bob Vila

SLOW-GROWNING GRASS provides a green look with low maintenance. It may need mowing about once a year. Fescue grass is suitable.

GROUNDCOVER is a simple approach. This is Asian Jasmine

Another ground cover: this is periwinkle. There are many others to choose from, such as pachysandra

Wildflower Meadows

At their simplest, wildflower seeds are scattered over a lawn. More thorough methods involve first removing the grass.

WILDFLOWERS can be spread in a grassy area. This one has a path mowed through

A wildflower meadow has been established on the iconic lawn in front of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge University. If Cambridge can do it, so can Princeton! A description of how it was done is here (watch the first 6 or 10 minutes of the video).

STARTING A WILDFLOWER MEADOW

HOW IT CAN BE DONE 1: A PRINCETON WILDFLOWER GARDEN

Fran and Will Price have been working on their small plot for several years, creating a sustainable meadow-type garden. Fran says “It’s a different aesthetic. …When you let even small patches of your yard grow wild, you would be amazed at what kinds of insects, birds, and mammals come back”. Will typically mows it once a year.

Fran offers a tip for best success: to clear away unwanted grass and plants, put down layers of cardboard and cover with several inches (she recommends six) of soil. Plant in the soil; the cardboard decomposes, and the grass dies off.

_____________________________________

HOW IT CAN BE DONE 2: A MEADOW IN NEW JERSEY

This New Jersey meadow by Mr Luke Brunskill was created in stages. First the grass was removed–this can be done either by a roto-tiller or by garden tools–then wildflower seeds were added. Here’s what Luke did (thank you for sharing this, Luke!):

Luke removes grass. Very helpful, but it’s work!
(Some avoid this step. That will lead to a mix of grass and flowers. Over the years the flowers start to take over.)

Luke says “I rented a rototiller from home depot, and afterwards removed the loosened topsoil by hand with rake and pitchfork (this is the most labor intensive part). I scattered seeds by hand, using two mixes from Ernst Conservation Seeds (https://www.ernstseed.com/). There were some undesired weeds that I handpulled. Adequate soil prep is the best thing you can do to ensure success.”

OTHER WAYS TO CREATE A MEADOW

— Ideas from Sustainable Princeton
— Establishing a Wildflower Meadow
–“How to grow an annual wildflower garden in 4 steps“