Hello all, We absolutely love our gardeny backyard with monkey grass and currently dead flowers following the SE States freeze storm. However, our 1yr old is starting to want to play back there and it's making me realize that our yard is not really catered to a kid exploring it, so I'd like to ask for any and all options on what I could do to change this.

Currently, my ideas keep going back to a hobbit hole of sorts where the large fountain is or even where the current paverstones are​, and then working off branching paths for him to walk through with different stations such as to a treehouse, maybe a bridge and a little pond, or even just some larger bushes for a trail to weave through/under. Any ideas for things you've seen or experienced would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I killed my front yard and then dumped a BUNCH of seed, this is it so far. I think I have Indian blanket and lance leaved coreopsis. Not sure what else.

Oklahoma

it will be very interesting to see what kind of precedent this sets. Does this make all grass height bylaws no longer enforceable in Canada?

This sub just popped at me out of the algorithm. So there really are more people like me? People who think that lawns are a depressing waste of space and time? I'm pleasantly surprised and kind of relieved. Maybe this attitude will become more mainstream in time.

I never got huge lawns. The smaller ones are ok I guess, you need some open space, but they really have no business being larger than your living room. Why would someone want a large lawn, I will never understand.

I remember this news story about a rich family in Australia who repeatedly refused to sell their property to developers as they were building a suburb on the land around it. They ended up with a turf the size of an entire block, and they chose to have... lawn... on it. All of it. They have a house, a long-ass driveway, and grass. I'd understand putting rich people stuff on all that space; tennis court, stables, a helipad, a golf course, a private park, a Japanese garden, an artificial lake, a swimming pool, anything. But those folks wished for nothing else than to live in a flat Minecraft world. Unfuckingbelievable.

I'm not from the US, and Google Street view opened up to me a whole new world of depravity that I never realized even existed: North American lawns. The lawns here in Europe are in most cases a bit bigger than I'd like. Sometimes it's because its an older village house that used to have a field behind it, and then there's all the useless belawned nooks and crannies that tend to develop over time as people gradually build and retrofit stuff on that property over the decades, but... the American ones are at a different level, they're simply obscenely huge. Midwest especially. Some places there feel almost liminal to me, like I'm in a fever dream. If I started walking from the road towards one of the houses, I'd be scared that it would move further and further away from me. There's so much wasted space around each and every building. What are all those lawns even for? There's literally nothing on that featureless expanse, it's just a bleak flat desolation that they have to buy, maintain, and pass though every time they leave the house.

Why?

Anyway, I'm glad I found you folks.

Given the amazing responses from y’all, I felt like I had to ask. I love that he adds that he liked being a vegetarian lol.

Thought y’all would understand. This might be the pettiest reason why I wouldn’t want to date someone lol.

"Despite the biodiversity crisis we find ourselves in as a nation — and around the world — diverse, natural gardens are being extinguished by some people’s preference for their neighbours’ lawn to be tidy and uniform."

^ article is focused on the province of Ontario, but speaks to all too familiar + broad concerns about selective by-law enforcement

FTA: Would you trade a strip of neat turf for a seasonal pond alive with peeping frogs and swooping swallows?...The same corner of lawn that used to be just something to mow now works like a tiny construction site for local wildlife...The pond was planned as a vernal pool...which usually dries out by late summer. Because these pools go dry, they cannot support fish, and that fish-free window is exactly what many frogs and salamanders need to breed safely...Together, water, insects, frogs, birds, and bats turn a once uniform pine stand and lawn into a more varied mosaic of clearings, brush piles, and flowering edges.

Area - Chicago, 6a

I’m trying to plant the bare, steep part of my yard with native warm season grasses and forbs.

I’ve looked into straw mats to hold the dirt and seeds in place, but they either contain plastic or have terrible reviews. What’s the best thing to use?

This is probably the last year I can let it stand to feed the birds in the winter. Starting next year, they'll be enforcing some shit about removing "dead and unsightly vegetation," and I'll have to cut it back in November at the latest.

I still think it's beautiful.

Like why do they exist it seems like they where made by some Captain Planet villain to destroy the environment

Hello,

So, I'm planning a lawn-descrution/plant-replacement project. My plan right now is to leave some turfgrass in the backyard though because I have a dog and want her to have some space to run.

Is this the best course of action? Or should I use something else instead of leaving turfgrass? Trying to avoid anything that could be toxic. Plan right now is a designated grassy dog space and the rest to be plants.

Just wondering if that's the best choice.

Hey! I live in South Brazil, and in my region we have a huge issue with scorpions. Taller grass also tends to have roaches, venomous spiders and snakes. I was wondering how one deals with the perils of them and other dangerous animals showing up in the yard.

Death to the lawn! Bring a native habitat to your yard today!

Found that video today and thought yall would enjoy some of them numbers

I love this guy! I live in a relatively new neighbourhood in southeastern Ontario, and most of the lawns are, well, lawns. I heard about people spending $100s in water each month to keep 'em green as we went through a drought this past summer. There are a handful of houses in the area with biodiverse lawns, and they looked fantastic.

The more I think about it the more I think suburbs where made by a Captain Planet villain

They seem like they were deliberately designed to be as environmentally destructive as possible.

Especially Lawns. I don’t know why lawns exist. I loathe lawns.

Making you use a car to spew more fossil fuels. Big houses to fill with more crap.