By Hildy Kincade

Have you ever wondered if there are viable alternatives to lawn grass? The fact is attractive landscaping greatly enhances the real estate value of your property. However, many lawns die every year because of low rainfall, leaving some to seek options offering low maintenance, namely, lawn alternatives. Homeowners are becoming tired of seeing their lawns go brown and wilt every summer, and tired of paying a gardener to try and prolong their lawn life. All this effort costs time, money and effort as does the need to continuously irrigate and aerate lawn grass.

Lawns can be beautiful, but the cost may be too high. Large lawns, and especially the many golf courses in our communities, require crazy amounts of herbicides and chemical fertilizers to keep their condition and pristine appearance. Fuel for power mowers, harmful emissions, potentially harmful fertilizers and pesticides, water consumption and your valuable time are all variables of the cost of lawn maintenance. Finding and hiring a lawn care service may save you some time and energy, but the environmental costs still remain. Consider reducing your lawn overall size. Doing so can benefit the environment while also saving you time, energy and expense. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to experiment with lawn alternatives or at the very least, try and cut down on the total lawn area of our yard.

There are many steps you can take to reduce lawn size and cut down on time and resources for its maintenance. For example, try converting part of your lawn to a display of ornamental grasses. If you have a small nuisance area on your property that you rather not have to mow lawn grass anymore, consider replacing it with a varied combination of ornamental grasses and mulch. Adding some raised beds to your yard will not only look good by highlighting your plantings, they will provide an edge barrier from the lawn, and deter ground pests. Plant your shrubs closely to minimize weeds, and wider beds allow you to reduce lawn size. Much maintenance can be reduced by placing your beds so that the lawn areas are in continuous, easy-to-mow swaths. A border such as flagstone or brick can be used to define the edge. If you set this border below the level of the lawn, mowing will be easy with no other trimming is required. Any trees in your lawn can be given a wide skirt surrounding the base, using a combination of mulch, some ground cover or native plants.

Contrary to the neighbors, you may not need a lawn at all. For instance, if you enjoy the open feel of a lawn but not the maintenance or water requirements. Also, areas where it is difficult to establish a traditional lawn can perform well with some alternatives. For instance, if your yard suffers due to too much shade, moss may offer a solution. Once they get over the label lawn weed many people find moss attractive. Shade gardens with moss are increasing in popularity as a lawn alternative.

For more gardening tips, including Lawn Alternatives and more, visit the author's green gardening blog [http://www.comeawake.com]

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