It’s 2020 – tear out your lawn!

— Really? Tear it out? But why?

Our front & rear lawns, like the sacred driveway – are iconic pieces of our American home. Despite its traditional status as the family playground, many of us are ripping it up. Here’s some of why . . .

1. It’s a water hog . . .

If you’re in any of the water-starved states, reducing your water usage is the number one reason for replacing your lawn. It’s just expensive, considering how little we use it throughout the year.

Consider some serious numbers:

Outdoor water use typically accounts for 50-80 percent of residential consumption during the 5 summer months.

Our water district here in the Southwest estimates that replacing just one square foot of grass can save 42 gallons of water a year.

And with warm-state residential development growing, the current national consumption is pegged at roughly 9 billion gallons of water a day for outdoor use, and most of that is on watering lawns.

2. It takes too much time . . .

You’ll save on maintenance – think of the money, time, and energy you’ll save from not having to mow that lawn. And while you’re on vacation, you also don’t have to pay the neighbor kid to keep the lawn growth at bay with your mower.

3. It’s not really green . . .

Over the course of an hour, a lawnmower reportedly generates more greenhouse gas emissions than 11 modern cars.

Inorganic lawn fertilizers in their effective concentrations aren’t that good for people or animals, either. Dogs and cats sometimes eat grass for digestion. And we all play, & fall, & roll around in the grass on a nice day with the kids.

Rain runoff brings urban pollution into the lawn from our expanded neighborhood. Airborne demolition and construction debris are part of that. So are the residues of other people’s activities and hobbies at home.

Rain runoff from the driveway into the flat lawn also brings all the oil, gas, & car cleaning chemical residue to the lawn as well. And lastly, it does little to return oxygen back into the atmosphere like perennial bushes or trees with lots of leaves.

4. It’s got beat-up old sprinklers . . .

In many cases when the system is not watering the lawn, the problem is simply the timer needing to be set again, and again. Sometimes not.

Many have:

• -leaky sprinkler heads and loose connections

• -filters that become clogged

• -pipes and fittings that crack over time 

• -puddles of water around sprinkler heads

• -backflow systems that need to be inspected annually

• When problems come along, a good contractor is expensive.

5. Some areas weren’t very usable anyway . . .

Fix grading problems. It’s the perfect opportunity to take down high spots with the dirt, and raise low spots – and address any drainage issues in your yard where water doesn’t move fast enough away from the house foundation.

If you’re inspired, take the time to add an underground ADS-style drain pipe and connect it to the downspouts off the house gutters. Steering all or some of the water from your roof into a small dry river bed reduces urban runoff and reuses rainwater to enhance soil moisture.

6. And it had pests growing in it too . . .

Deal with surprise pests. Removing grass can expose pest problems you didn’t know you had. Check the soil for insect larvae and deal with any you find before you turn the earth or plant. Crane fly larvae live in sour grass which leads to moles for sure – but each region has its pests, big and small.

This is about the only part where you might use some chemistry, so keep the kids & animals away from the liquids as they dry on grass or dirt. Once they dry, they’re safe. **As always, read the label.

Dry insecticides are more of a headache.

OK – so tearing it out will take time

Step 1: Use solarization to kill the grass by cooking it dry.

Soil solarization is a process that uses heat from the sun to kill weed seeds and pathogens in the soil. It also kills the grass, overheating it until it dies.

You’ll need lots of direct sunlight and high temperatures for success, so a hot part of the summer is the best time for this process. I like August.

-Mow the grass as closely as possible and water it thoroughly.

-Cover the grass in the garden areas with thick CLEAR plastic sheeting and leave it covered for four to six weeks. Clear plastic is more effective than opaque varieties, as it allows more sunlight to reach the grass and heat it more quickly.

-Thin plastic will work, but a higher millage thicker plastic will last longer and resist tears over the weeks you’ll have it down. Check with the paint department.

-You can use black plastic to trap the heat in the soil. But black plastic will also block the sunlight, slowing the ‘cooking’ process.

Step 2: Tear out the grass, keep the soil

Once the grass is dead and you take up the plastic, you can remove the dead grass with a flat shovel or rent a grass cutter. Some even let it act as compost under a lot of new soil.

I do both, knocking off as much dirt as possible for the basis of the new flower beds, while stacking up the cut out grass in a far away pile upside down. That’s the Scottish way . . .

If you want, leave some of the grass as your walkway and staging area, while you’re concentrating on the dirty flower bed areas. A grass patch gives you a place for a rest chair, bench, stick tools, coffee mug, your reference notebook, phone, etc. I usually call it a ‘safe spot’, where the work is NOT.

Pace yourself here. This is the ugly part.

-Soil solarization does not have the negative environmental impact of herbicide, but it will kill beneficial organisms along with those that are harmful in the top layers of soil. So plan on adding some garden soil.

-A lawn covered with plastic won’t be attractive and you’ll have to leave it in that condition for several weeks. I would usually start on a small patch without plastic while the large areas cooked, so I could get a head start.

-This method is dependent on the weather – cool or cloudy days will slow down the process, but it will work.

-While not as difficult as digging up living turf, prying up a large grass lawn takes effort. I prefer to do this in the mornings, and layout after noon.

-You can purchase a significant amount of sheeting for the whole garden, or break up the process by sections as I did, and you’ll have to remove the unwanted material and dispose of it as the process moves along.

But there is a payoff . . .

When I did this in the past, I started solarization in August to gain the most heat, while doing spade work through the fall after work. Come mid-September, I could see berms of dirt, large rocks, blank rose beds, and fencing in place.

By January the bare-root roses were available in the big box stores. And in February the potted roses were in my favorite nurseries – so I was beginning to set plants under 4 inches of mulch by Valentine’s Day for my Sweetie.

. . . you’ll have a new bare garden patch to layout.

Now what should I plant and where? Mmmm.

Ripped-out lawn patches aren’t open wounds.

-They are a blank canvas for you to become as creative as you want with that empty space. So do a little research . . .

-The E-media in the library is a starting point for this layout stage, like many other homeowner things.

Begin the layout stage

-Start a notebook of ideas, plant names, drawings, resources, good thrift stores, books, helpful websites, and pricing.

-A 3 ring binder may be too much work, but the thrift stores are full of blank notebooks for c-h-e-a-p. And they’re easy to carry around.

-And thrift stores have tools. And hose nozzles. And liquid fertilizer sprayers. And gadgets. Many gadgets.

**No digging yet . . . Call 811 at this point for free ground marking.

They will mark the ground where the underground utilities run through your yard so you don’t create a mess – or get hurt by the full-house electrical service. This is homeowner 101 stuff.

Make a diagram of your yard in the notebook.

Measure loosely all the landscape features, including the remaining lawn and other planted areas, driveways, house doorways, walkways, outdoor power outlets, and water faucets. Add that underground info to your notebook too.

From there, it’s choices & options.

For more detailed design ideas with gorgeous pictures, visit GardenDesign.com/roses online.

Prepare for the sun, and plan for the shade

Note how much sun your yard gets while you tear out the lawn, including the hottest areas, and those that get the late afternoon sun.

As for the roses, you’re looking for 6 hours of full sun.

Go outside in the morning and afternoon and note on your notebook sketch what parts of your yard are shaded at each time of day.

Include shade from your home, nearby trees, and structures.

Plot these sunny and shady areas on your yard diagram.

This information will help you with plant selection and orienting structures for the benefit of the new plants. I use Home Depot paint sticks to help me understand the sun effect. They’re low like the plants, cheap, and movable. And I save them for the next step.

Design 301 : ‘Advanced Design Principles’ Post

Walls and walkways

Once you know more about how the sun will affect your plantings inside your perimeter, you can start to imagineer the features you want in the garden space, starting with your access.

I use those saved paint sticks & some small rope or an extra hose to create a general shape of the planned walkways and any seating areas on the bare dirt as they wander through my proposed rose plantings.

Think about permeable hardscapes

Creating walkways, patios, and edging to your landscaping adds versatility.

I almost always choose a permeable hardscape like wide stones to allow the rain water to seep around it, which maintains healthy soils.

I use materials like sand, small gravel, or decomposed granite between pavers or stones rather than mortar.

Solid concrete walkways are better kept for public gardens and nurseries, unless you need regular wheelchair access.

Rearrange the irrigation system

Evaluate your existing irrigation system parts and decide if they can be reused or if new parts are needed. With everything moving, maybe just the main supply lines can be kept. From there you can spread out new lines to the bushes with new drip tubing and ends.

Or opt for soaker hoses.

Irrigation of new potted bulbs, or new drought-sensitive shrubs like rhodys can be created with a series of concentric rings of irrigation tubing with fittings, like below.

Details, details, details

Now you can fill in your yard diagram with the areas of planned use. Include placement of hardscapes, rose bushes, and other companion plants, while keeping an eye on their expected full height and width in relation to spacing.

I keep hybrid tea roses 3 ft apart and the larger florabundas at 4 ft, stem to stem.

Consider choosing companion plants like lavender with varying bloom times to encourage color in your yard year-round.

Sources: Wikipedia, ARS, Garden Design Magazine, Home Depot