Lawns. Love em or hate em?

So I proudly showed the missus the plan for our new garden. Her first reaction wasn't "oh you horticultural genius". It was "but where's the lawn?"

I put my foot down, and....she won. I had to put a lawn in.

I don't like lawns. I don't think they add anything. Lawn grass is a fundamentally boring plant.

The only reason I can think of to have one is if you have kids who want a footy pitch. The missus wanted "somewhere to lie out in the sun", but surely that's why God created hard landscaping and patio furniture.

Lawns huh. Overrated or an essential garden staple?

 

Hi, personally in a small garden I wouldn't have one...too much planting space wasted :D

We had two on different levels when we moved in this house, but one has now gone to make room for the veg patch, the other though is staying as we have two young sons and they need some play area :thumb:

On the other hand I do admire those well kept shaped lawns in larger gardens flanked by herbaceous and shrub borders :thumb:

 

I haven't any lawn in our place, front or back, and I'm delighted.

Our two kids have flown the coop, but when they were young, the then existing lawn was a handy play area.

Generally in a house, the bigger percentage that the lawn occupies, the less adventurous the garden. (Broad generalization.)

 

I have lawns front and back. The dog loves them , the GK's love them and it is nice to sit on in the evening to have a drink . Mowing them is a pain in the neck , also reseeding bare patches , why does grass seed have a purely random germination rate , unless it is on my drive where it always grows !

 

love a good green manicured lawn

strangely, in South africa, we never have the same problems we have here with lawns

the most common grass most planted there is called kikuya ( Pennisetum clandestinum )

not many weeds .... broader blade and does well and is not fussy.... in winter it goes yellow/brown in the high lying areas of the country as it gets cold .... (summer rainfall with dry cold winters)

I'm sure that kikuya grass will do well here

here is a description from a USA site where it is also grown in some areas
All About Kikuyu Grass|Comparison of Kikuyu Grass

never had to seed .... you dug trenches approx 200mm apart .... you bought some turf (or dug it from the rural areas) divide into small clumps of and planted them approx 100mm apart

a few months later, you had a full green lawn as it spreads fast ... never had to use weed and feed etc, but responds well to a high nitrogen fertilizer

 

A garden without a lawn is not a garden
There is nothing better than the look of a garden when the grass has just been cut
Having said that, my grass isn't necessarily grass and it most certainly is not lawn as we know it.
My motto is 'if it is green, then it is grass'
But , I think you know what I mean
You need that bit of green to make everything else look brill

 

I agree , i could not imagine having a garden without a lawn .. something very English/ British about a nice coiffured lawn.. esp after its been cut and the edges/ boders trimmed ,, ah very satisfying

 

I agree, a garden is not a garden to me without a lawn. I like a nice expanse of lawn with borders round the side, but not too wide. I don't like a wide border because it encroaches onto the lawn space. My lawn is quite small and by no means pristine and involves a lot of reseeding at various times of the year (4 dogs!) and the front lawn gets clogged up with moss, so that's quite hard work to get rid of. But it's lawn, and it's one of the things about a British garden that I love.

I don't like what I call "clutter" in a garden, ie where there are plants all over the place and only pathways in between. That makes me feel quite claustrophobic. I like a nice open space.

 

Not too fond of 'clutter' myself
Can you even begin to think what this would look like without the lawn?

 

Just me then!

I do like a bit of grass to set off borders, but I count that as a grass path rather than a lawn.

I agreed to the lawn request on the condition that I can dot it with wildflowers / weeds (depending on your point of view!) and leave it slightly unkempt, more natural looking.

 

I think you've reached a good compromise there Andrew.
A lawn doesn't have to be just a boring expanse of green. An area of grass dotted with daisies, dandelions and clover etc. can be just as pleasing to the eye as a bland 'bowling green' type lawn.
For a bit more variety you could consider planting a few areas with drifts of daffodils or snowdrops and leaving them uncut until late spring, if space permits.

 

I wouldn't be without my 'lawn'.Ok so it's not perfectly manicured...2 dogs and 4 chickens but not in too bad a shape considering!
The best part about it is the smell....a freshly cut lawn especially in the spring to me is wonderful...

 

Photo Gallery (Scroll down to "The proper size for a front lawn." )

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