Can I Have a Lawn-free Garden That’s Kind to the Environment?
Try these tips to help you plan a garden without grass that’s still leafy and eco-friendly
There are several reasons to do without a lawn in your garden, but many of us worry that a lack of grass will cause problems for wildlife and the environment. There are, however, plenty of things you can do to minimise any negative effects. As part of our Garden Planning guide, here is some advice to get you started.
Beginning your garden project? Read How to Start a Garden Redesign
Beginning your garden project? Read How to Start a Garden Redesign
Green up damp ground
In damp areas, it’s possible to get bare patches in between paving stones, but there are various plants that cope well with moist conditions and will provide a mossy effect.
Often sold as a houseplant, Soleirolia soleirolii (mind-your-own-business or baby’s tears), can also be found outdoors smothering a drain – this is because it does well in moist, shady areas. You also see it in living walls and Japanese-style gardens, where it’s used as a substitute for moss.
Due to its slender, spreading stems that root as they run, the tiny leaves of this mat-forming creeping perennial form a soft mound, similar to a deep-pile carpet.
Another good choice for damp areas is Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’ (golden creeping Jenny), a bright-green trailing foliage plant that has cup-shaped yellow flowers from June to August. This is a good plant for softening the edges of a pond or low wall and, as it grows rapidly, it will soon hide unsightly features, too.
In damp areas, it’s possible to get bare patches in between paving stones, but there are various plants that cope well with moist conditions and will provide a mossy effect.
Often sold as a houseplant, Soleirolia soleirolii (mind-your-own-business or baby’s tears), can also be found outdoors smothering a drain – this is because it does well in moist, shady areas. You also see it in living walls and Japanese-style gardens, where it’s used as a substitute for moss.
Due to its slender, spreading stems that root as they run, the tiny leaves of this mat-forming creeping perennial form a soft mound, similar to a deep-pile carpet.
Another good choice for damp areas is Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’ (golden creeping Jenny), a bright-green trailing foliage plant that has cup-shaped yellow flowers from June to August. This is a good plant for softening the edges of a pond or low wall and, as it grows rapidly, it will soon hide unsightly features, too.
Cover shady areas
It can be difficult for grass to flourish in patches that get little sun, but there are various plants that do well in shady areas and can act as a soft, spreading lawn.
Ajuga reptans, for example, is a great plant for shady areas of the garden and is usually grown for its evergreen foliage rather than the flower. However, in late spring and early summer, you’ll be delighted by the short spikes of deep blue-violet flowers. This plant makes a lovely low-maintenance ground cover to keep your space green. A good choice would be Ajuga reptans ‘Black Scallop’, which can also tolerate sunlight.
Pratia pedunculata has tiny, pretty, star-shaped blue flowers. However, it can be very invasive and many people complain they can’t get rid of it once it’s entered the garden.
The mat-forming and evergreen Pachysandra terminalis (Japanese spurge) is also a great plant for shady areas. It flowers in the summer, producing upright clusters of tiny white flowers, but most of the year you’re blessed with rosettes of dark-green leaves serrated at the edges. This plant does very well in areas of bare ground between deciduous shrubs and trees.
More: How to Design a North-facing Garden
It can be difficult for grass to flourish in patches that get little sun, but there are various plants that do well in shady areas and can act as a soft, spreading lawn.
Ajuga reptans, for example, is a great plant for shady areas of the garden and is usually grown for its evergreen foliage rather than the flower. However, in late spring and early summer, you’ll be delighted by the short spikes of deep blue-violet flowers. This plant makes a lovely low-maintenance ground cover to keep your space green. A good choice would be Ajuga reptans ‘Black Scallop’, which can also tolerate sunlight.
Pratia pedunculata has tiny, pretty, star-shaped blue flowers. However, it can be very invasive and many people complain they can’t get rid of it once it’s entered the garden.
The mat-forming and evergreen Pachysandra terminalis (Japanese spurge) is also a great plant for shady areas. It flowers in the summer, producing upright clusters of tiny white flowers, but most of the year you’re blessed with rosettes of dark-green leaves serrated at the edges. This plant does very well in areas of bare ground between deciduous shrubs and trees.
More: How to Design a North-facing Garden
Use vertical zones
If you want to save floor space in a confined area, consider growing climbing plants up walls and fences as an engineered ‘green wall’.
Vertical greenery can deflect water away from walls in heavy rain, help to regulate temperature and alleviate noise pollution. It will also provide nesting habitats for birds and insects to maintain biodiversity in your garden.
There are some lovely climbing plants that will add scent to your garden, such as honeysuckle, roses and jasmine, which will also encourage bees and butterflies.
If you want to save floor space in a confined area, consider growing climbing plants up walls and fences as an engineered ‘green wall’.
Vertical greenery can deflect water away from walls in heavy rain, help to regulate temperature and alleviate noise pollution. It will also provide nesting habitats for birds and insects to maintain biodiversity in your garden.
There are some lovely climbing plants that will add scent to your garden, such as honeysuckle, roses and jasmine, which will also encourage bees and butterflies.
Create drainage
Not getting into too much detail here, but one of the issues with a paved area is surface water and ensuring there’s adequate drainage. There are a number of permeable grouts and jointing compounds on the market that can be used to make sure the surface water drains correctly.
It’s also essential to make sure the paving has an adequate fall, no matter how small the area, in order to alleviate ponding, which inevitably causes problems during heavy rain or icy conditions.
Planting between paving not only looks good and retains the green feel of the garden, it can help with drainage issues, as you’re not sealing the joints between the slabs.
Not getting into too much detail here, but one of the issues with a paved area is surface water and ensuring there’s adequate drainage. There are a number of permeable grouts and jointing compounds on the market that can be used to make sure the surface water drains correctly.
It’s also essential to make sure the paving has an adequate fall, no matter how small the area, in order to alleviate ponding, which inevitably causes problems during heavy rain or icy conditions.
Planting between paving not only looks good and retains the green feel of the garden, it can help with drainage issues, as you’re not sealing the joints between the slabs.
Grow in gravel
Gravel is very attractive to self-seeding plants, which revel in the free-draining stone. The result can be very natural, and can prevent weeds that impede the growth of self-seeders.
There’s more to laying a gravel path than merely throwing it over another surface, though. You can either lay a special permeable membrane, which will stop weeds coming through but allow water to drain, or, better still, lay a firm foundation or sub-base of hardcore. The hardcore will prevent the top layer of thin, crushed stone from becoming dislodged and will help bed the path properly.
A good sub-base will also prevent larger stones from the sub-base appearing through the gravel in an unsightly way.
Gravel is very attractive to self-seeding plants, which revel in the free-draining stone. The result can be very natural, and can prevent weeds that impede the growth of self-seeders.
There’s more to laying a gravel path than merely throwing it over another surface, though. You can either lay a special permeable membrane, which will stop weeds coming through but allow water to drain, or, better still, lay a firm foundation or sub-base of hardcore. The hardcore will prevent the top layer of thin, crushed stone from becoming dislodged and will help bed the path properly.
A good sub-base will also prevent larger stones from the sub-base appearing through the gravel in an unsightly way.
Entice the bees
Using sweet-smelling creeping thyme as a ground cover will help to attract bees, as well as create scented mounds to brush past. For a white mat form, opt for Thymus serpyllum ‘Snowdrift’, which has whorls of two-lipped white flowers in the summer.
Thymus serpyllum ‘Minor’ is an evergreen with tiny, rich green-grey foliage. In the summer months, that becomes smothered with mini purple-pink blooms, which join together to form a block of bright colour.
For a good, bushy thyme, often used in cooking, look for Thymus ‘Silver Posie’, which has white-margined leaves and pale-pink flowers. Thyme thrives in well-drained, dry, sunny positions, so make sure it doesn’t become waterlogged.
Another scented creeping plant, often used in the place of a lawn, is the herbaceous chamomile. The aromatic leaves form a dense mat, and daisy-like white flowers are produced in the summer.
If planted in shady areas, the lawn will become patchy, so choose open, sunnier sites. Only trim the flowers in late summer to prevent dead patches, and don’t walk on a newly planted chamomile lawn for at least 12 weeks.
More: What Happens When You Hire a Garden Designer?
Using sweet-smelling creeping thyme as a ground cover will help to attract bees, as well as create scented mounds to brush past. For a white mat form, opt for Thymus serpyllum ‘Snowdrift’, which has whorls of two-lipped white flowers in the summer.
Thymus serpyllum ‘Minor’ is an evergreen with tiny, rich green-grey foliage. In the summer months, that becomes smothered with mini purple-pink blooms, which join together to form a block of bright colour.
For a good, bushy thyme, often used in cooking, look for Thymus ‘Silver Posie’, which has white-margined leaves and pale-pink flowers. Thyme thrives in well-drained, dry, sunny positions, so make sure it doesn’t become waterlogged.
Another scented creeping plant, often used in the place of a lawn, is the herbaceous chamomile. The aromatic leaves form a dense mat, and daisy-like white flowers are produced in the summer.
If planted in shady areas, the lawn will become patchy, so choose open, sunnier sites. Only trim the flowers in late summer to prevent dead patches, and don’t walk on a newly planted chamomile lawn for at least 12 weeks.
More: What Happens When You Hire a Garden Designer?
Bring in water
Whatever the size of your garden, introducing an element of water will naturally attract wildlife and be kind to the environment. If you’re building a natural pond, try to use a local stone, so it blends in seamlessly with the surroundings.
Plant up around the feature to encourage more wildlife, such as dragonflies, frogs and newts, water boatmen and birds, as well as a host of other amphibians and insects.
More: How to Create a Small Wildlife Pond in Your Garden
Tell us…
Are you planning a lawn-free garden? Did you find these tips helpful? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
Whatever the size of your garden, introducing an element of water will naturally attract wildlife and be kind to the environment. If you’re building a natural pond, try to use a local stone, so it blends in seamlessly with the surroundings.
Plant up around the feature to encourage more wildlife, such as dragonflies, frogs and newts, water boatmen and birds, as well as a host of other amphibians and insects.
More: How to Create a Small Wildlife Pond in Your Garden
Tell us…
Are you planning a lawn-free garden? Did you find these tips helpful? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
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There are so many plants that work well in between paving and will act as a creeping carpet. This is useful if you don’t have or want a lawn, as it adds greenery and allows water to drain away.
Pictured here is Ajuga reptans, but campanulas also work well as ground cover, and are classified as either annuals, herbaceous or evergreen perennials.
Campanula poscharskyana is semi-evergreen and a spreading perennial form of this trailing bellflower, which creates a low mound of rounded leaves. The stems bear lovely blue-violet, star-shaped flowers from spring well into autumn. Campanula looks lovely popping up between steps and stones, and forms a beautiful blue and green carpet.
You could also opt for Campanula portenschlagiana, which is a very vigorous form. It has less of a trailing habit, but it still bears bell- or star-shaped flowers on branching stems, forming a dense, low-growing mat.
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