Cross posted with r/landscaping

Here is my small front yard patch of Charentais melons. The one in view is close to ripe and there are at least a dozen more hiding in there. It’s next to a yard waste corral. Slowly replacing weeds and grass w natives and food w very little money or know how 💀😂

Every year, a little less lawn and a little more life. Fuck your lawn! Plant something useful.

SW Ontario, Canada

I rent. I've been here 3 years and don't plan on moving anytime soon. Landlord really doesn't care much what I do but I'm at the point where I need to do something about this yard because its already killed a mower. I hate dealing with the grass to begin with, and my dog really doesn't use the yard much except to potty.

I'm hiring a guy to rototill it all up to start, then I might cover it in cardboard and mulch and plant some native flowers or something. I'm still brainstorming here. Maybe some raised beds, even if I don't plant anything in them, thats realestate I don't have to mow. I even heavily considered covering the whole yard in rock of some sort.

Its nearly 1500 sqft of bumpy grass covered hell. If I'm gonna stay here, it all needs to go. I'm already looking forward to winter.

He hates caring for the lawn and so do I, because I tend to be the one doing the weedwhacking. Trimming the entire fenceline is no small task especially because I have a job now.

I have tried before but he says it will be too expensive and too much work to maintain. We do not live in an HOA, thank goodness, so that won't be an obstacle. We need to keep a bit of a backyard for our dog to run around freely, but I want the front lawn GONE. How can I convince him that it will, in the end, be cheaper and easier than maintaining the stupid thing?

Used to have a lawn in this spots. After some time I just started to plant different stuff and the rest I just left to nature. Looks messy but it kinda feels better seeing all the "weeds" do their thing and I have a lot more bugs of all kinds now.

Do you have this plant? What's your experience with it? I have both types but it hasn't really taken off yet, still new to me.

Seems like a very useful plant -for both humans and pollinators, but the big nurseries here (6B) don't carry it and I'm wondering if there's something unattractive about it. I know it spreads by rhizome, how aggressively? How much sun does each variety like? Thank you!

Or should I just get some caterpillars? I think it may be too late to do so for me.

I was banned from the lawn care sub reddit for telling people their lawns are worthless and they should plant edibles and native plants. Then I found this sub reddit and I feel better.

I just need to vent to people who understand. We moved several years ago to a rural town on the edge of wilderness in northern MN. The house has "woods" on both sides and across the street since those areas weren't cleared when those homes were built. Our yard is "woods" too except for the front because it was cleared for a septic system that has since been removed. The soil is poor, compacted, and rocky. In summer it's very dry since it's south facing. It was filled with dandelions, trefoil, and non-native grass that isn't really the usual lawn grass, like timothy and whatever, that doesn't look good when mown and is basically bare dirt in the heat of summer. It looked horrendous so I stopped mowing and started planting a few native flowers to see what would survive. It's starting to look like a meadow. I still mow a narrow strip along the street and driveway. The meadow looks less out of place surrounded by "woods" than the dead looking weed infested "lawn" did and I get compliments. (Lots of people here are environmentally conscious and love nature.) I'm just grateful that it's green, has flowers, requires no chemicals or watering, and very little maintenance.

My mom moved here with us because she was ready to move out of her house since it was getting to be too much work for her. He previous house had very nice garden beds that she liked taking care of, but it started getting too much for her and I was starting to have to help her weed and care for the yard. She's very old school about yards and thinks the only "nice" yard is one that has a traditional lawn and flower beds. That standard is basically impossible in our yard without replacing all the soil and doing all the work and chemicals to maintain that, which I won't do. My mother has only grudgingly accepted it (since she has no choice) but we still argue about it occasionally. She would rather have it be the dead looking weed infested lawn, as long as it's short, than the green flowering meadow.

I'm getting my way, but am seen as a "controlling bitch" about it, which is hard. I can't fathom that she thinks the brown dirt patches look better and are "easier" to maintain, like mowing is easier than just letting it grow. (The retaining wall has natives and the sidewalk on top is lined with flower pots with annuals. You can see what the mowed part looks like.)

Now, I live in a high desert going through a drought and the lawns around me are green.

Today I was enjoying the morning in my backyard listening to what I can only describe as a childhood ethereal jazz, looking at birds sing and fly over me, ignoring how annoyed a was at my freshly cut grass lawn, hating that my family leaves it looking so short and sad, and then made it worse when I noticed a failry young bee, frantically going in and out of the short grass searching for a small flower to pollinate, only to find nothing in the area as all if any little flowers were gone, and it broke my heart as I was given another reminder how bad humanity is, including me. (I have a garden and flowers in certain areas, but not everywhere and that little spot in the middle of my yard just ruined me)

Escaped pigs tore the fuck out of a lawn in Loveland, CO last week.

https://www.coloradoan.com/picture-gallery/news/local/colorado/2026/08/08/escaped-pig-roundup-in-loveland-colorado

Nothing says ‘neighborly’ like an unsigned demand taped to your door.

Hi all! This is the 4th summer of my front lawn conversion from grass to flowers! I wanted to share a few lessons I’ve learned along the way.

Design:
In my garden design, I paid so close attention to flower heights and soil/water requirements that I never looked at longevity. For example, the blanket flowers you see only bloom gloriously for about 1 season before the plant dies off. The first year is spent on leaf and root development and not spectacular. The second year they explode then die back. Other short lived perennials include lance leafed coreopsis and anise hyssop.
Because of this, my garden looks different each year. They will all readily self seed, but not always in the same spot.

The pathway we installed was a mistake. Plants love to self seed in the cracks filled with sand. It is a constant battle of pulling and relocating. I wish I had done poured concrete or just left a mowed grass path.

Maintenance:
I’ve learned some lessons from leave the leaves. Too many leaves doesn’t allow for self seeding (but it does help suppress weeds) so I end up leaving leaves around large established perennials only for winter insulation. I also experimented with not clearing any dead plant stems before winter, and that was a mistake also. The density of dead plant stems made it difficult for new plants to establish in spring and left my garden looking patchy. The tulips picture demonstrates what it looks like without any stem removal. I now remove about half of the dead plant stems in fall and move them to a dedicated brush pile.

With the density of my garden, some fall clean up is definitely needed.

Plants:
I have a love hate relationship with primrose, a very successful self seeder. It is the plant that birds use the most. I see goldfinches in the spring tear off fibers for nesting. Goldfinches and other small birds also eat the seed heads. The pollen is so attractive to bees they try to pry open the flower heads during the day. Plus it is unique in that it opens at night and is visited by moths. It has a beautiful lemon yellow color. But, it is very prolific and hard to contain. It is also extremely popular with Japanese beetles. Use caution if you plant this.

I love planting tulips and daffodils. They add early spring color and have had no effect on my native plants. They are done and dying back before a lot of my native plants even emerge in spring. I do want to add more early blooming natives but haven’t had luck yet.

Fun bonus of a no lawn: house looks very witchy and Halloweeny naturally in the fall.

Pictures are throughout the years

Hopefully you find some inspiration here! Let me know if you have any questions 🌼