Grassy lawns have long been a staple of outdoor aesthetics, evoking a sense of order and tradition in our landscapes. However, as many homeowners are discovering, the classic carpet of green comes with its own set of challenges. These can range from the practical to the personal – from the time and resources spent on upkeep to the health concerns for those with certain allergies. On one hand, we do need plants on the surface of the ground to deflect the pounding rains. On the other hand, is a grassy lawn the only way for erosion control? There is another option that saves labor, supports our pollinators, and gives us something lovely to look at. Create a wildflower lawn instead.
With a shift in perspective and an embrace of innovative gardening practices such as foodscaping, it is possible to break free from the conventional lawn and cultivate a space that is not only beautiful but also bountiful. Let’s delve into why replacing your grassy lawn with a wildflower lawn may be the breath of fresh air your garden – and your life – needs.
Wildflower mixes can be carefully selected with natives for your area. The flowers will attract so many entertaining garden creatures: from gorgeous fluttering butterflies and moths, to buzzing bees and dragonflies, and even those zippy little hummingbirds. You can create an ecosystem for pollinators just by employing this very simple method, which will save you endless work later.
The method we will show you here involves direct sowing wildflower seeds. If you want to mix in some hard to find varieties as a focal point, you could always grow those from seed ahead of time to give them a head start. Once they are established seedlings, go ahead and prepare the soil for planting. Go through all the steps to direct-sow your wildflower seeds and then add your plugs wherever you want them.
To prepare the soil, we chose to use a tarp to suffocate the grass. If you have access to a rototiller you can skip this step. Do consider, though, that rototillers can be hard on the body and you have to know whether there are power or water lines below the surface. Call your state’s information line if you are unsure. They will come out and mark the area for you.
Cover the Lawn with a Tarp
We have used blue and gray tarps and 4 mil black plastic sheets. Both work by trapping in heat while starving the grass of what it needs to survive including oxygen, water, and sunlight.
Use what you have on hand to secure the tarp from heavy winds. We had some old fence posts that did the trick. We’ve also used cinder blocks or concrete pavers, heavy logs etc.
Leave the tarp in place for at least a month but be prepared to leave it longer if necessary. Periodically peel back the edge of the tarp to check the progress. When the grass is brown and fried looking, you can remove the tarp and move on to the next step.
Remove the Remains of the Grass
Using a weed wacker, scalp the dead grass all the way down to the bare ground. Be warned, this is a dusty job. You should definitely wear an N95 mask to filter this dust so it doesn’t irritate your lungs.
Rake the Dead Grass
There will be dry grass clippings left behind. We want to remove as much of that as possible, so that the seeds will be able to make direct contact with the soil. A layer of grass clippings could hinder contact. We used a wide leaf rake to scrape away the clippings leaving bare soil behind.
Before we move on to preparing the seeds, let’s discuss another way to create a wildflower lawn that avoids the previous steps. If you were to do a mound garden, you would not need to kill off the grass beneath. Our post on hugelkultur gardens describes the exact steps we took to create ours.
If you were to utilize this method for the wildflower lawn, you would have the option to make it a rounded mound or more of a plateau, depending on your specific goals.
This would be a great way to add a wind break or noise barrier. It would even add some dimension to a flat section of the yard. It is an option for a very low maintenance wildflower lawn requiring minimal watering once established. Additionally, the hugelkultur design has a built in system for nutrition.
Prepare the Seeds
Now your patch is ready for seeds. You can obtain a nice variety of wildflowers by mixing different blends together. Dump the seed bags into a five gallon bucket and use your hands to mix them together.
Spread the Seeds on the Bare Ground
Buy or borrow a wheeled or handheld seed spreader if possible. If not, you can always sprinkle the seeds around as evening as possible using your hands. We opted to spread the seeds by hand as evenly as possible. In hindsight, a spreader would have made the field more consistently full.
After dispersing the seeds, the package instructs to gently embed the seeds by walking across the ground. Wildflower seeds do not need to be covered with soil. We only help them to make contact.
When we sprinkle wildflower seeds on the ground and walk across them, we are mimicking what happens in nature. If you consider how wildflowers reproduce in nature this makes sense. Seeds spread naturally by the wind, in bird droppings, or simply by falling to the ground at the end of their life cycle. No one is digging a hole and covering them with soil. They simply make contact with the earth and natural intelligence takes over from there.
Water the Area
Immediately after spreading and embedding your seeds, you will need to water the entire area. Give it a good soaking to signal to your babies to wake up and start growing!
For the next three to four weeks you will want to keep an eye on soil moisture. You don’t need to saturate the soil during germination. Simply misting the soil lightly with a hose will do. Most evenings and mornings are densely humid in our area, so we only watered if it was exceptionally hot and dry.
Seedlings Emerge
Your adorable little seedlings will start to emerge in seven to twenty one days. It is so exciting to watch for tiny plants poking their way up from the earth. Before you know it you will have a field of colorful wildflowers swaying in the breeze. The best part about it is that many of these flowers are self-seeding. At the end of the season, let them die back and in the spring they re-emerge for another year of color.
Protect Your Seedlings
In the interest of protecting our little seedlings from trampling feet, we had a sign made to explain the bare patch of grass and asking them to “please keep off.” I don’t think the deer understand the concept but at least human visitors will.
Lastly, you can use some basic garden twine and wood stakes for roping off the area. This helps others to visualize the garden perimeter as the flowers begin to emerge.
Stages of Growth
Some of the grassy-weedy stuff is likely to infiltrate but once your flowers are established you will hardly notice. It starts with a few arbitrary blooms, then a little more, and then a rainbow of lovely blooms and wispy foliage will grace the area.
In conclusion, embracing the beauty of wildflower lawns not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of our surroundings but also plays a crucial role in supporting biodiversity. Their low-maintenance nature and ability to bolster the pollinator population make them an excellent companion to vegetable gardens, thus enriching our efforts in sustainable living. By choosing to cultivate these vibrant ecosystems, you are contributing positively to the environment and, indeed, deserve commendation for your environmentally conscious choice.
Now that you have your wildflower lawn in place, the pollinators are happy, and you don’t have to mow! Sit back and have a cool drink while you enjoy the sights and sounds of nature.
