It’s often said that in order to create, we must first destroy. And in the sacred pantheon of the home landscape, the manicured green lawn has reigned supreme. But sometimes, even titans must fall.
As calls for more sustainable landscaping practices abound, gardeners are swapping patchy and high-maintenance lawns for cottage-style flower gardens, pollinator meadows, and other creative landscape ideas. There’s only one thing standing in the way: all that grass. Processes for removing an established lawn each come with their own considerations.
Landscapers and gardening consultants have advice for how to plan the great lawn upheaval, and it all comes down to patience versus good old-fashioned elbow grease. First, removing grass requires a mind-set adjustment. Jessica Zander, a Winchester-based garden coach , recently shared an instructive Instagram video in which she referred to “exposure therapy” while chopping apart hostas .
And as more of her clients express interest in lawn alternatives — reducing or eliminating grass, converting it to microclover, and other options that require less water and fertilizer to thrive — hacking up the lawn is becoming a regular practice. The fastest method is just to get in there and dig it up. But it isn’t easy.
And there are techniques that can make the work easier and preserve valuable topsoil. And yes, if you want that wildflower meadow , removing the established grass is probably necessary. “[Grass] is the most common peren.
