The most attractive and gorgeous lawns of trends past featured as much lush and green lawn as possible to squeeze into every square foot of your yard. Flowers and blooms were relegated to borders and flowerbeds only, and edible plants were for the supermarket. These days, we’ve fallen in love with a functional yard that gives us what we need while keeping pace with style.
Moving away from lawn to grow more of your favorite flavors and looks is not only a way to make your lawn a personalized extension of your home that serves your interests, but is also a way to make your lawn more worth your effort. Here’s how to get a little less lawn headache in your summer, and more healthy and fun plants that support you back.
Less Lawn
Maintaining a healthy and green lawn can become a massive chore, which is why in years past it was such a mark of prestige for your home. Getting your lawn in good shape requires constant maintenance to keep it weed-free, lush, well-watered, and on top of that, calls for some serious elbow grease every year in dethatching, aerating, raking, and overseeding. Just listing the chores is a headache, and other than giving you an open space in your yard, it doesn’t give too much back to you for all your work.
Those that use the open space of their lawn or are just in love with the old-fashioned look of some greenscaping might resist the idea of cutting back on your lawn. You don’t have to get rid of your lawn if it’s something you love – this trend is about making your yard more tailored to what you want and get value from, so keeping a little lawn is something many people are interested in. What’s worth asking yourself, though, is just how much lawn is worth your time.
Less lawn means less chores and work during the summer, and simply by cutting down on a few square feet you’ll find that you have lots of lawn to use without as much labor. All of that space can be used for stuff that gives back a bit more!
More Veggies (And Other Things)
You aren’t getting rid of square footage in your yard, you’re transforming it into something that you use more! We love the idea of embracing our yard to grow things that give us something back, like edibles. Growing your own food at home is a trend that has simply exploded over the past years as people want to have the freshest and healthiest flavors right in their own yard, where they can be confident about what goes into growing their food. Swapping some room in your yard to grow food to fuel your everyday is the difference you can taste – and you don’t need to sacrifice too much lawn space to grow lots of delicious foods.
There are lots of options for people that are looking to grow some more food at home. For people that are just sampling the idea of growing more food at home, containers are a great option that is flexible and not at all permanent. If you want to dip your toe into growing edibles at home without the commitment, this is where you can start. For those ready to exchange their cumbersome lawn spaces for some food-producing ones, taking up some lawn to create garden beds or constructing raised beds are good ways to start growing your own food.
Grow Your Own
Garden beds are an amazing compliment to a lawn. We find that having a little of each makes your whole home and yard feel bigger and better than it would with just one! Your home and backyard is your space, where you should get excited about making it reflect exactly what you need – from open space to growing delicious food each summer to enjoy.
With your newly replaced lawn space, you can use your veggie spaces to get growing food. You’ll be able to taste the difference between fresh food and what you buy from the grocery store. Not only the flavor, but the nutrient load improve lots with being picked at home. Plant more of what you love and take advantage of the whole season to grow the best produce you’ve ever had.
While your lawn is pretty much the same all season, your garden can be a dynamic all year. Try planting some cool-season vegetables in your garden at the beginning and end of the season to take advantage of those cooler nights, and then use the hottest months to grow your warm-season veggies. You can buy starters from the store to plant straight into the ground, or start your own plants from seed inside and watch them sprout in the safety of your home before planting. We also love combining our edibles and flowers, so we can have a beautiful space that’s also functional and flavorful. Some flowers even bring benefits to your garden, like keeping pests away!
Lawns bring some benefits to our home, but they take up more space than they usually should and bring a lot of unrewarding work with them. In contrast, using a little of your space to grow delicious and nutritious food and beautiful blooms makes the most of every inch of yard to give you a diverse backyard experience that reflects everything you need in your own home.
