How to create a sustainable lawn
In defence of the lawn…
I’ve noticed a lot of discussions online recently about how lawns are bad for the environment. Arguments against a mown area of turf (which used to be the proud centre of almost all gardens!) include the maintenance and energy required to keep them looking pristine, water use in summers to keep them green and the lack of diversity of plants growing in them; lawns are essentially a giant monoculture of turf.
There has been a huge increase in popularity for areas of long grass, or meadows. However, much as we love a wildflower meadow and acres of long grass, it’s important to remember that these aren’t areas of “useable” grass for humans, in the way that a traditional lawn is.
Lawns are great for a huge number of things: lazing on and looking at the clouds, a place for kids to play, picnicking in the Summer, putting out a table and chairs and eating lunch. Lots of activities that can’t be carried out on meadows.
So, a lawn’s use in a garden is really comparable to other “useable” areas, such as paving, decking or artificial grass.
And taken in this perspective, lawns are clearly a winning choice! The only option that is truly alive, that includes planting, that supports soil life and that will act as a giant sponge to catch rainwater.
We believe a garden can provide huge value for both people and wildlife and a lawn can be a huge part to play in this. Space for people to be in their gardens is an essential element in any garden design. And a lawn can be the cheapest, easiest and even most sustainable way of creating useable space in a garden.
If you’re embracing the turf, there are a few fairly simple ways to reduce the negative aspects of them and create a much more sustainable lawn. Here are our top tips…
Clover growing in a lawn
Bulbs of camassia and daffodils growing in our lawn
1. Embrace wildflowers
The days of pesticide use in lawns to kill off anything except grass, are – thankfully – almost gone. Once, it was decreed that lawns should have nothing but the perfect level of close-mowed green grass, and anything else was an interloper and needed to be swiftly dealt with.
Moss, clover, dandelions and even gorgeous daisies used to be seen as the enemies of fine turf. “Weed and feed” combined pesticides and fertilisers in one bottle – you applied it to the lawn and it killed off the weeds and provided food for the lawn at the same time. With hugely negative consequences to the local and general environment…
This monoculture of grass was definitely demanding to maintain and provides very little diversity.
In complete contrast to this, we heartily embrace all of the “weeds” in our lawn – and prefer to call them wildflowers. A “weedy” lawn has the potential to be a really interesting space and host a diverse range of species.
Dandelion, yarrow and clover are all great for bees, while their flowers add pops of colour throughout the year. Mossier areas can spring up in shadier locations. Rather than trying to get rid of the moss, embrace the lovely spongey texture of the lawn – perfect to walk in barefoot! – and the fact that mossy lawns need much less mowing. And daisies, surely need no defence!
If there are any weeds that cause problems, they can be removed by handweeding. In our lawn, we only take out thistles and nettles, both of which are painful to walk on barefoot.
2. Add in other species
As well as embracing any wildflowers that show up on their own, you can increase a lawn’s biodiversity by adding other plant species intentionally. We’re huge fans of bulb lawns, where either the whole lawn, or specific areas, are underplanted with bulbs that pop up in the Spring, before dying back down in time for any Summer mowing.
In the middle of our lawn, we have planted hundreds of bulbs to create a ‘flowering meadow’ and sown wildflowers in this area too. We have colour and interest in the middle strip of our lawn for more than six months of the year, from the snowdrops in January right through Spring and Summer until the last wild flowers have faded and we cut it back at the end of July. The whole space is cut just like a regular lawn then until the bulbs start to appear again in early Spring.
The bulb lawn has been a bit of an experiment and we have added in a few more bulbs each year and it has been an absolute joy and so fun to watch evolve. We have planted snowdrops, tulips, daffodils, Alliums, Camassias, Fritillaria and lots more. Lots of bulbs work really well in grass. Look for ones that say “suitable for naturalising” when you’re browsing plant catalogues. But even if it doesn’t say, don’t be afraid to experiment – that’s the most fun part of gardening – see what works in your garden. For us in South Wales we get a lot of rain so the Camassias in particular really thrive in our wet climate.
If you’re inspired to try a bulb lawn yourself, you can find more detailed information in our guide how to plant bulbs in a lawn.
As well as bulbs, you can add in low-growing wildflowers to the area. In our own garden, we have sown low flowering wildflowers such as daisies, clover, birds-foot trefoil and speedwell along with the grass seed to create our lawn. Emorsgate seeds (https://wildseed.co.uk) have some great selections of low-growing wildflowers that do well in turf.
3. Water less
Excess water use is not only bad for the environment and costly, it can actually encourage weaker rooting in plants, meaning that they come to depend on regular irrigation and cope less well if they are faced with drought.
Any newly laid turf will need regular watering while it establishes (usually for about six weeks), but after this, lawns shouldn’t need any watering at all. A lawn with diverse plant species (all those lovely wildflowers mentioned above!) will be much more tolerant of drier conditions in the summer, than a lawn of only grass. Our lawn stayed lush and green through the recent heatwaves of 2022, but I saw many of our neighbours’ turn brown and crispy.
That said, any areas that do go brown or die back in periods of extended drought – which we’ve seen a lot more in recent Summers – will always pick back up in the Autumn and turn green again.
Mown paths look attractive and provide plenty of space for areas of greater plant diversity
At Hauser and Wirth, turf areas are intentionally small, with paths taking heavy foot traffic
4. Moss less and mow higher
Lawns don’t need to be mown every weekend! Occasional mowing throughout the year will keep the grass length in check, so the lawn is still useable, and help to promote “tillering” – when grass produces new blades at its base that keeps the lawn thick and verdant. But mowing irregularly is plenty enough to do this.
The traditional form of mowing – weekly and drastically short – meant that lots of the grass’s energy was regularly removed. Each blade stores nutrients across its length, so cutting back so frequently and then throwing the ends onto the compost heap, meant that nutrients were being removed all the time – which in turn meant that lawns needed extra fertiliser, that was typically added as the “weed and feed” mentioned before. Mowing occasionally, and keeping the settings of the mower to high, mean that there is no need to add any extra fertiliser to the lawn.
If you have a large expanse of lawn, you could consider only keeping some areas mown short, and leave the rest to grow long. Paths mown through long grass are very appealing to walk along, and leave the other areas to become wilder.
In our garden, the outer areas of the lawn are maintained as short-ish grass all year round. We let the grass grow for a couple of weeks before we cut it to let the flowers bloom. Having lots of low growing species such as clover actually mean it needs cutting a lot less than it would if it was just grass as they stay short. The central area, planted with bulbs and wildflowers, is not mown at all until July.
5. Keep the size of the lawn to a minimum
If you’re at a design and planning stage with your garden and wondering how much turf to include, then it can be more sustainable and wildlife-friendly to make sure your lawn is just big enough for what you need, with other areas of the garden given over to more diverse planting. If you’re just planning to use it for picnicking, then a fairly small space could work perfectly. If you want to kick a football around, you’ll need a bit more space.
Bear in mind as well, that a tiny lawn will be under more pressure from regular use, so, perhaps especially if you have children, a bigger lawn can be a good idea. As they grow up, you can always let some areas grow longer and mow paths through the middle, create a meadow, plant bulbs, or even plant trees and turn it into an orchard!
6. Help to bring in a change of culture!
It is going to take a bit of a cultural shift for everyone to embrace the idea of more messy, weedy, low-maintenance lawns. We have been conditioned to believe that a “perfect” lawn is how things should be done. Especially in the UK, there is a deeply entrenched idea that a perfect lawn, of bright green sward, mown neatly into lines, is a status symbol.
However, there is definitely a shift in perspective. The more people that fly the flag for biodiverse lawns, the better, to show just how wonderful and interesting species-rich lawns can be.
