Your life is yours, it doesn’t need to please anyone else. I don’t have kids and I hate soccer so fuck grass ❤️
JuliaX1984
In my experience, “lawns” inherently come with rules against playing on them or walking on them or breathing on them – grass used for doing what all juvenile mammals naturally do is different.
I guess grass native to the area would be best.
OffToTheLizard
This makes sense, as long as you’re not applying herbicides and whatnot, dangerous for kiddos. I think if it’s a gathering place for kids like a park, that’s its own use case. Being no lawns means being utilitarian.
Perfect lawn bros are the people who kill 5 to save their fellow lawn bro in the trolley problem.
angrypoohmonkey
I don’t think any reasonable person takes issue with that specific scenario. I think the issue is mostly with large and/or resource intensive lawns that serve no purpose or worse.
japinard
Clover.
BeartholomewTheThird
If you use the lawn, then keep the lawn. If you sont use the lawn, get rid of the useless monoculture. That’s how I think about it.
To me it looks like you’ve done just that. Used lawn area surrounded by a variety of plants.
NonchalantCoyote
Ive transformed half my barren lawn into beautiful gardens but have a similar space for my little terrier to run and play in. When I get older I’ll take out the rest but he loves his fetch space.
surferdude313
Usually municipal soccer fields are in worse condition than this lawn, making my no lawn full of weeds better conditions for real world playing lol
No_Shopping_573
Do they go to a school? I can’t imagine more than the early years really using that small of a space for kicking around a ball .
ThereGoesTheSquash
Sometimes you need a lawn. I will always have at least a backyard because I do not want my dogs getting ticks 🤷🏻♀️
LogicalBench
My personal philosophy is there is nothing inherently wrong with lawn that is maintained intentionally for a purpose. I am much more annoyed by seeing the large swaths of mowed lawn in places people will never actually use it, like outside of business parks and shopping centers, that only exists because that is just the default for outdoor space. Once you start looking for it, it’s everywhere. If native landscaping was the default and lawns were the exception where it is actually needed and used, like public parks and kids’ backyards, it would not be an issue. So in my view this is totally fine!
manydoorsyes
You’ve got plenty of beautiful plants growing on the edge of a nice open area for the kids to play. Looks pretty good to me
rayeranhi
Once they grow out of it or stop going outside entirely to only playing video games, get rid of the lawn.
my-snake-is-solid
You don’t need non-native grass for a lawn. Could be other (preferably native or at the very least local) plants that act as walkable ground cover like some clovers or frogfruits.
Goatey
Just repeating what others have said, but in spots where I did work or grass had died I threw down clover. It essentially mixed with my grass and it looks fine and helps the pollinators.
The big change to consider is if you are okay with an area growing a bit longer you can buy wildflower seeds I recently bought some that were advertised online. They’ve taken about a month to bloom but they’re quite lovely. Again, I don’t put down fertilizer or anything and I think my lawn is functional.
sjm294
This is perfect! Kids need a place to play.
Pray4dat_ass96
Hell yeah I do the same. I also mow paths to my garden and fruit trees
Tibbaryllis2
There are lots of option for playing field sports and not all of them require grass.
But if that’s what you/your kids want, then just do a mixed lawn with grass, clovers, etc.
Grass seed used to sold with clover included as a natural way to fertilize the lawn. Then they developed herbicide and herbicide resistant grasses, killed the clover, and started selling you the fertilizer.
So just don’t fall into that trap and you’ll be ahead of the curve.
jimibimi
Looks good to me!
zendabbq
Of course. I also keep a mowed area (not necessarily good lawn – just grass and whatever “weeds” show up) for barbeques and stuff
havalinaaa
Think of it as an area rug vs wall to wall carpet. If you need a full carpet for actual activity that’s fine and good, nothing beats turf grass for that honestly.
But if you’re going to overseed choose a variety that’s good for your area in terms of water needs etc. Don’t use herbicides. If you have ornamental plantings aim for primarily natives and get rid of any invasives.
mcgnarcal
Parks!! Leave all that lawn maintenance crap to the city.
forwormsbravepercy
Yes.
MikeoPlus
You can do both
Friendly_Buddy_3611
If one wants a native no-mow lawn, instead of a non-native, must-be-mowed lawn, for the kids to play on, there is an option: Nimblewill (Muhlenbergia schreberi), a true grass native to nearly the entire temperate portion of the US, and into Canada.
It can resemble Bermuda Grass during the growing season, but is very different in its lifeway. It is technically a clump grass, although it is a flat one. It does not get rhizomes under the ground, so it doesn’t take over garden beds, etc. The above-ground stems can occasionally root at their joints, but it isn’t common to see it doing this. The best thing is that it lays down as it goes to seed, meaning it is never tall! Also, it is soft and fluffy, a pleasure on the feet, and it is very tough, able to live in hot, dry, compacted soils or moist soils, full sun to medium shade. Dogs and kids can run on it and pee on it without harming it; it is totally non-toxic, so it is dog and kid-safe. It is also not a plant that triggers allergies (unlike Bermuda grass, to which many people are quite allergic.)
It is a host to Skipper-family butterflies, so it has an obvious benefit to your local ecosystem, and birds such as Mourning Doves will eat the seeds.
A perennial, it turns brown for winter. In spring, the birds take every bit of the old material to use for their nests, as the new growth starts.
To transition to it, consider killing a strip of your existing soccer lawn in early fall, and seeding it heavily with Nimblewill while it is still warm out, so it will germinate (water it as you would any grass seed you’d try to establish.) The small rosettes will establish over winter and fill in once spring gets started. You may need to weed between it in the first year, but after that it will resist competition.
BusyMap9686
Our town stopped fighting the native yarrow and clover. They just mow it with the grass on the soccer fields. It functions just like a lawn for play with the added bonus of being drought resistant. It also flowers preseason so the pollinators have some early food.
ericomplex
What’s the matter? Your kids don’t like playing on searing a hot concrete “play” area? /s
Lawns are meant to be played on, and there is nothing wrong with keeping a lawn for that.
People here just pissed at the weirdbeards that keep watering and manicuring a lawn like it was a garden for no one but their own eyes to enjoy. The ol’ “get uff ma lawn!” types who have a crazy expensive irrigation system that wastes untold amounts of water, spray the thing with lord knows how many nasty chemicals, and generally don’t appreciate how a nice wildflower garden would just look better in general… You know the type…
you_enjoy_my_elf
That’s so 80’s
zdiddy987
Replace the grass with clovers
erino3120
What everyone else said plus if you don’t dump a bunch of chemicals and fertilizer on it you’re already ahead of the game
treeinbrooklyn
We ended up leaving a small shady rectangle of grass for the kids for games, slip n slide, etc. It helps to think of it as LessLawn rather than NoLawn.
Zealousideal_Roof_96
Nice
yourefunny
Agree about if you use it keep it. We are in a similar position. Need a bit of lawn for the kids to have fun. But another thing is to promote clover!
The_Rogue_Scientist
I love a good discussion, but what about a silly question?
drift_poet
kids are out. monarchs are in. didn’t you get the memo?
Dr_Bunson_Honeydew
Your kids will be young only for so long. Enjoy this time with them and go no lawn when they stop using it.
mannDog74
Everybody has different needs. My neighborhood is full of lawns but I never see any kids playing soccer on them. That’s why we’re so frustrated with lawn over here. Look around at your neighborhood and see if every house with a lawn has kids that specifically play sports on the lawn regularly. It’s probably very few.
Looks like this doesn’t really apply to you, so enjoy your sports games with your children until they don’t use it anymore and then plant habitat for wildlife.
37 Comments
Your life is yours, it doesn’t need to please anyone else. I don’t have kids and I hate soccer so fuck grass ❤️
In my experience, “lawns” inherently come with rules against playing on them or walking on them or breathing on them – grass used for doing what all juvenile mammals naturally do is different.
I guess grass native to the area would be best.
This makes sense, as long as you’re not applying herbicides and whatnot, dangerous for kiddos. I think if it’s a gathering place for kids like a park, that’s its own use case. Being no lawns means being utilitarian.
Perfect lawn bros are the people who kill 5 to save their fellow lawn bro in the trolley problem.
I don’t think any reasonable person takes issue with that specific scenario. I think the issue is mostly with large and/or resource intensive lawns that serve no purpose or worse.
Clover.
If you use the lawn, then keep the lawn. If you sont use the lawn, get rid of the useless monoculture. That’s how I think about it.
To me it looks like you’ve done just that. Used lawn area surrounded by a variety of plants.
Ive transformed half my barren lawn into beautiful gardens but have a similar space for my little terrier to run and play in. When I get older I’ll take out the rest but he loves his fetch space.
Usually municipal soccer fields are in worse condition than this lawn, making my no lawn full of weeds better conditions for real world playing lol
Do they go to a school? I can’t imagine more than the early years really using that small of a space for kicking around a ball .
Sometimes you need a lawn. I will always have at least a backyard because I do not want my dogs getting ticks 🤷🏻♀️
My personal philosophy is there is nothing inherently wrong with lawn that is maintained intentionally for a purpose. I am much more annoyed by seeing the large swaths of mowed lawn in places people will never actually use it, like outside of business parks and shopping centers, that only exists because that is just the default for outdoor space. Once you start looking for it, it’s everywhere. If native landscaping was the default and lawns were the exception where it is actually needed and used, like public parks and kids’ backyards, it would not be an issue. So in my view this is totally fine!
You’ve got plenty of beautiful plants growing on the edge of a nice open area for the kids to play. Looks pretty good to me
Once they grow out of it or stop going outside entirely to only playing video games, get rid of the lawn.
You don’t need non-native grass for a lawn. Could be other (preferably native or at the very least local) plants that act as walkable ground cover like some clovers or frogfruits.
Just repeating what others have said, but in spots where I did work or grass had died I threw down clover. It essentially mixed with my grass and it looks fine and helps the pollinators.
The big change to consider is if you are okay with an area growing a bit longer you can buy wildflower seeds I recently bought some that were advertised online. They’ve taken about a month to bloom but they’re quite lovely. Again, I don’t put down fertilizer or anything and I think my lawn is functional.
This is perfect! Kids need a place to play.
Hell yeah I do the same. I also mow paths to my garden and fruit trees
There are lots of option for playing field sports and not all of them require grass.
But if that’s what you/your kids want, then just do a mixed lawn with grass, clovers, etc.
Grass seed used to sold with clover included as a natural way to fertilize the lawn. Then they developed herbicide and herbicide resistant grasses, killed the clover, and started selling you the fertilizer.
So just don’t fall into that trap and you’ll be ahead of the curve.
Looks good to me!
Of course. I also keep a mowed area (not necessarily good lawn – just grass and whatever “weeds” show up) for barbeques and stuff
Think of it as an area rug vs wall to wall carpet. If you need a full carpet for actual activity that’s fine and good, nothing beats turf grass for that honestly.
But if you’re going to overseed choose a variety that’s good for your area in terms of water needs etc. Don’t use herbicides. If you have ornamental plantings aim for primarily natives and get rid of any invasives.
Parks!! Leave all that lawn maintenance crap to the city.
Yes.
You can do both
If one wants a native no-mow lawn, instead of a non-native, must-be-mowed lawn, for the kids to play on, there is an option: Nimblewill (Muhlenbergia schreberi), a true grass native to nearly the entire temperate portion of the US, and into Canada.
It can resemble Bermuda Grass during the growing season, but is very different in its lifeway. It is technically a clump grass, although it is a flat one. It does not get rhizomes under the ground, so it doesn’t take over garden beds, etc. The above-ground stems can occasionally root at their joints, but it isn’t common to see it doing this. The best thing is that it lays down as it goes to seed, meaning it is never tall! Also, it is soft and fluffy, a pleasure on the feet, and it is very tough, able to live in hot, dry, compacted soils or moist soils, full sun to medium shade. Dogs and kids can run on it and pee on it without harming it; it is totally non-toxic, so it is dog and kid-safe. It is also not a plant that triggers allergies (unlike Bermuda grass, to which many people are quite allergic.)
It is a host to Skipper-family butterflies, so it has an obvious benefit to your local ecosystem, and birds such as Mourning Doves will eat the seeds.
A perennial, it turns brown for winter. In spring, the birds take every bit of the old material to use for their nests, as the new growth starts.
To transition to it, consider killing a strip of your existing soccer lawn in early fall, and seeding it heavily with Nimblewill while it is still warm out, so it will germinate (water it as you would any grass seed you’d try to establish.) The small rosettes will establish over winter and fill in once spring gets started. You may need to weed between it in the first year, but after that it will resist competition.
Our town stopped fighting the native yarrow and clover. They just mow it with the grass on the soccer fields. It functions just like a lawn for play with the added bonus of being drought resistant. It also flowers preseason so the pollinators have some early food.
What’s the matter? Your kids don’t like playing on searing a hot concrete “play” area? /s
Lawns are meant to be played on, and there is nothing wrong with keeping a lawn for that.
People here just pissed at the weirdbeards that keep watering and manicuring a lawn like it was a garden for no one but their own eyes to enjoy. The ol’ “get uff ma lawn!” types who have a crazy expensive irrigation system that wastes untold amounts of water, spray the thing with lord knows how many nasty chemicals, and generally don’t appreciate how a nice wildflower garden would just look better in general… You know the type…
That’s so 80’s
Replace the grass with clovers
What everyone else said plus if you don’t dump a bunch of chemicals and fertilizer on it you’re already ahead of the game
We ended up leaving a small shady rectangle of grass for the kids for games, slip n slide, etc. It helps to think of it as LessLawn rather than NoLawn.
Nice
Agree about if you use it keep it. We are in a similar position. Need a bit of lawn for the kids to have fun. But another thing is to promote clover!
I love a good discussion, but what about a silly question?
kids are out. monarchs are in. didn’t you get the memo?
Your kids will be young only for so long. Enjoy this time with them and go no lawn when they stop using it.
Everybody has different needs. My neighborhood is full of lawns but I never see any kids playing soccer on them. That’s why we’re so frustrated with lawn over here. Look around at your neighborhood and see if every house with a lawn has kids that specifically play sports on the lawn regularly. It’s probably very few.
Looks like this doesn’t really apply to you, so enjoy your sports games with your children until they don’t use it anymore and then plant habitat for wildlife.