Hi all, I haven't been able to do much with my yard recently. At one point there were no weeds and the river rocks covered everything and it looked nice, but each year the weeds come back faster than I can pull them. I'm trying to come up with some low maintenance ideas to better use this space. I have a 7 year old child and 2 dogs. I've thought about putting concrete on most of it so we can avoid the weeds mostly and have a lounge/bbqing area, then maybe leave a smaller patch to maintain for the dogs to use. I cannot use weedkiller as we have an organic garden right next to the yard. Any ideas?
by Simple-Ratio9308
1 Comment
If it were me, I’d remove as much river rock as possible and I’d let the weeds do their thing (for at least one growing season). Looks like the soil there is baked to dirt and compacted. The weeds will shade the soil and loosen it up, for free, 24/7. I’d look to see if I could get some compost from the organic garden next store and use it to make compost tea. Regular watering with compost tea might turbocharge the weeds, but in my view that would be a good thing. I’d then chop the weeds at the end of the growing season and leave them on the ground to mulch and decompose. As soil conditions improve, you should be able maintain a better ratio of desirable ground cover to weeds. I’d put a birdbath back there and perhaps a feeder or birdhouse on a post in order to introduce seeds the natural way, too.
Full disclosure: I have been fully radicalized by soil health/food web YouTube videos, so all I really ask of you is to avoid putting down concrete or extending the patio.
I’m sure others in this sub will have faster solutions for full sun lawn alternatives. It might require mechanical aeration and some extra irrigation, but I totally understand the desire (with dogs and a young kid) to get a functional space in the least amount of time. I’m just the kind of person who would want to see what’s possible with native plants and without digging.