My New Eco-Lawn

Here’s a rare photo of me (in shorts!) sowing a new eco-lawn underneath the fruit trees in my orchard.

What’s an eco-lawn? Well, good question. It’s a lawn that is low-maintenance. Either it has low-growing grasses and therefore doesn’t need much mowing, or it uses drought-tolerant varieties that will resist going brown in the summertime. And they usually have some kind of low-growing flower, or nitrogen fixing plant in there too for good measure.

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I chose a mixture called Fleur de Lawn made by a local company but you can buy them anywhere. I used the bowls to divide it evenly across the space I have (I’m sure there are more scientific ways – like hiring a seed spreader). The mix I bought includes, ‘English Daisy, Baby Blue Eyes, Sweet Alyssum, Tiny Strawberry Clover combined with hardy low-growing grasses and other herbaceous plants.’

My plan is to let it get quite long – couple of inches, before I mow a pathway through it. Then after that I’ll mow the whole thing once a month. That’s the plan…

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This is what the orchard looked like before.

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…and a couple of weeks later.

Anyone else have any experience with eco-lawns? Any low maintenance tips?

Category: Growing Fruit     Tagged:

8 Comments on “My New Eco-Lawn”

  1. I’d love to see how this turns out. We really want an eco lawn similar to this, but we live in a condo with one other neighbor sharing our yard- I have a feeling that they appreciate some of our yard antics, but I don’t want to run out of their goodwill!

  2. Hi Connie – nice site by the way. I love your craft ideas.

    I think this lawn could go one of two ways. It will either look like the dream-like meadow that I have in my head or it will look like a weed patch that I haven’t bothered to mow. Hmmm… let’s see.

  3. ..love those Melamime bowls. Reminds me of when we used to go camping when I was young!!..

  4. This is really getting me inspired to start my very own vegetable patch in my garden! I love the thought of growing fresh, organic products in my own backyard. I would love to plant various types of vegetables including tomatoes, carrots, spring onion and kale! Perfect for anyone who wants to eat clean and have a healthy diet. I already have a small vegetable patch in my backyard, consisting of basil, parsley and chillies. What other herbs/vegetables would you recommend that are easy to maintain (and tasty of course) and are suitable for a small vegetable garden? Thanks

  5. Your Blog is amazing. It encourages me to appreciate what mother nature has to offer. I’ve never taken interest in starting my own vegetable patch and producing organic products but this definitely changed my mind. My dad used to have a small garden out in my house’s backyard and he would plant fruits and vegetables, now that our house is renovated, the small garden out back has been covered in cement, but luckily we have a small area where we can still plant organic products. This also inspires me to lead a healthy lifestyle. Thanks so much for the inspiration.

  6. I have similar Eco Lawn allowing fescue and Bermuda grasses and clover and other pretty low growing flowers callled weeds in America where there is an obsession with perfect single variety lawns. Major addition after reading article by Nancy Goodwin of Montrose Gardens in Fine Gardening called “Flowers through the winter” are early bulbs like crocus, anemones, muscari, Etc. Started with 400 bulbs from Brent & Beckies Bulbs planting in 40 patches. The result is much more like the lawns I grew up with in southern England.

    Cheers,

  7. I love the beautiful green in the after photo! My dad has always been our gardener at home and he would take great happiness in your garden’s transformation. When I get my own house I hope to have as colourful and vibrant looking lawn and garden in as eco friendly a way as I can, including home grown fruit and vegetables – thanks for the inspiration.

  8. I would love to do something like this in our orchard. I want it to have that country orchard feel, like the small home orchards I remember as a kid. It’s already lawned though, and I can’t see the benefit of redoing it all right now so our plan is to run chickens in there instead and let them roam free. I’ve read that they are really good for controlling unwanted bugs etc, keeping weeds down, and of course providing their droppings as nutrients for the trees. Here’s hoping it goes as well as I’m imagining and doesn’t turn into a nightmare chicken experience.