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The previous owner of my house was maintening a picture perfect green. With the kids and the jobs, I didn't want to follow that practice. Too much time for a soil not made for this, lots of fertilizer, various chemicals...

I fix the dead patches every spring and autumn with clover seeds and compost made from grass clippings, egg shells and vegetables/fruits peels. Zero fertilizer or weed killers, I remove by hand the weeds I don't like once in a while. I rake the garden twice a year to keep moss under control.

5 years later, our garden no longer looks like a green, but a prairie with the usual local plants. Since 2 years poppies are colonizing the most sun exposed parts, with spectacular blooms we are eagerly waiting for. Worms, larvae, slugs and snails are plenty, so birds are always at work foraging. Whatever dies during the hottest weeks regenerates in autumn. Plenty of bees are foraging the clovers and bindweed flowers.

It's looks nice, it's alive, it's much less work and money to maintain, it's self regenerating.




That's awesome - natural and native ecosystems are what we should be aiming for, not sterile lawns. It's better for the environment and for biodiversity, lower maintainence, and you get the benefits of an ecosystem like surprise blooms.

I don't know if you're aware of this (you probably are but I'm posting it for readers anyway) but there's a movement for doing this in many aspects of our nature management called permaculture. It's pretty cool!


Rewilding (conservation biology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rewilding_(conservation_biolog...

Climate change mitigation effects of rewilding > Carbon sinks and removal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_mitigation#Carb...

Permaculture : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture


Would love to see a couple of photos of what’s possible! Any maybe some info about where you’re located?


did you receive any complaints?


Complaints? Unless he lives in a HOA, what right does anybody have to complain?


I don’t know what a HOA is, but sadly, I think some neighborhoods in the US have regulations against the sort of good practices the OP described. My only source: family members living there, but my information may be a couple decades out of date. Perhaps this is a thing of the past? One can hope.


When has that ever stopped anyone from complaining?




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