Posted by competentgirl in Sustainable Living on 2013-05-08 06:11:00 UTC and edited at 2020-02-10 02:50:02 UTC

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I'm buying a house with a big lawn and basically no other plantings. I'm not a fan of lawns and am looking for ideas for killing the grass and something to replace it. The newspaper and mulch method is not a good option as if anything there is too much soil (ie the house is too close to the ground and the yard is a bit higher than the sidewalk).

I want to replace it with something more permeable than sod, that doesn't require mowing or watering during our summer 'drought' (it can die off like grass does if it comes back when it starts raining), and that can stand up to my dog walking all over it. Eventually I plan to add some garden beds and plantings (service berry and elderberry are high on my list) and I may eventually use it for goat forage but in the meantime I want something simple. I'm thinking clover might be a good option. A meadow is probably not (I think it would be taller than is allowed for fire safety and neighborhood standards.)

Any ideas would be welcome.

Thanks!