While it’s better than keeping a barren monoculture lawn, keep in mind that letting things grow with no intervention will get you a lot of invasive species. If you want healthier habitat for your critters try to keep an eye on what’s growing and replace the bad stuff with native options.
I have a big flat yard i don’t use and I hate boring grass. I want part of it to just grow. Would you recommend dig up the current grass and throw some native seeds out, or just let the grass and plants grow themselves and weed anything bad out (like creeping jenny)
Depends on if you have a healthy wild source that can seed itself in. My woodline is almost entirely invasives so it took more legwork to balance it out. I ended up mostly planting small trees/shrubs to shade out the weeds and letting Virginia Creeper spread (love that stuff).
Barring that it probably depends on yard size and local climate. Might be more economical to clear with a sod cutter or spot weed + replace.
Check for local native plant orgs, they can get you plants in bulk. They might also have specific advice, for example if you need to avoid seeding certain plants to protect a vulnerable local species.
While it’s better than keeping a barren monoculture lawn, keep in mind that letting things grow with no intervention will get you a lot of invasive species. If you want healthier habitat for your critters try to keep an eye on what’s growing and replace the bad stuff with native options.
I have a big flat yard i don’t use and I hate boring grass. I want part of it to just grow. Would you recommend dig up the current grass and throw some native seeds out, or just let the grass and plants grow themselves and weed anything bad out (like creeping jenny)
Depends on if you have a healthy wild source that can seed itself in. My woodline is almost entirely invasives so it took more legwork to balance it out. I ended up mostly planting small trees/shrubs to shade out the weeds and letting Virginia Creeper spread (love that stuff).
Barring that it probably depends on yard size and local climate. Might be more economical to clear with a sod cutter or spot weed + replace.
Check for local native plant orgs, they can get you plants in bulk. They might also have specific advice, for example if you need to avoid seeding certain plants to protect a vulnerable local species.
I’m working on it :)
That’s not true for my yard. My calculated neglect results in an extremely drought tolerant yard of native species.
problem: the bad plant is native, and phototoxic