LAWN SUBSTITUTES | GRASS ALTERNATIVES | GROUND COVERS | Hard at First, Later Much Easier

hey guys coach here welcome to this week's  show i am glad you took a couple of minutes   hey this particular week we're talking about lawn  substitutes you know with the ever increasing   especially in the country i'm from you know the  u.s with washington oregon california arizona   new mexico colorado nevada utah wyoming montana  the whole western u.s is under a drought watch   some of it being an exceptional drought watch and  others just a mega drought watch they're running   freaking out of water so how do we maintain our  landscapes and stuff when it comes to this type of   situation well you know municipalities are the  governing agencies that rule our cities and   counties and states they start issuing mandates  yet again you know where you can only water   maybe twice a week so in this particular episode  we're talking about lawn substitutes that'll help   you save money save you some time in the form of  maintenance and be able to step by step it from   start to finish on how to go taking that lawn  out and putting something a little more drought   tolerant in are you with me i'm glad you're here  hey i'm matt you can call me coach every week   every friday i bring to you landscape concepts and  design theories in an easy to understand format so   you can get results you need professionally and  save a boatload of money and be self-reliant in   this day and age after 20 plus years of in the  green industry i bring to you a lot of knowledge   and experience that i want to share with you  that new modern self-reliant educated homeowner   of today water restrictions all across the west  we see it more and more frequently all the time   you know and the municipalities i'll tell you this  right up front the municipalities are some of the   biggest violators of their own rules yep those  people that are laying down the law and saying   hey in order to have enough water we need to  restrict our landscape watering and yet countless   times coming from northern california i have seen  those same municipalities be the biggest violators   with watering at the wrong time of day watering  on the off days when you're not supposed to be   watering having timer issues where things are  coming on three to five times a day all the   time and over watering and yet here we are the  homeowners we're trying very much to be lawful   residents of a town or county and sometimes  we get stuck between a rock and a hard place   hey where i came from there was a small town  that i hailed from we actually had water police   water police you know people that were employed  by the city that i lived in that literally their   only job was to go drive around and spot warn and  in some cases eventually sight water violations   you could not have water running out of your yard  and into the gutter you could not be watering on   an odd day if you were an even number address or  an even an even day if you were on an even number   address all of that became very very restrictive  well you know something as a professional i tried   very very hard both as a professional landscape  contractor and as a homeowner to work with the   rules that were there and not against them and the  way i did that is i converted a lot of my original   home when i was contracting when i was on  municipal water i converted it down to pretty   close to 65 percent less lawn so let's look at  some lawn alternatives you know i am i'm a big   fan of turf and in its proper proportions and  stuff in the landscape i think it really is a   is a beneficial element you know it it  cleans the air it cools the surroundings   and in most cases i i am a big fan however  i've traveled the united states and canada   quite extensively over the past few years and  i'll tell you what i have literally had to pick   up my proverbial jaw off the ground when i have  seen lawns that are literally multi-acres in size   multi acres some friends we're staying with right  now bless their hearts you know they have a two   plus acre turf that they have to mow twice a  month sometimes even once a week and they spend   an average of about four and a half hours taking  care of it four and a half hours but those are   generally landscapes where mother nature takes  care of the the watering for you during the   growing season there's places uh east of the  mississippi you know they get water on average   of twice a week sometimes more and it's always  enough to keep everything nice and green   and it was one of the biggest things maestro  and i noticed when we did travel back east   is everything has a green palette to it there's  very few places that are tan like it is out west   so we used to nickname it serengeti tan  we have not seen that in quite some time   but out west there's not many places except golf  courses in this day and age that have multi-acre   lawns that are being taken care of not even on  wells anymore so what are some of the solutions   let's take a look first of all let's talk about  the conversion i'm going to address this from a   average perspective an average residential home in  the suburbs that has less than a thousand square   feet of lawn both front or in the back and you're  going to convert it to a lawn less landscape to   start saving some money on water bills saving  some time and maintenance and eventually lowering   lowering your water bill and your maintenance time  by a drastic amount so conversions generally start   with spraying and killing of the existing lawn if  you happen to have a turf that has a multitude of   grass species in it like you have some fescue you  got some blue grass you got some rye grass you got   some bermuda really really encourage you to spray  and kill that lawn so that you get a good kill   not only above ground but also down below  ground if you have any sort of lawn grass   that is kind of rhizomic like bermuda or zoysia  or centipede grass these kind of things kind of   spread underneath ground and pop up and if you  went in there with just a pick and shovel and   started taking it all out you could get get it  all out initially but those rhizomes that are   underneath the grass sometimes inches sometimes  up to 18 inches are going to pop back and going to   pop back relatively quickly right in the middle of  your new lawn substitute area so kill it well next   step is removal there's a couple of ways you can  do that you can approach it from a pick and shovel   route maybe get a couple of guys and gals and you  just start picking it out picking that stuff out   that's the hard way if you'd like to do the smart  way go to a local rental yard get a good quality   sod cutter cut the whole area out make sure you  flag all of your sprinkler heads before you start   the demolition process if you have more than  one sprinkler zone of watering before you start   the process flag those sprinklers with different  color flags blue on one side yellow on the other   or whatever that way keep those flags in place so  you're not chopping off sprinkler heads breaking   stuff off and then you tend to forget about it  during the project then remove all the sod throw   it in a dump trailer throw it in a dumpster  throw it in a pickup whatever you need to do   and haul it from the site our next step is layout  and layout is going to involve spacing and spacing   is critical when it comes to this it depends  on what you've decided to plant in the form of   plant selection more spacing for the low growing  shrubby type of selections that we'll go over here   in a few minutes closer together for ground covers  that don't spread quite as fast or quite as much   and then sometimes somewhere in between your  nursery professional is going to be able to   tell you hey since you've selected the dwarf mondo  grass you're going to need to put that stuff four   to six inches apart or hey you've chosen blue rug  juniper so you can put that stuff four feet apart   or maybe even a little more okay so spacing is  very important layout is going to be in alternate   fashions okay almost like a brick layout type of  thing and you're going to want those spaces to be   you know the same distance front to back as it is  side to side so it comes out nice and even when   it all fills in then once you get all your layout  done either you've placed all your plants in the   in the area or you've taken an inverted spray can  of paint and you've marked all the spots now it's   time to dig the holes amend those holes 50/50  with your native soil some starter fertilizer   and a little bit of organic compost or soil  amendment and then start your planting plan   nice and easy take your time once you're done  with all of that give everything a good drink   and now we have to decide how are you going to  water it are you going to need some municipal   water to still get it through the growing season  if so this is where the irrigation conversion   comes into play and what you're going to do is  cap off all those zones except two and each one   each one in each zone is going to be converted to  a drip irrigation and where you buy your materials   they will be able to tell you exactly how to do  it between pressure reducing valves maybe a small   nds box filtration that kind of stuff pretty easy  to do probably take you about an hour on each zone   and you're ready to go then you've got your supply  lines that'll be winding through your new area   and or your netifim drip tubing however you  plan on watering it and then we're going to   now we're going to mulch it or we're going to  fabric it depending on what style you've used   if you fabric it you can do that at planting  time by cutting an x slit where the plant's   going to go or you can do it afterwards by with  a couple extra hands rolling it over the area   x slitting it where the plants are at and then  staple everything down and trim the edges either   way i've done it both ways so now that you've got  it in there mulch that area really really well   now if you're doing a ground cover a running route  a spreading type of ground cover you're not going   to want to do the fabric you're just going to  want to mulch the area keep it weed free and let   everything get off to a good start it's going  to require some time and investment up front   but once underway and once established this new  lawn area is going to be far less maintenance   you just got to take care of that little baby the  first time it comes home okay don't go running off   to don't go run off to the casino for a weekend  gotta take care of that little baby for right now   then later on fairly quick within 90 days you'll  be pretty much free and clear okay let's let's uh   let's differentiate between lawn substitute and  lawnless landscape before we go any further a   lawn less landscape is a landscape that is done  correctly is uh artistically woven and laid out   groupings of plants that include shrubs and  perennials maybe small trees boulders ground cover   and it's all woven in a tapestry that really  looks good and it's really functional versus a   lawn substitute which is where the existing turf  is is removed and then a new plant material is put   in that is a lot less maintenance and a lot  less water thirsty so that's the difference   the the lawn this landscape will be the whole  entire yard the lawn substitute will have the   new plant material and then if in good shape the  existing yard remains the same so this is the time   to have a paper and pencil or you can record it  on your phone or whatever whatever you want to do   here are some selections that i have used and  that i suggest for lawn substitute areas are   you ready one is creeping time another  one is called blue star creeper isotoma   another one is mosses boy if you you're in the  right area especially up especially up in the   oregon washington area or shady coastal areas  scotch moss and irish moss together in a small   scale lawn substitute that looks pretty slick okay  so moving on sedums uh you can try angelina sedum   you can try red dragon's blood stone crop sedum  and some of the other sedums not really good for   play areas obviously not good for foot traffic so  if you're going to replace it and you need a path   to get through do it around stones like flagstones  and stuff like that another small scale one   and also tolerate up to a half a day of shade is  corsican mint really good tap your fingers on that   it really puts out a beautiful aromatic fragrance  then you look at some of the shrubbier guys   blue carpet or blue rug juniper buffalo juniper  bar harbor juniper uh creeping manzanita if you're   in a real drought tolerant area especially you  in socal and arizona and places like that mondo   grass both the dwarf mondo grass and the standard  both you have to put them a little closer together   but when they fill in damn they almost take a look  they almost look like a lawn from a distance they   really do they tend to run and root and come  up an area so an edging is really a good idea   don't leave a natural edge because it can  tend to come up where you don't want it   chamomile creeping gazania or trailing gazania  clover now i tell you about clover i only say   that because i know it can work i've never used  it and yet you see on the platforms everywhere   that people say oh plant clover plant clover it  isn't a long-term solution three to five years   and you constantly have to kind of re-seed it to  keep it up in good thick health so clover can be   an idea if you like the gray if you like the grays  as far as colors and stuff and maybe with a real   fantastic summer bloom of white consider snow  in summer serastium that's also a nice one and   finally a small scale one but i have used this for  rock gardens i have used this for lawn substitute   and it's called diamandia you can see it right  here diamandia has a nice little yellow flower in   the summertime and it's a very very low tight knit  can take some foot traffic and it's a good one   so there's a few selections that you can consider  basically when you're doing a lawn conversion all   your money and time is put in the up front it's  all taking out hard work you can generally do it   in a weekend or two and then once established then  all of a sudden your maintenance really drops down   and then flattens out at a much less you probably  have a little bit of raking in the fall depending   on what tree cover you have you have a little  bit of mulch replacement every other year and   call it good you're probably going to save  yourself at least half if not more of your   lawn time maintenance schedule so what's another  option hardscape issues hardscape alternatives   and additives when you look at it from a different  perspective you don't have to have the whole area   being ground cover or being a low-growing juniper  you can convert it into gravels and boulders   and then maybe a couple selected creepy crawlies  in there and then call it good you know now   you don't have all plant material you have a  mixture and with mixtures you have structure and   texture that comes along with the idea another  thing you can always replace it by extending   your existing outdoor living area either in cement  or decking you can put in hot tubs you can do   all kinds of things and make the outdoor living  area even that much more so what can you expect   with this type of conversion if you're on  municipal water you know whether you have   reasonable rates or in some cases astronomical  monthly water bills considering either what   your city charges or how much you've been using  converting to a drip system if you're out west   converting to a drip system can save you over  75 percent on your monthly water bill easily   if you go off into a hardscape situation where  you have a few plant material and the rest is   gravel or stone and boulders over a fabric  you're up to 90 percent of your outdoor water   usage costs that's pretty darn good and for some  of you i'm sure that's a substantial cost savings   you know with water potable fresh water in  this day and age it's becoming a very extremely   valuable and yet elusive commodity year to year  i kind of got tired of always having to wonder if   i'm going to be able to if i put more money  into my landscape to make it that show place   well i'd be able to water it correctly it was one  of the deciding factors for me leaving california   anyway i hope some of this has been valuable  maybe get you get the creative juices flowing and   thinking about a little bit of water conservation  a little bit of time conservation check it out   check and do your own due diligence and see if  it works for you drop by your mom and pop nursery   and have one of the professionals show you these  selections firsthand so you have a better idea hey   i'm i'm matt and you can call me coach i'll catch  you guys next friday every friday don't forget to   check out the podcast if you're on the go and  check out the website if you'd like to support   the channel just a little bit youryardcoach.com  it's usually always right here thanks for taking   the time if you haven't if you haven't subscribed  already please consider it and give us a thumbs   up i'll catch you guys next friday take care and  as always to your landscape success bye for now

Channel: Yard Coach

Views: 177,086

Keywords: ground covers replace lawn, lawn alternatives, Grass alternatives, lawn substitutes, grass substitute, grass alternatives you can walk on, grass lawn substitute, grass alternatives for lawn, alternatives to grass lawn, grass alternative, no mow grass, no mow lawn, No mow, replace grass, lawn replacement, lawnless landscaping, replace lawn, Xeriscaping, Landscape Education, landscaping for beginners, landscaping, diy landscaping, landscape design, ground cover plants

Id: CMr7wnEKWjs

Length: 18min 19sec (1099 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 17 2021