I have a large lawn that continues around the front, back and one side
of our house. And it looks bad with clumps of crab grass, weeds and
some bald spots. Basically all I've done for the past few years is mow
every other week and weed sporadically when I am not working or away on
trips. I am throwing in the towel with maintaining a large lawn and
would like to try something else that would make it more presentable and
easier to maintain. Our kids are grown and gone, so no one really uses
the lawn.

A friend suggested replacing all or most of the lawn with ground cover,
which sounds promising. Is it possible to start it in an existing
lawn, and have it take over, or do I need to tear up all the sod and
start all over? Another suggestion was to tear out the lawn and replace
it with plants and trees. Maybe but it sounds like a lot of work and
expense. I should mention that I live in Western Washington, where we
experience A LOT of rain. Thanks for any suggestions or advice. Mike

"tenplay" wrote in message

I have a large lawn that continues around the front, back and
one
side of our house. And it looks bad with clumps of crab grass,
weeds and some bald spots. Basically all I've done for the
past
few years is mow every other week and weed sporadically when I
am
not working or away on trips. I am throwing in the towel with
maintaining a large lawn and would like to try something else
that
would make it more presentable and easier to maintain. Our
kids
are grown and gone, so no one really uses the lawn.

A friend suggested replacing all or most of the lawn with
ground
cover, which sounds promising. Is it possible to start it in
an
existing lawn, and have it take over, or do I need to tear up
all
the sod and start all over? Another suggestion was to tear out
the
lawn and replace it with plants and trees. Maybe but it sounds
like a lot of work and expense. I should mention that I live
in
Western Washington, where we experience A LOT of rain. Thanks
for
any suggestions or advice. Mike

I used Roundup to kill most of the grass in my backyard and
covered it with wood chips I got for free from one of those tree
service companies.

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5

Sounds to me like you are mowing too infrequently and possibly scalping
lawn when you do. Then you need premerge for crabgrass, fall reseeding
and need fertilizer.
Ground cover needs care too and a well established lawn, cut once a
week at the proper level is not that hard to maintain. I have a
neighbor that struggles with his, letting it grow too high before
cutting. Takes him much longer and he must bag clippings for garbage
man. Frequent cutting and mulching clippings, only takes me 1.5
hours/week on slightly less than one acre very slopey lot.
Frank

and you manged to kill the soil biology as well....


On Wed, 15 Feb 2006 08:26:21 GMT, "Travis M."
wrote:

I used Roundup to kill most of the grass in my backyard and
covered it with wood chips I got for free from one of those tree
service companies.

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5

"Tom Jaszewski" wrote in message

and you manged to kill the soil biology as well....


On Wed, 15 Feb 2006 08:26:21 GMT, "Travis M."
wrote:

I used Roundup to kill most of the grass in my backyard and
covered it with wood chips I got for free from one of those
tree
service companies.

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5

Doesn't look dead from my window. Wanna come over and have a
look?

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5