r/fucklawns

Moved into a house last year that had a rectangle of plain grass. Decided I'd prefer trees instead. Got searching and came upon the Miyawaki method where native species are planted in high density, choosing an equal number of canopy, subcanopy, understory, and groundcover species. What intrigued me was the speed at which it grows about a meter a year!), and it is maintenance free after a couple years.

I killed my grass using the cardboard method back in April and let the ground sit until yesterday, when I planted 113 trees and shrubs in a 6x7 m plot (19 by 23 ft for the Yanks). Each square meter has 3 trees of different height. My little white stone path is so I can walk through it but also to avoid gas mains running beneath the property.

I'll post updates next year when it starts really growing but just wanted to share as this sub was a major inspiration that grass is not the way to go!

have an American sycamore in my backyard. It was planted before I moved in 7-8 years ago and it’s grown very large. It’s never really been pruned other than some very low branches.

I’m trying to keep some grass growing in that area, which I know will be a challenge in any case. In one of the photos you can see where the main trunk splits off. Is that a good mark to shoot for?

I’m wondering if someone could give me advice on limbing it up to create more open space lower in the canopy so more light can hit the ground. I’ve seen some very old, beautiful American sycamores in my area that have very high canopies. I’m not sure if that’s normal or not. Any advice is appreciated.

So it’s a mess atm but We are starting the backyard this autumn. Everything you see is going to go. It will be bare earth with just the large oak and pomegranate tree. The plan is to plant our fruit trees out in that far corner (semi and dwarf varieties). I’m in CA so it’s zone 9. It’s bare clay earth that grows weeds if it grows anything at all.

I do not want a lawn. I want something hardy but beneficial for the pollinators while also covering this bare dusty ground.

This is a large yard and this is one section so I need to be aware of cost as well.

Would wildflower garden work well? Would mulch and native grass be a better option?

Maybe a mixture of both? So there is some variety to the space?