Are you tired of the time and costs to mow, water, fertilize, and maintain your lawn? Are you tired of a yard that looks just like all the others? Join Extension Master Gardener Donald Bobby to learn about alternatives for reclaiming part or all of your lawn to create a more sustainable and interesting landscape. The discussion includes manageable techniques to reduce the size of your lawn and plant replacements for traditional turf grass.
Zoom session, recorded September 19, 2025
Class Video
Chapter Breaks
- 0:00:00 Introduction & Overview
- 0:01:27 History of Lawns
- 0:04:10 Reasons to Consider Alternatives
- 0:05:55 What Can I Do in My Yard?
- 0:07:17 Increasing Your Chance of Success
- 0:08:40 Native Plants to Consider
- 0:10:13 Turf Removal Methods
- 0:19:41 Questions
- 0:23:36 No-Till Vegetable Garden
- 0:25:32 Raised Beds
- 0:25:56 Welcome Volunteers
- 0:27:24 No- or Low-Mow Plants
- 0:33:25 Uses for Turf Grass
- 0:34:10 Case Study Then & Now
- 0:39:05 Questions
Due to a technical problem, the last two questions in the video were cut off. This is what was omitted:
Q: If you want to switch from grass to microclover, can you just put the seed down on top of the grass, or do you have to get rid of the grass first? And if so, how?
A: What I did is remove the grass from an area of about 100 square feet. Then I added the microclover seed to the soil there. They say you don’t want to cover the microclover seed up; it should be exposed directly to the sun. My neighbors overseeded microclover directly into their existing grass lawn and then left for a vacation in Canada. [My neighbors’] lawn wasn’t pure Kentucky bluegrass. They had a mixture of things other than turf grass. They didn’t have a sprinkler system running while they were on vacation, but the lawn over-seeded with microclover was successful.
Q: If you have a fresh construction site with bare soil and want to plant something, what would you plant?
A: I would use the sheet mulching technique to cover that bare soil. Use either the multiple layers of newspaper that are overlapped or cardboard wetted down very well. I would allow that to work into a nicer garden bed before planting. Which plants to use would depend on the sun exposure of your site. If I had a sunny spot, I might choose yellow-flowered St. John’s-wort which is a great pollinator magnet.
Resources
- Hardt, Braelei. 2024. Dangers of Lawn Chemicals: Impacts and Alternatives. National Wildlife Federation.
https://blog.nwf.org/2024/08/dangers-of-lawn-chemicals-impacts-and-alternatives/ - Hoidal, Natalie. 2021. Using the sun to kill weeds and prepare garden plots. University of Minnesota Extension.
https://extension.umn.edu/planting-and-growing-guides/solarization-occultation - Keiser, Edward. 2025. Soft Landings Benefits Insects and Gardeners. Penn State Extension.
https://extension.psu.edu/soft-landings-benefits-insects-and-gardeners - Lawn (Turfgrass) Removal Methods. 2025. University of Maryland Extension.
https://extension.umd.edu/resource/lawn-turfgrass-removal-methods/ - Lawn Alternatives. 2025. University of Maryland Extension.
https://extension.umd.edu/resource/lawn-alternatives/ - Mills, Elaine and Kathie Clements. 2022. Keystone Species of Native Plants. Public Education Presentation. Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia.
https://mgnv.org/mg-virtual-classroom/sl-class-video/keystone-native-plants-2022/ - Mills, Elaine. 2023. How Much Native Vegetation Should Homeowners Plant? Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia.
https://mgnv.org/native-plants/how-much-native-vegetation-should-homeowners-plant/ - Mills, Elaine. 2025. Making Wise Plant Choices, Part 1: Natives vs. Invasives, 2025. Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia.
https://mgnv.org/climate-change/making-wise-plant-choices-part-1-natives-vs-invasives-2025/ - Mills, Elaine. 2025. Making Wise Plant Choices, Part 2: Keystone Plants, 2025. Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia.
https://mgnv.org/climate-change/making-wise-plant-choices-keystone-plants-2025/ - Pineo, Rebecca and Susan Barton. 2025. Turfgrass Madness: Reasons to Reduce the Lawn in Your Landscape. University of Delaware Cooperative Extension.
https://www.udel.edu/academics/colleges/canr/cooperative-extension/fact-sheets/turf-grass-madness-reasons-to-reduce-the-lawn-in-your-landscape/ - Plant NOVA Natives.
https://www.plantnovanatives.org - Reshetiloff, Kathryn. 2003. Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
https://www.fws.gov/media/native-plants-wildlife-habitat-and-conservation-landscaping-Chesapeake-bay-watershed - Ten Facts About the Landscape at Mount Vernon. George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.
https://www.mountvernon.org/the-estate-gardens/gardens-landscapes/ten-facts-about-the-landscape-at-mount-vernon - Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic. Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia.
https://mgnv.org/plants/native-plants/ - Upton, Emily. 2014. Why we have grass lawns. Today I Found Out.
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/03/grass-lawns-2/ - Yamaguchi, Jeremy. Death of the American Lawn. Green America.
https://greenamerica.org/death-american-lawn - Yost, Kathy, Sandy Ullrich, and Monica Thomas. 2021. Sheet Mulching: Lawn to Garden Bed in 3 Steps. Video. Penn State Extension.
https://extension.psu.edu/sheet-mulching-lawn-to-garden-bed-in-3-steps