Nothing is ever perfect the first time. I think you did rather well. Everything takes time. We’ve turned our lawn into a clover lawn. Always green and no mow. We do get native wildflowers and native medicinals that I don’t mow. Lawns of today should be on their way out.

@jzed9138

Жыл бұрын

Was going to comment this as well

When your lab is your own backyard... so much fun!

In my experience, the first year the root systems establish for the first year or so, then for the next two years the grass thickens up! Patience is key with these type of lawns!

I don't have a large property but I planted a no-mow mix when we built our cabin 19 years ago. I have always let the area close to the shoreline grow long and wild, mowing the rest of the lawn every 2 to 3 weeks. the last 6 years I have let more of the lawn go natural and only mow 2 paths and around the house. I mow the meadow once a year in late October. I have native flowers blooming from May till frost. The meadow is constantly changing from week to week depending on what is flowering. I occasionally have to pull out a weed here and there but my lawn requires very little work on my part and I am rewarded with all kinds of wildlife to watch.

Yes, I would plant a native grass lawn if I had room for a lawn, but right now my little 1/8th of an acre is planted up in butterfly & bird flowers. Plantain is a host plant for many butterfly caterpillars: Buckeye, White Peacock, Painted Lady, Phaon Crescent, and many other caterpillars enjoy eating this plant. I love a mixed diverse lawn filled with flowers for birds and butterflies--and people! Thank you for the lovely low-mow tour!

Looks good! As a new landscaper myself, I've had to grow accustomed to the idea that projects will probably take a few years before they look right. Its really taught me patience and to view my life differently, working around growing seasons and planning months to a year in advance. And that's with only 400 sq ft or so of planting space, can't imagine juggling all of the projects y'all have. Can't wait to see your yard next spring!

definitely interested in the long term results of that, especially because in eastern MA rn we're in a level 3 drought, and the generic grass is literally halloween orange due to the fact you can't water it, not even to mention the hundreds of trees dropping like half their foliage to stay alive. Rain tomorrow though!!! also two days ago i just finished writing down all native species and their basic care, took like a month and 44 pages but it's already useful, and will be more useful when i plan on doing something like that with a native lawn type thing. (sidenote, recently discovered i live in what was a moist forest that's degraded over centuries of use while looking up the conditions preferred by local trees. really interesting to be able to have the plants in a forest tell you the ecology)

A native lawn will always turn into a native meadow and that is good.

@reefpi3567

Жыл бұрын

+100

Love the planting of more native grasses and in time will be awesome for both you and the wild critters. I let our grassy areas go native this year and to my surprise the chicory, tons of queen annes lace along with plaintain is just beautiful. Really have to admire all the insects and birds coming in for seeds! Nice to see others letting areas go semi wild and we also do the paths. To see the praying mantis, walking sticks etc is just a beautiful thing to me. Just 4 yrs ago it had all beaen mowed to the ground by a farmer and by us. We can make a difference are you are doing it! 👍🌱🐦

Cyperus esculenta (nutsedge) is listed as a non-native invasive in much of the US. There is debate on whether it was introduced by humans and naturalized rapidly, or if it may have floated across the Atlantic on its own. Either way, it spreads extremely rapidly and is almost impossible to eradicate once it is in the soil due to creating small underground tubers in addition to seed. Please be wary when moving soil from this area of your property. I have some in my yard that was introduced via seed or mulch contamination, and it's a beast. Yellow nutsedge grows taller and spreads much more quickly than other plants in my lawn, and it is unpleasant to walk on. I have started what I'm told is a multi-year process of hand pulling it. It prefers wet soil and partial shade, but has done ok even in sandy full sun as long as it can build up those tubers occasionally!

In a single season, you've done better than most! Trying to overturn a system that's been in place long time lawn or otherwise is a huge challenge. That's why most people keep a simple (sterile) monoculture. Congrats for doing this, in 5 years with the tenacity you guys have it'll be amazing. Goosegrass is a beast and hard to eliminate, careful w/ the plantain, looking at a huge seed load if you let it all go.

"So we're gonna give it a shot!" ^.^! Adorable. For science!

Looks great! One thing to also think about adding to your lawn is mini clover. I added that to my lawn and it’s been great! There are pretty flowers all summer, it’s great for wildlife like bees and bunnies, it’s really drought resistant, and it fixes nitrogen into the soil. It’s been great for me.

@kareharpies

Жыл бұрын

Is it native?

Looks good. I started a tiny meadow in my sideyard and the first two years it didn't look like anything and this year it's been a non-stop parade of 4ft tall flowers. As you give it consideration and care your lawn will grow into its own

A+ for effort, creativity and originality.

I love this idea. I don’t have much room for lawn in my city yard, but the principles you are using are something I would like to emulate in my area. Thanks for all the amazing info!

Carex is fascinating. I am trying to keep some carex appalachia going in my wooded ravine that I planted in the spring. Hauling water down a steep slope due to the NE drought! I don't know that I would encourage nutgrass as it is a notorious spreader.

I’m pursuing transferring a 30-80 year old neglected field (and neighboring forest) into mostly native land. I’ve been removing invasive species like Japanese honeysuckle and multiflora rose, as well as many invasive succulents, etc, and trying to encourage as many native plants to grow, instead. I’m in central NY, so this is helpful.

Simple fix for next time: Solarize with green house plastic or use a silage tarp for 2-3 months to significantly reduce weed pressure before seeding. It will be beautiful.

ill definitely consider doing this. we have to treat this as a large water color painting that you are developing over time, layer by layer. Its too early to call this is B-, all we can say is this is a unique evolving thing, we can not expect or predict the exact outcome. this initial meadow seeding will show its long term impact as the plans resow, bulbs divide and external seeds/grasses come and mix with it over time. Im excited :-) . thank you for sharing

I've been trying to do something similar. I didn't do any kind of seeding, though. Rather, I just let what would grow grow on its own, and mow it often, but with hand tools. It's easier to sculpt that way, because we get a lot of mole hills from the prairie dogs and the dirt is uneven and rocky. It'd chew the blade of a mower up anyway. I would never grow those kinds of grasses, because they don't have enough body for them to be easy to clear by hand. Which was important, because we were actually not allowed to use combustion engine power tools in our part of New Mexico, because of the fire restrictions. The yard is usually a mud pit in winter, because we get a foot of snow from October until well past April.

i never really gave much thought about weeds and grasses till ive watched it here..thanks flock team for this vid ...ive learned alot ♡♡

looks great! I always think of it as getting more of the stuff you want to take over for the things you don't want. And even some of the stuff you don't want (dock, purslane) can be eaten, so there's that.

Well, it definitely looks greener than what was already there, and I'm sure it'll look even better with time. From what I read it can take 2 to 5 years for a grass mix to be fully mature, depending on the species in your mix. In any case, this channel has really inspired me to look into implementing native species in my yard, and fortunately I found a business where I live (in Québec, Canada) that specializes in native plants. They sell individual plants, seeds and mixes, and I'm really eager to try their cold-hardy grasses mix next spring. They also mention on their website the importance of adding "shelter plants" seeds to their mixes, which are usually fast-growing annual grasses meant to prevent soil erosion and protect the other species until they settle properly. Since they're annuals (or rather, since they are usually mowed and die back before they can produce seeds) they disappear after the first year. Plus, because they grow fast, if there are empty patches you can know early whether the seeds were spread evenly or not, or if some areas in your land are problematic for germination.

The Queen Anne’s lace is a great plant to attract Black Swallowtail butterfly and a host plant for their caterpillars.

What benefit is provided by mowing, other than preventing very possible grass fires coming up to the door? The paths are a nice idea. Here, everything, grass, flowering 'weeds' and flowers transported by the wind grow up despite draught. Bees of all sizes are doing their thing and then, at that point in time, the City mows it all down. It then remains dry stubble, trimmed neat like a beard, but not green and there are no flowers at all. It can't recover. Don't plants maintain humidity more effectively, when allowed to grow together naturally? We have had a draught for 4 years but I observe no change on the City's part to adjust. It rained 2x this year but not much. Don't we need every little bit of plant life to provide air quality on the planet? This tall stubborn, annoying grass, appearing in my flower boxes does better than my flowers. Maybe I should cultivate that. Good luck with the different kinds of grass seed, the weather and your experiments. It's a beautiful experiment. What is happening down by the pond? Thanks.

I think it looks so beautiful!

Been eager for the update, thank you!

It's looking good so far, I would love to grow a native lawn. One brand we had to do a paper on was Eco-lawn; the Canadian version. From the photos I saw it looks far more beautiful than what has become standard for most homes. Definitely a topic that brings up a lot of passions in folks LOL

So inspirational!

I love the idea of not having a lawn at all on my small lot. But, my dad likes having a traditional lawn. He has no problem with me planting bulbs in it though.

At 7 42 it is said plantago (plantain) grows in undisturbed site. My observation is on the contrary plantago major will grow along paths, between compacted /bare and slightly less compacted, grazed ground. Lanceolated plqntain will grow in prairies but only if trampled ground exists. Fence off a space from steps nd it no longer germinates. Plantain is thought, in american (read : native) and european tradition, to grow along human paths to ’help’ the traveler. Mullein the same, around human settlement

Wow! Tiger nuts occuring naturally in your lawn! How lucky are you!!

Brilliant plan! It will all in all get better and better is my prediction.

I planted a large portion of my old 5 acre property with native grasses and wildflowers. Now I'm forced to live in suburbia and hate all the thirsty, manicured lawns. I wish we could all have vegetable gardens and native plants instead!

Why do you even mow at all? To prevent fires? Where I'm from environmentalists recommend to mow only once per year. As time passes our native grasses and flowers take over and provide a habitat for native insects. Mowing so little seems to be the sweet spot between disturbing their habitat and preventing the meadow to turn into a woodland. Great video as always!

I like it!! 👍 And years 2 & 3 will also be interesting to see the changes & roots maturing. Here in Central Texas, I too have a spot that stays wet during normal rainfall periods. (Not normal THIS year! We're in a BIG drought.) While it may seem odd to some that right in the middle of Texas there are boggy places, really it's because of the seep holes, aka weep holes, or I just call it a dry spring. When the water table is high, the spring starts to flow as the limestone based hills around here drain excess water to the low spots, and then on to collect in the lake. Anyway, this means the soil around the spring stays completely wet for weeks and weeks. The sedge grasses have moved in on their own. Which is quite nice. And the squirrels planted a pecan tree there too. I am always amazed the pecan tree doesn't rot at the base! It truly loves its life in that spot. The main sedge grass we have is normally a cool weather plant. I have no idea the actual name of it. It's a clumping grass, and I do like it. If I were a person who had to have "the perfect lawn" it would probably drive me batty trying to eradicate it every year. Thank Goodness I would rather have a natural landscape! I look forward to your experiment with the grasses! And btw- a B+ or even a B- is an EXCELLENT grade for the first year!! 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

@FlockFingerLakes

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I was in a talk the other day where the native yellow nutsedge is considered a "weed" in horticultural settings. Luckily, we too like the look of it within the lawn! Hope you get more rain. We had one major cloud over us last night and it rained all night luckily into this morning. Very localized rain!

Currently converting my friends yard into a native meadow/grassland. Though we dont plan to mow it at all, since we dont need to walk through it and we dont have to worry about ticks here

It looks great, there was always to be some problems. Plantains are great, they won't take over but will dot the grass land with their flower heads that attract pollinators. That goosegrass looks annoying though but hopefully it can be controlled and the other plants will out compete them especially in wetter years.

I'm hoping to grow native grasses up a particularly difficult hillside but it's definitely shady for the last third of the day. I wouldn't want to mow it at all. I'm also hoping to plant a very small pasture for my chickens to enjoy in the afternoon. Due to heavy predator pressure, they can't be out all day, but I'm building them a massive run.

I would definitely consider a native lawn.

Any sort of lawn is going to need to be mowed/grazed to be maintained as a lawn. In our climate it will race to turn into a closed canopy forest without pressure knocking back succession. I love that you started with native grasses but maybe just mow it gently and let nature fill in the pallet. (Goose/crabgrass do produce a lot of good sparrow food).

If you weed by the moon, the plants 'jump' out of the soil, it is that noticeable. If the moon's waxing, it's influencing the above ground part of the plant. How easily the 'weeds' are to pull out, depends on which quarter the moon phase is in. The phase is a small window, it arrives & passes through from hour to hour and day to day. Good to have moon phase weeding section in garden journal, listing -weed- plant type. Can I say I Love Flock Finger Lakes channel? There, I just said it🌼🐟🦜🌷🚜🍁💐🤠🤠🤠🐾

The wild carrot can be quite pushy and its from Europe. I don't fight it too much but deadheading is important.

Typical turf grass blends combine grasses that blend visually though the various grasses included prefer different conditions. As they sort themselves out the variety isn’t apparent, giving a uniform appearance. It’s what we’re used to but that doesn’t mean it’s a superior look. IMO, your turf will be more interesting for people and wildlife as it settles in. I would definitely be interested in trying these grasses in an area I have in Oneonta, NY.

Y’all ever going to fish that pond? Lol. Very interested to find out what’s in there. 😊

Boiling water makes a good weed killer. It might be a useful technique for dealing with the goose grass if you can find the right delivery method.

I am trying to transition to native lawn here in Kennebunkport Maine. My landscaper has helped by over seeding with clover, and mowing every two weeks or so, with the mower set at 4"s. We have also had a very dry, hot (for Maine) summer. There are large areas that are overrun with crab grass and oxalis. We plan to aerate again this fall, and I'm considering seeding again with native grasses. I'm wondering if continuing this pattern, and adding some native sedges and low growing wild flowers will eventually cut down the amount of crab grass and oxalis. I mentioned in an earlier comment that I was born and raised in Seneca Falls. If given the opportunity to return home for a visit, would there be the possibility of visiting Flock Finger Lakes as well?

what do you do with goosegrass? you pull out all of them? btw, what plant do you keep at the house?

How will you use the tincture?

Question: I just bought 80 acres and 30 of that is meadow that the previous owner used as hay. The soil is very sandy. My question is, should I be mowing the meadow or not. I've heard of people crimping inted of mowing. Any thoughts?

Eleusine indica is also medicinal

Any problems with ticks and long grass?

I would have thought sedge would be a PITA in a lawn. Spreads like crazy

It amazes me that you don't seem to be bothered by thistles on your property, like a field thistle. Perhaps because you are so remote and no neighboring sowings from adjacent fields? Or is there another explanation? Thanks for another great video!

@protographium5938

Жыл бұрын

In this area bull and Canada thistle are highly invasive and aggressive but native thistles like Cirsium discolor are one of the most beneficial wildlife plants, attracting a high diversity of species and should be planted more.

I don't know if it's been discussed in a previous episode but seeing as you are preparing crops, have you been hit by the lantern fly infestation? If so, what strategies have you used? They have invaded Delaware now.

@FlockFingerLakes

Жыл бұрын

We luckily haven't seen any, but it's all in due time. I do believe they are here in New York. We first saw them at Chanticleer Garden in PA, so we'll keep our eyes peeled for them.

@rz1974

Жыл бұрын

I feel like they've dissipated over the years here in Philly, at my place I only frequently see them on my grape vine, still clusters of them downtown or wherever there are tree of heavens, just to give you a little bit of hope

Hey! I'm still waiting for any update on Sander's rose.

@FlockFingerLakes

Жыл бұрын

We haven't planted any climbing roses yet until we get some final places for them to climb up on!

Grasses and sedges are a lot harder than most imagine, 😆. Love the idea. Not sure what 1 season is a fair observation. Especially drought. We have been talking about all the mowing. That is just waste. And emissions are just horrible xs 100s of millions of lawns. So try try again. Plus native grass are so good for wild life. Is there 1 for deer? Here in Indy just breaking that thought. Must grow turf, must water turf, must cut turf. Quit dumb, lol

If you want carex to be habitat and food and spread, it would be good to let some complete their life cycle, not be mowed.

low mow would be better with more gravel - if you want something good add more manure and avoid sod - i think you have to go much bigger with efforts - more better birdhouses, more everything - you have lots of space you need to experiment more and keep expectations low

Surprised to hear that blue grama is native to New York! It grows all over my part of Colorado in very dry areas.

@FlockFingerLakes

Жыл бұрын

yes, yes: plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=BOGR2. More so to the northwest of us. We think it'll perform well on parts of our site.

This - and 95% of all your videos - ought to be compulsory viewing in horticultural colleges, and for anyone interested in gardening, land husbandry, ecology, nature ... life

@aumsacre