Topic:
Hardscape
With a large lawn comes a huge amount of upkeep. Between mowing, weeding, fertilizing and other lawn care chores, you can spend hours each week caring for a large swathe of grass. A huge grassy area may seem utilitarian, but without distinct divisions, you may find yourself struggling to utilize your lawn to its full potential.
If this is the case, it may be time to consider grass alternatives. One great way to reduce your lawn (and its upkeep!) is to transform your space into a great place to entertain. Through hardscaping, you can go from being overwhelmed with grassy areas to ready to host at the drop of a hat.
Some homeowners are in love with their grassy lawns. Getting a perfectly manicured area of grass with little to no weeds and an even, striped cut brings many folks a great deal of pride.
This requires a lot of upkeep, though; sometimes multiple hours a week. Between fertilizer and herbicide applications, mowing, and all the maintenance required for a lawn mower (oil changes, sharpening blades, and checking that the tire pressure is even to insure a level cut), a lot of time goes into maintaining a traditional lawn. With a low-maintenance, no-mow hardscape option like a patio or walkway, you are able to get back some of that precious time, allowing you to enjoy your yard more.
After initial installation of your hardscaping, more hardscape and less grass will equal less cost. Maintaining grass isn’t always cheap. Paying someone to mow your lawn, or paying for the fuel required to mow your lawn, can add up quickly. Add in fertilizers and other grass enhancers, and you can wind up spending a small fortune each growing season.
Another great benefit of a hardscape is that it can be a much more eco-friendly option for your overall home landscape design than one that is composed entirely of a traditional lawn. For example, you’ll be able to reduce or even eliminate entirely products like pesticides from your landscape maintenance.
To maximize its environmental friendliness and its aesthetic appeal, surround the hardscape space with natural options like:
And another huge plus for hardscape: It’s an alternative to plants that you can install just about anywhere you want, without worrying about the space’s growing conditions (unlike which you need to consider for even the most hardy plants).
So whether you’re dealing with full sun, partial shade, poor soil conditions or nutrients, or water runoff in your home landscape, a hardscape can eliminate some of the constant headaches these issues can cause. Plus, it’s always drought-resistant, too.
One of the great benefits of losing some of your grass is that your space can be opened up to housing designated entertaining areas. Using hardscape as a grass alternative allows you to create a yard that works for your specific needs. You also will have less stress worrying about lots of foot traffic destroying the lawn that you’ve worked carefully to grow.
Rather than having a large green area that is perpetually in utilization limbo, you can create a backyard with areas for entertaining, relaxing, cooking, and much more. This allows your space to work for you, rather than you constantly working on your space.
There are countless options when it comes to adding hardscape to your outdoor space. When choosing hardscaping that will be used as a low-maintenance alternative to a lawn, consider how much grass you are wanting to displace.
If you’re aiming to get rid of quite a bit of grass, patios and walkways are a great option, as both can take up a large square footage.
Walkways are an invaluable hardscape addition to your lawn. Replacing grass with another material, whether it be concrete, rock, or wood or stone pavers, can grant you more access to your yard in all types of weather.
Having good footing even in poor weather conditions will help you to get more use out of your yard. Not only that, but walkways influence the flow of your space, which helps to make guests feel at ease, allowing them to spread out when you’re entertaining.
Patios are an example of hardscape that are endlessly useful. A patio, while replacing a large area of grass, can be used as a sitting area, an outdoor dining room, a makeshift kitchen, an airy office, and even a dance floor. Rearrange some outdoor furniture, roll your grill in and out, relax, host, and have fun with this multi-purpose grass alternative.
If you are looking to replace a grassy area that’s on the smaller side, or if your goal in seeking a grass alternative is to avoid mowing a hilly or otherwise problematic area in your lawn, a retaining wall is a great option.
Retaining walls can hold back a section of earth, allowing for a drop off to another level of your yard, eliminating any sloping area that, if covered in grass, could be difficult to sow, mow, and maintain. Retaining walls can also serve as lines of demarcation in your lawn, helping you and your guests to differentiate between outdoor “rooms” when you entertain.
Before starting your hardscaping project, there are a lot of things to consider. One of the first things to think about is how large of an area you are hoping to hardscape as a grass alternative. Finding a rough estimate will help you to move forward in the planning process.
Also important is deciding what hardscaping features you most want. What appeals to you, and just as importantly, what is going to work the best for you? Think about if you need multiple walkways, and if one patio can serve all of your entertaining needs, or if you’d like to have multiple landing pads to give you and your guests plenty of options.
While planning out your hardscape project, decide how much grass, if any, you want to retain. Are you hoping to keep a large portion of your grassy lawn, or would you like to replace most of it with your new grass alternatives? Getting rid of all of your grass is an option, if you so choose. Just because your grassy lawn is gone doesn’t mean that you can’t still have plenty of lovely, green, growing things in your outdoor space.
After you do your initial planning and dreaming, it’s time to begin the serious work of deciding a budget. When deciding how much you can and want to spend, be sure to factor in the amount of money you’ll be saving in the long run by cutting out excess lawn maintenance.
A major part of figuring out your budget is deciding what materials you want to use in your hardscape. There are incredible options, from all types of natural stone, wood in various painted and aged forms, and concrete, all of which can be used in just about any hardscape project you’re looking to undertake.
Last but not least, don’t forget to consider the labor that will go into replacing grass with hardscape. Some projects will be done quickest and easiest with hired help. From removing grass to laying stone, digging paths, and pouring patios, replacing parts of your lawn with a grass alternative will go more smoothly with the help of some professionals, allowing you to use your space for entertaining as quickly as possible.
Replacing some of your lawn with hardscape can make it easier to maintain your yard while simultaneously molding your outdoor space into an area that has built-in opportunities for enjoyment and entertainment. Regain some of the time you’ve lost over the years to lawn maintenance, and help your yard work better for you with hardscape as a grass alternative.
To learn more about how adding a hardscape to your landscape can improve your home's enjoyment, please download our free ebook, The Expert Guide to Building the Custom Home Hardscape of Your Dreams. To learn more about adding a hardscape to your own home landscape, contact our team for a free project consultation.
