Who Needs The Grass...

Six Months Later...

2010-10-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

More than eight months passed since I removed the grass and hoped for the moss to take over. Summer months did not bring many changes, though some moss started to appear. I noticed that moss first appeared on the patches of land that were muddy and that did not have clumps of dead grass.

It was a dry summer, so I purchased a simple poly tube with a few mini-sprinklers to keep the surface moist. Contrary to the lawn watering, I turned the sprinkler on frequently, but for a short period of time. The schedule I used more often was twice a day for 5 minutes. Since I used mini-sprinklers, the water usage was not huge (someday I should write a post on how to select and install sprinklers - it took me some time to figure out).

In early September, I had moss in the most areas, except for the most sunny ones. In September, it started raining and the moss got a boost it waited for! Now in mid-October, all my ex-lawn is a nice mossy carpet:

There are still some areas where the dead old grass shows through, but that I could live with.

Lessons
1. Do not leave dead grass. Try to make your future mossy area as muddy and dense as possible without remnants of old plants.
2. Mossy columns did not work for me. They just dried out even though I watered them and put some water-retaining material inside:

3. Be prepared to wait and to do some weeding.
4. Falling leaves can be easily removed by a blower.
5. I did transplant some moss, but I feel that the vast majority of the moss I have now just grew by itself.
6. As I've written earlier, squirrels and raccoons dug my lawn a lot. I even had to cover some parts of it with a bird net. For an reason unknown to me, they stopped digging in early summer and it still is not a problem. I hope they would not start again next spring.

The main lesson is: creating a beautiful moss lawn is easy. You can do it!

No changes

2010-04-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

I am somewhat disappointed - I hoped that the moss will become more uniform sooner. A month passed by and the moss side of the backyard has not changed at all. It is still all covered in moss, but because of the yellow spots, bare holes, remnants of old dry grass it still looks ugly:

No changes compared to March 1 picture.

One more tabletop moss garden

2010-03-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

I have found a very beautiful fine-grained dark-green kind of moss on an old wooden surface behind my house. I am curious if it can also grow on soil. Here is a patch of it in form of another tabletop container moss garden:

Outdoor tabletop moss garden

2010-03-10T16:18:00.000-08:00

Working with moss on my lawn got me more interested in moss in general. I discovered five or six different kinds of moss just around my house!

It really is beautiful. I've assembled a small table-top garden from different kinds of moss that I collected around the house (click to zoom in):

The diameter of this bowl is about 8 inches. In order to keep the moss moist but not drowned, I made a hole in the bottom of the bowl and put some water-retaining material (from diapers) under the moss layer.

Creatures of the night

2010-03-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

For the second time within the past week I am waking up to discover my moss hill destroyed by some night creatures:

Raccoons, I presume.

The only preventive idea that comes to my mind is to cover this area with a bird net. Unfortunately, the net will be visible (unless the moss will grow tall enough to cover it, which I doubt).

The only other permanent solution would be to "enforce the perimeter", that is to try to attach some netting to the fence, but I am not sure how to do it. I should do some research on the internet.

I am curious - are there some chemicals that stink in a way that is disgusting for such animals and is not harmful or detectable by humans? Even if there are, this would be a short-term solution. Stinking plants would be ideal...

Moss Column

2010-03-04T18:42:00.000-08:00

As one of the accents for my moss area, I was planning to have some kind of pedestal or column with a plant or small tree on top of it.

I checked local garden stores - they have many vases and columns, but I found none in the style I like - simple modern geometric style, like a plain cylinder.

Reading about living walls got me thinking about building a column from moss.

I started with a roll of metal mesh. Usually, it comes zinc coated, which is a bad idea for moss. Fortunately, my local Home Depot carries green vinyl-coated version. The price is about $10 for a small roll which will be enough for two 2-feet columns.

I wrapped a sheet of wire mesh to form a cylinder, tied the sides together with wire, hammered 3 iron rebars into the ground to keep the column in place, and then filled it in layers:

Outside layer - moss "sod", which I have taken from the area around the future column
Then some soil with added water crystals (to retain more moisture)
Regular soil in the middle

Here is the top view:

My last step was covering the area around the column with gravel for contrast.

Let me present my creation (click to enlarge):

This column is 2 ft (60 cm) tall, and 9" (23 cm) in diameter.

I had a small tree growing in my yard, and I thought that its bonsai-like form will go well with the moss. I will shape it a little after giving it some time to acclimatize to the new place.

For now, the mesh is clearly visible. I hope that the moss will grow through the mesh and will hide it.

Picture. Day 13

2010-03-01T17:57:00.000-08:00

Added some accents - border between the patio and the mound and stepping stones (that are not stones, but just "pools" of pebbles).

The moss area looks yellow from this angle, even though the moss is actually green. The problem is the remaining dead grass that is sticking out all over the place. I can't come up with any practical method of removing the dead grass.

Picture. Day 11

2010-02-27T16:57:00.000-08:00

Here is my current view. The moss area over the mound looks terrible, but I hope it will become greener after some time.

On the bright side - it rains every day, so I am not worrying about keeping my moss moist.

Grass zone revisited

2010-02-27T16:53:00.000-08:00

With most of the moss raked out from the grass area, it is time to improve the aeration and drainage.

Even though the soil is completely soaked, aeration with manual core aerator was very easy. Punching my whole grass area with a grid of holes with about 4" between them took less than an hour.

For fertilizer, I picked Vigoro's Weed and Feed hoping that the "weed" part will take care of clover and dandelions. It is supposed to be used in summer, but my grass seems to be already in active growing phase - it was a warm February.

I should also add more grass. Most web pages suggest that overseeding shall be done in the fall, but I don't want to wait that long. I'll try it now, and if it won't work - OK, I'll repeat in the fall. I used some kind of Northwest formulated seeds, coated with water-retaining stuff. The value of this coating is questionable, since this time of the year in Seattle is rather wet. I spread a lot of seeds and then raked the area to move the seeds into closer contact with soil.

I've just realized - the summer fertilizer that I used is mostly nitrogen, which is great for leaves but does not help root development. If I am trying to grow new grass from seeds, I'll probably need to provide some phosphorus, right? I am not sure if it is OK to add another fertilizer on top of the one I already spread. I guess, I'll just wait and see...

Breaking into 3D

2010-02-25T20:16:00.000-08:00

Since I am going away from a flat boring lawn, I need to add a third dimension. I won't be able to go big, because I don't want to buy a truck of soil, but a little mound would be nice. And I need to do it now to let my moss grow over the changed landscape.

I had several cubic feet of topsoil and I added several more bags from a gardening store. It is still not enough, but I got some old yard waste that has almost turned into compost. It is a risky move, but I'll use it to add volume.

This is a concern, because I am not sure how moss would like a soil that is good fertile topsoil and in addition to that, has a lot of decaying organic matter underneath. Let us consider it an experiment...

I removed the best moss patches from under the future mound, piled my pseudo-compost, covered it with soil, and covered it back with moss (some of which I recovered from under this spot and the rest of it from my "grass zone").

Now I realize that I accidentally made two smart decisions: leaving both grass and moss zones in my backyard, and starting the transformation from the moss zone. Now, when I need the moss for my moss zone, I have plenty of local moss still remaining in the grass zone that I can take.

Here is the result of two hours of hard work:

I made the mound go over the border of my patio to break this boring straight line. Later I will probably add some border to keep this area together.

This area looks somewhat disastrous now, but I hope that with the next four months of soggy weather, the moss will grow to a more uniform carpet. At least it grew very rapidly when it was a weed!

Picture. Day 7

2010-02-23T08:57:00.000-08:00

Today I've done a lot of mowing - I trimmed the grass zone a little and I cut the moss zone as close to the ground as possible. Wow, what a difference!

This is the first time my zones are clearly visible. I had my mower set so low in the moss zone, that it cut the moss in some places. I hope it won't do any permanent damage.

I made a mistake though - instead of mowing in "mulch" mode, I should have attached the bag - this way I would not have clippings all over my moss.

Now, according to my plan, I need to create a small "hill" next to the patio to add the third dimension and break the flatness (right where I have this ugly brown area), and after that I will just wait until the moss becomes more uniform.

Picture. Day 5

2010-02-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

After five days of waiting, I see first effects of RoundUp at work. Thinner clumps of grass started yellowing. There is still a lot of grass, but I think it is getting better!

There is no damage to moss whatsoever: concentrated RoundUp is safe for my moss!

I am not sure if the difference is visible yet, but here is a picture:

The grayish spot in the bottom right corner is just a reflection in the window glass.

I'll wait a little more and then I'll mow the remaining grass as short as possible. Hopefully, it won't grow back.

Grass zone

2010-02-20T16:46:00.000-08:00

While my moss zone is transforming, I shall take care of the grass zone. The process shall be similar:

Make the environment as friendly for grass and as hostile to moss as possible.
Try to kill as much moss as I can, and hope that the grass will take over.

Today I tried to rake out the moss that I have between the clumps of grass:

It is quite hard - the moss clings to the grass and if I rake too hard, the grass gets pulled out. The area I need to take care of is rather small so I hope I'll have enough energy to complete it.

The next steps, as I understand, should be:

Aerate
Fertilize
Add seeds

Am I missing something?

Probably for such a small lawn, the easiest way to aerate would be to get a manual core aerator and just spend half-an-hour punching holes. For some reason, my local home improvement stores do not currently have manual core aerators in stock, so I'll just order it online, something like Hound Dog Turf Aerator.

It still leaves me with two questions - what kind of fertilizer should I use and what type of grass seeds I should buy. Any advise (especially, from people in Seattle area) is greatly appreciated!

I've also discovered a lot of clover hiding in the grass. I guess, the only way to get rid of it is pulling it out. Is there an easier way?

Picture. Day 1

2010-02-18T01:00:00.000-08:00

Here is my starting point - my backyard as photographed from the second floor of my house:

The yellow semi-circle line on the left is the boundary between the future moss and grass zones.

I'll try to post the same view regularly to show the progress.

Killing the grass

2010-02-17T13:54:00.000-08:00

Now I need to suppress the grass in the "moss zone". There is too much grass to pull it out, so, even though I don't like using chemical poisons, I'll have to spray some herbicide.

Rumor is that RoundUp does not damage the moss, just the grass. On one of the internet gardening forums (don't remember, maybe GardenWeb) somebody mentioned that diluted ready-to-use RoundUp had some negative effect on moss, while concentrated RoundUp killed the grass without damaging moss.

Quick trip to Home Depot confirmed that the ingredients are slightly different in the ready-to-use and concentrated versions.

Concentrated:

Glyphosate, isopropylamin salt - 18%
Diquat dibromide - 0.73%
Other ingredients - 81.27%

Ready-to-use:

Glyphosate, isopropylamin salt - 2%
Pelargonic acid and related fatty acids - 2%
Other ingredients - 96%

The second line is different, plus nobody knows what hides behind "Other ingredients".

Anyway, I decided to go with the concentrate:

I sprayed it out in prescribed concentration.

My only concern is that even though it is sunny now, the ground is very wet (which is always the case in winter in Seattle!). I am afraid that the grass is not "thirsty" enough and it will not be eager to suck the poison in from the leaves. We will see. Even though the label says "results in 12 hours", I don't believe I'll see real results in less than a week or two - as I understand, the poison blocks the ability of the grass to "eat", so it should take some time for it to "starve".

The right pH for my moss

2010-02-17T07:03:00.000-08:00

OK, let us start with moss... How should I tweak my environment to make it good for moss and bad for grass?

Collective internet wisdom says that typical moss likes:

moisture
shadow
compact soil
acidic soil (about 5.5pH)

I believe that the mossy area of my lawn has the first three characteristics.

This last point makes me nervous - according to my measurement, my soil is neutral - around 7pH. Either my measurement was incorrect, or I have a kind of moss that likes neutral acidity (or at least other factors overweigh the lack of acidity).

To measure the acidity of my soil I bought a cheap "HoldAll by AmerTac" soil meter at my local HomeDepot:

It measures pH, light level, and moisture level. It is too cheap to be real, but I measured some trivial items (tap water, then tap water after adding several drops of lime juice) and it seems to work. Probably I should have chosen a chemical test kit instead, but for now I will assume that my pH meter works.

I have no clue what kind of moss I have. Here is a close-up (click to enlarge):

Ideas, anyone?

Just in case, I'll make my soil more acidic - unless I have some weird kind of moss, more acidic soil should make it happier, plus it should make the remnants of the grass suffer, which is exactly what I need.

Today I spread two 2.5lb bags of Encap's Fast Acting Sulfur over the area I plan for moss. Hopefully it will lower the acidity by 1-1.5 pH within few weeks.

Planning the backyard makeover

2010-02-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

The first decision I need to make - which direction should I go?

I already mentioned that I want a low maintenance landscape; also I want a change that can be implemented by myself without spending much time and money. I don't have a specific budget, but I would hate to go over three or four hundred dollars.

In general, I prefer minimalistic and clean designs. I like the landscapes with rocks, pebbles, sand, and water, but in my case, it is too far from my starting point and, therefore, would take too much effort to implement. It seems that I should try to use moss as much as possible because moss is the best growing plant on my backyard.

Here is my current backyard layout:

The area outlined by the dotted line is my "lawn". This area seems to have two different zones - about 1/3 of the lawn where grass grows well and the amount of moss is manageable, and the remaining 2/3 where I have more moss than grass.

I need to follow the path of least resistance. This prompts to separate the area into two zones - one for grass and another - for moss:

Below is the same plan after adding more details:

add the third dimension by creating a small mound near the patio with an accent in the center (a small tree?)
break the straight line of the patio border by having moss to go over the patio
add a path of stepping stones
maybe add an area to put a table and a couple of chairs (I am not sure about it - seems to be too much work)
add another accent in the third area

I am not worried about accents now - my main task will be to exterminate the grass in the "moss area" and vice versa. Since I want a low maintenance backyard, I need to make sure that I not just kill the other plant, but I change the environment to encourage the growth of the "correct" vegetation in each area.

Why?

2010-02-15T21:10:00.001-08:00

I am not exactly an avid gardener... I do like plants, but I simply don't have time and patience to do a lot of yard work regularly. I prefer to do it when I am in the right mood and not when my grass is knee-tall and my neighbors are starting to give me strange looks.

That is why I am extremely grateful to the previous owners of my house who created a zero-maintenance front yard - bunch of stones and slow growing plants. It looks great and allows me to work on maintaining or improving my front yard whenever I feel like it, and not on its own demanding schedule.

And that is precisely why I hate my lawn. Americans are crazy about their lawns - we prefer them to much more beautiful gardens and we try to make them perfect even in the environments where grass does not grow well. To win this uphill battle, we pump a lot of water, fertilizers, pesticides, and have to mow/aerate/weed, rain or shine.

I tolerated my lawn for five long years. I live in Seattle area and my backyard is at least half shady from the tall trees on my neighbors' plots. As you can imagine, this damp combination leads to a lot of moss in my grass, and I simply don't have the patience to exterminate it. I tried a couple of "moss-out" chemicals, but they only burn the moss, which easily grows back. I tried to rack it out the grass, but the amount of it is enormous - each year the moss grows about two inches thick even after I physically remove it. I checked my soil's pH - it appeared to be average (around 7), aerated my soil, and even tried to start watering the grass in July and August :). Nothing helped. For the last 3-4 years my lawn looks like this:

This spring, I ran out of patience. I decided to stop this battle and create a backyard that will look better and will not require regular maintenance. I think I have some good ideas; let us see if they will work out.

I hope that by publishing this blog, I'll get some good comments and advices, plus I hope that some of my ideas will be helpful to other people.