Less-Unsustainable Lawns?

I want to start a chestnut orchard, so listened to Tom Wahl's great, 2 hour video on starting a chestnut orchard, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAf1lUrqSq4&list=LL&index=69&t=2s&pp=gAQBiAQB in which he discusses picking less vigorous grasses as groundcovers to favor the chestnut trees above.

That made me think about when a man came to our Massachusetts Green Party's Boston chapter meeting and talked about grass seed. He introduced Pearl's Premium, a mix of slow-growing, deep-rooted varieties of lawn grasses that he envisioned could reduce mowing, need no fertilizer or chemicals and stay greener longer. Here's a short, hokey intro video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19-5N1H9dDQ. and here's their website: https://www.pearlspremium.com

I hope to test Tom Wahl's seed mix and Pearl's Premium mix, as well as perennial lupins (L. perennis & L. polyphilus and any prostrate ones I can find), all under chestnuts, to see which works best for the trees, eases harvesting, and might be harvested (& ensiled?) as fodder.

What do you think?

Brian
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Some of those slow growing or no mow mixes just grow and fall over, If you want to keep them short year after year you still need to mow them on occasion.  The problem is it takes one heck of a strong mower to do it because there is so much material laid down that just twist up and  tangle in the blades.

There is a apple orchard near by that the owners tried only mowing just before harvest to save time,equipment maintenance, and fuel.  They ended up with lots of  what they assumed was mice and rabbit damage to the base of the trees.  I would imagine all sorts of insect pests would also like to live in that tall grass.

I do think no mow grasses can be useful.  But you have to plant it in the right area.  As an example I wouldn't want no mow right up to my house.  That attracts mice and bugs like misquotes and fleas.  But I wouldn't mind mowing 20 feet around my house then having a no mow mix for the rest of the yard.

I'm a sucker for clovers. Different types will grow to different heights so you might find something that would work in your climate like White Dutch. I have not had success with JUST clover but added to a mix tends to work quite well.

I like the suggests for clover.

Google says that mix is:

The sunny mix contains three of the fescues in the shady mix, plus a special deep-rooted adaptive bluegrass and an adaptive ryegrass.

Have you thought about planting "No Mow" grass, some native grasses that do not need to be mowed?

I would suggest planting low-growing native grasses like these conservation grasses.  Buffalograss, Curly Mesquite, and Blue Grama.  Planting these three together might work well.

Anne Miller wrote:
... Buffalograss, Curly Mesquite, and Blue Grama.  Planting these three together might work well.

Hi Anne,

While Buffalograss and Blue Grama would be hardy here, I expect that they're adapted to full sun and much less rainfall than the 1-1.2 meters (40-48") falling here in Colrain MA. Sounds like they'd do well in drier sites, or maybe on really sandy soils. Intriguing ideas - Thanks Anne,

We have a low maintenance mix designed for our area (Herbionik, but I don't know if it's available outside of Canada) which is a mix of 10-12 grasses plus clover. We've let "volunteers" (wild violets, plantain, dandelions, etc) grow wherever they appeared. We mow a couple of times a year, maybe once a month? Never needed any watering once well implanted, nor any fertilizer. And pests leave it alone.

We only have it in a small area between other zones, as we've replaced most lawn with mulch and flower/herbs/shrubs  beds, but it does its job well.