Moss Lawn

Hello , how does one make/plant/turn regular lawn or flora into a moss lawn ?
Were to even start ? What to look for ?

Moss seems to grow when conditions are unfavorable for grass.  Very damp conditions that most of the time don’t dry out, lots of shade /  limited sun, compacted soil, low organic content soil, with very non-neutral pH soil.

If I recall correctly, one can even propagate moss by transplanting. Just find some in the wild, chop up a chunk of it (even throw it in a blender!  Might need to double check that), and then disperse it over the soil.

What I would do is smother a patch of grass, with cardboard and whaterver mulch you have. When the grass is dead and temperatures are right for sprouting, I would move my mulch over to a new section of grass to smother it.

In your freshly bare ground I would throw down some irish moss seed. Thus moss is supposed to grow in full sun to part shade. Here are the seeds I was drooling over last night.

I would continue this in sections until the area desired is covered in moss. Also, as the moss gets estabished, I would consider transplanting from estabished areas into new areas.

Oh, and where in the world are you? Your general location makes it more likely to get suggestions appropriate to your climate.

Joy, I like your suggestion of doing a small section at a time.

Yes knowing what part of the world the OP is in would help with moss seed recommendation.

I tried growing moss years ago without success though I probably had the wrong variety for where I planted the seeds.

I have found moss to grow where the ground is most compacted, which tends to not let grass grow. Unsure if you will be able to actual achieve a moss lawn but also depends on your zone.

Anne Miller wrote:

Yes knowing what part of the world the OP is in would help with moss seed recommendation.

Europe/Baltic region/Lithuania

Moss lawns are very tranquil and serene, I personally love them! From my own experience, the biggest is part making sure that they do not get killed by a layer of fall leaves. Moss is not vigorous and has no vascular structure, so it can't really compete with a layer of leaf litter by growing through. Raking will tear up huge sheets of moss if you're not careful, so I generally like to resort to using a blower of some kind but even that can blow sheets of moss away if you're not careful. It's definitely possible just needs some caution. Moss doesn't anchor to the ground very strongly, as the rhizoids are not as strong as roots, and they thrive in unfavorable conditions to most other plants so the lawn can be a bit fragile at times.

That being said the idea Joylynn is an excellent idea and probably your best bet. Mike and Timothy covered the conditions of moss pretty well, essentially a compacted, shady, and acidic soil. Although I have heard that some sun tolerant moss prefer more alkaline conditions. If the conditions are not favorable, there are also other low-growing groundcovers that may serve a similar purpose.

I hope this helps,
Eric S.