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Converting my lawn from grass to mulch

 
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Hi! I just bought my first house. It came with nice green grass. I'm trying to figure out how to go about changing it over to a mulch lawn.

Obviously I can get mulch delivered and just spread it over the grass, which will eventually die. But I'm worried the lawn will be too high up over the pavement and the mulch will just kinda spill out over the sides.

So because of that I'm thinking of trying to remove the grass... But I've called a few landscaping companies and nobody offers this as a service.

Any suggestions?
 
pollinator
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Location: Southern Ontario, 6b
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I moved in the fall, to just under an acre of mostly lawn.
There were a few existing beds and the way I am converting is to: build out from those beds by planting and mulching. ( I got a couple of free loads of wood chips) Also, we planted over 30 trees. They are all heavily mulched and I've started doing guild plantings to expand their footprints. The old existing trees are getting the same treatment so the lawn around them is reduced. Finally, I've been setting up a bunch of lasagna style beds. Some are being used for annuals right now and some were planted with guild plants for trees I'll buy next year.
There is still lots of lawn but I am happy with how much we have gotten rid of in less than a year!
 
pollinator
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Location: South Central NY (PA border)
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Controversial take: I tilled mine. I went through a lot of iterations before ultimately deciding to till, but ended up going with it because it was fast and effective for my purposes. I don't plan to till again, it was a grass killing measure.

I tilled, then covered it with a tarp. Waited two weeks (which killed the grass under the dirt), then tilled again. Covered it in a deep layer of hay and straw mulch, and planted.

My main tilling concern is the pan that forms under the ground. Since I am not making a habit of tilling, the pan won't form so my plants roots can go where they wish. The grass being tilled in becomes a green manure situation, and my plants in that bed are all very happy.
 
gardener
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For it to be a permaculture plan it first needs a use designation then the design choice of method and materials to make it more permanent.
What are the site constraints that make mulch preferable to grass?
 
gardener
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Location: Central Maine (Zone 5a)
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Hi Regina,
Welcome to Permies!

I do agree that some more information would be helpful. Can you share more about why you want to convert from grass to mulch? Is it to start a garden? Some perennial shrubs? To conserve water?

Understanding the reasoning behind it would help us make better suggestions on how to accomplish it.
 
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why do you not want a lawn?  is that all that surrounds house? are there any trees or shrubs? flower bed? garden? and where is this, north, south, east, west?  I'm guessing this is in a suburban neighborhood where people have yards that are manicured. if your thinking that a lawn mower that uses gas is a environmental problem, your right, but there are lots of great rechargeable electric mowers now that dont use fossil fuels. it would maybe help to understand your motivation.
if your in a suburban neighborhood I would maybe think about planting some trees and mulching around the trees. a well manicured yard in suburbs adds much to value. its called curb appeal.
if your in the desert where there is no water there is tasteful landscaping called xeriscape.
 
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Location: Southwestern Ohio, Zone 6b
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I moved into my home in suburban Cincinnati around three years ago. I usually like to convert a front lawn into a pollinator garden. Since we have great regional parks with many wonderful wildflowers, the first thing I did was collect seed in the fall for everything that I saw that had a seed head. At home, I started with all the cardboard boxes from the move and ordered up a bunch of mulch. Gradually, over the last three years, I have continued to mulch the areas where I don't want "lawn" and developed beds for native and purchased plants. It is a constant evolution. Here are some pics.
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