Lawnmower alternatives

Does anyone have a good lawnmower alternative?
I’ve considered:
• Sheep or goats. While this would be lovely, it would also require a guard dog and I’m not sure if I’d be willing to go that far. I couldn’t just pen them at night, right? I would imagine goat predators would attack them all day long. Also would need to fence for sheep or goats, but that’s doable.
• Tortoise. Had a guy recently who had a huge tortoise that he joked took care of his mowing needs. Would, again, need to fence better. Not sure how well tortoises take care of grass? Not sure how well they would do against predators? Fox? Stray dogs? Mountain lion (rare, but they have been seen)?
• Geese. Would be fun, but how much protection do they need against predators? And how well do they actually keep lawns down?
• Rabbit tractor. Again, how well do they actually do keeping lawns down, if moved daily?
• Cows. Last place option, but I'll throw it out there. We could put the cows in our yard for brief periods. We'd again have to improve the fences, but has anyone used cows for keeping grass down around the house? Does it actually work or just create a mess?

How much space is the lawn that you are seeking to maintain? Are you only seeking something that is animal related mowing or would you consider something like a scythe or reel mower?

The tortoise idea caught my interest but I can't give you any helpful information. I use to keep a Russian Tortoise but I couldn't imagine it would be useful as a lawn mower. I believe Sulcata tortoises can utilize grass as a large portion of their diet but I am not fully confident to recommend them.

Hi Becky,
I don't have much direct experience with using those animals as lawn mowers, but I do read and watch a lot of people who have done things like this. I've got a couple other ideas first, and then I'll post my comments on the various animals.

What about shrinking the size of your lawn? You don't mention the reason for wanting a lawn mower alternative, whether noise, polution, or what. But if you were to create a bunch of gardens (flower or veggie) with paths in between it would cut down on the amount you need to mow. Tree guilds, rock garden, meadow spaces, all would take up room and reduce the amount of grass you want to mow. There are a number of low growing herbs that spread like crazy... maybe you wouldn't need to mow at all. Lastly, if it is noise or pollution related, what about a push mower with no motor? Or a scythe?

Sheep/goats - sheep are probably the better of the two for actual lawn mowing, as they prefer grass and forbes, wherease goats prefer shrubbery. You could pen them up at night. Predator attacks are less likely during the day, but you would still need some kind of fence.

Tortoise - no experience, but a really cool thought :)

Geese - these are on my list to get some day, but I have been told they prefer shorter younger grass, and will certainly focus on that stuff first. So if part of it got too long, they might not be as effective.

Rabbits - I don't know how well they would do if the grass gets too long. I don't have the experience. But I did hear about a cool method of tractoring them. This guy makes a bottomless tractor. He then puts down a big sheet of mesh and slides the tractor over the top of it. It still prevents the rabbits from digging out, but do not have the issues of grass getting matted down while sliding the tractor with slats or mesh attached to the bottom.

Cows - you will end up with large piles of fertilizer, but since cows are bigger, there are fewer things that will mess with a healthy cow. Also, some are calm enough you might be able to tether them, without the need for a fence.

A lot of folks here on the forum use a Scythe:

https://permies.com/t/15257/scythes/Scythe-Reviews#135234

Primary reason for lawnmower alternatives is because we don’t like mowing. Time and expense we’d be happy to spend elsewhere. And if we could benefit by it (dairy goat or cute tortoise or more fodder for the cows or goose eggs, etc.), that would be a plus.

As best as I can figure using Google Maps, the section that we would fence would be about 2.5 acres, perhaps an acre or so with grass/lawn.

People with horses are always looking for fenced pasture for summer grazing. You could probably make a little cash if it's decent pasture and there's a water source.

Matt McSpadden wrote:
Geese - these are on my list to get some day, but I have been told they prefer shorter younger grass, and will certainly focus on that stuff first. So if part of it got too long, they might not be as effective.

I have geese. They are *very* noisy.

Ideally, you would create some sort of paddock system where they move from area to area and some areas get a chance "to rest". I have a gaggle of them and have not been able to do this, and it really shows by this time of the year as we're in our summer drought.

To control the noise, you can lock them up at night which would be safer also. They can be trained to follow a cue - like a flag or feed bucket - to move from their night housing to the day paddock.

They only lay for a few months in the spring (Feb to late May in my ecosystem). I use Muscovy ducks to hatch some of their eggs as goose is yummy and is a valuable source of fat. (makes great pastry mixed with butter.)

With geese on site, gardens are at risk. Careful.

Granted, my experience is with wild geese (Canada geese). We put electric fences around some gardens.

I use wood chips ...lots and lots of wood chips.   It takes longer to spread them than mowing, but its kinda like mowing once and having the space to walk, work, and drive around on for the rest of the year at least.   12" is a good depth, and that translates to 1 arborist truck load covers approximately 400 sq ft. (about the size of a 2 car garage).  They are fairly easy to spread if you dump each load in the middle of that 400 sq. ft. that you want to cover.   I do spend some time pulling weeds/trees that I don't want, but usually they come out easily as the chips mend the soil and roots and tubers prefer that gap between the chips and the packed soil below.

Chips are especially handy for smothering grasses that you don't want and giving you time to seed and sprig in grasses that you do want.

Finally, with the wood chips, its easy to pull them back and plant perennials anywhere you want after a year or so.

If you use a tortoise, make sure there's nothing poisonous

Ughh...I hit tab to move the curser and my entire post disappeared, so this will be much quicker.  This site can be so quirky.  Incompete posts just disappear if I hit a key it doesn't like...grrrrrrrrr.
Anyway, I have an electric ride on mower that I love.  It's quiet and easy to operate. I also got a great cart that I put together and can pull behind for garden debris, moving plants, whatever.  It doesn't need a vet or food or medicine or water.  I can put it away in the late autumn and not have to think about it until spring...although I could also attach a small plow to the front if I wanted.  
I love animals, so much so that if I don't know what I'm doing (but think I do) I'd feel very concerned that I'd do something that might harm them unknowingly.  What if they ate something that was poisonous to them?  I recently learned that sheep need to have rotating "paddocks" to eat from.  It is not good to just fence the perimeter and expect them to get everything inside.  
Is your mower a push mower, because that would be hard to keep up with.  It is quite pleasant to just ride around for an hour or two on my rider, though.  I save the mowing for the end of the day when I'm tired from all of the physical labor around here.  By afternoon, the grass is dry and the light is my favorite time of day. I often will break it up over a few days.  I'll do the back half one day, and the front on the following day.

Best mowing alternative is not to have a lawn.. plant trees or natives.. or at least something that needs mowed less.

https://www.opnseed.com/collections/eco-friendly-lawn-alternatives

Lawn Turf Facts:
- It's the number one irrigated crop in the US
- It's the number one fertilized crop in the US
- It's the number one crop for pesticides in the US
- It's the number one crop for herbicides in the US
- Homeowners don't need licenses to use these chemicals  (farmers do!)
- Many of these chemicals end up in landfills and waterways.. and eventually in our groundwater and oceans.
- A gas-powered mower emits as much pollution per hour as 11 cars.
- Most common lawn grasses are not native to North America.
- With 85 million home lawns and over 16,000 golf courses, you have close to 50 million acres of cultivated turf in America.

Plant clover. Broadcast seed where your lawn is bare, and keep reseeding whenever there is a bare patch. There are some clovers that will take over the grass, and some you need to prepare the soil.  Make sure you find a more tidy variety that won't winterkill for your area... looking up "clover lawn" is a good place to start.

My dozen geese do a great job with maintaining an already-short yard and (when somewhat confined) trampling down tall dry grasses in the off season. They aren't nearly as effective with shrubby brushy stuff. For example, this year I got behind schedule on pasture management due to illness and accidentally grew half an acre of horseweed (erigeron canadensis) as tall as my head -- the geese can help knock that over and thin it out, but they won't eat it. Also don't make much of a dent in the blackberries, etc.

But I suspect that geese/sheep or geese/goats would be one heck of a tag team.

And re: noise, my geese are loud, but not as loud as my female ducks. I usually don't find them obnoxious. I've been surprised by how much I enjoy having a gaggle around. I have a dozen geese, mostly pilgrims.

I have a similar problem but with invasives rather than grass. Large animals are not an option for a variety of reasons. My first major invasive was knapweed; I tackled as much by hand (pulling it up) as I could for 5 years; in the last 2 years it’s been superseded by chicory. More than an acre of the stuff. I’ve been pulling it up by hand, but lately just clipping it to try to get ahead of it going to seed.  Property is a steep 2.5 acres. I’m intrigued by the rabbit idea, but would they eat knapweed & chicory?

I have trialled various animals for sustainable lawn maintenance over the years and found guinea pigs to be the most effective for high-use areas such as lawns designated for sports and picnics. Housed in a movable cage and repositioned daily, guinea pigs efficiently graze all vegetation within 24 hours. Unlike rabbits, they do not dig, allowing for an open-bottom enclosure. Their manure is dry, odourless, pelletised, and inconspicuous, making it ideal for areas where we walk barefoot.

Geese and Muscovy ducks are effective grazers; however, their manure is wet, sticky, and malodorous, making them unsuitable for areas near the home. I still use them in other parts of the property.

Sheep are efficient lawnmowers with similarly inconspicuous manure but would occasionally nibble garden plants. I use sheep in orchards post-leaf fall, where they contribute to weed control and fertilisation. While they typically avoid bark, they occasionally prune small branches. I cannot use them when trees are in leaf.

Horses and cattle are effective in lawn management, yet their manure and tendency to browse on garden vegetation presented challenges. Like sheep, I use them in orchard systems following leaf drop and in areas with well-established gardens. But be mindful of their size. They can easily push over smaller trees.

Goats and donkeys are incompatible with gardens due to their destructive behaviour, including defoliation, ringbarking of trees, and consumption of virtually all vegetation. I do love them, and they are very useful in other contexts (like clearing forested areas and woody weeds), but they are unsuitable in close proximity to gardens.

Rabbits, while potentially useful, cannot be bred on our property due to the release of biological controls (e.g., myxomatosis) by the Australian government to manage feral populations. A neighbour’s attempt to breed rabbits ended in total loss.

We use guinea pigs as a practical alternative to rabbits for dual purpose lawn maintenance and meat production. It is practical to keep small animals for butchering during periods when meat stores are low and there is insufficient time to process a larger animal. I am able to butcher them on my own, and my children can do so independently as well. As we live completely off-grid with a very small (1kW) solar power system, our access to electricity, and therefore freezer space, is limited. Consequently, maintaining live animals as a source of fresh meat is a valuable strategy. In this context, they serve as our version of fast food. We do not buy any feed for them. They live on grass, kitchen garden scraps and tree fodder during dry times (mulberry, tagasaste, acacia).

Lawren Richards wrote:I have a similar problem but with invasives rather than grass. Large animals are not an option for a variety of reasons. My first major invasive was knapweed; I tackled as much by hand (pulling it up) as I could for 5 years; in the last 2 years it’s been superseded by chicory. More than an acre of the stuff. I’ve been pulling it up by hand, but lately just clipping it to try to get ahead of it going to seed.  Property is a steep 2.5 acres. I’m intrigued by the rabbit idea, but would they eat knapweed & chicory?

Guinea pigs and rabbits can eat knapweed and chicory, but I have found it difficult to use a mobile pen on steep land.

I know you said large animals are not an option, but sheep and goats would thrive on knapweed and chicory and they're very good at navigating steep slopes.

P Oscar wrote:We use guinea pigs as a practical alternative to rabbits for dual purpose lawn maintenance and meat production.

There's a cool video on this thread about free ranging guinea pigs and keeping them for meat. I imagine you'd need to top the plants they didn't like every now and again.
I scythe my grass paths through the tree field and am finding this thread interesting to think of alternatives. I do find the mowings useful for mulch, but wouldn't fancy having to do several acres.

We bought a new gadget.  It is a weeder on wheels that is pushed like a lawen mower.

Anyone else have one of these?

While all of this is true, I'm sure, many don't use chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or gas-powered equipment.  I've never watered my lawn and it is seeded with lots of clover and other weeds which help to release nitrogen when cut. I harvest plantain and other beneficial weeds from it for salves and medicines.  

Your message might be better received if you included positive suggestions: As equipment breaks, think about converting tools to electric as you can, invest in solar--there are lots of grants and electric companies are offering help.  

Personally, my heating system is geothermal powered by solar--over twenty years ago, I had a well dug just for the geothermal heating and cooling. I haven't bought oil in over 20 years; I drive electric, and I have permaculture gardens all over my property with hundreds of fruit and nut trees, thousands of smaller fruit producing shrubs, etc.  

The implication that all lawn is bad is getting really old for me.  It's nice to have a soft area to walk on, a lot of wildlife use it--robins gathering worms, rabbits eating clover, etc., it's calming to my eye, and, by comparison, it is quite low maintenance (I'm 65 so these things matter.)  Using an electric mower is a compromise that I think is valid.  I live here and maintain it all by myself;  appealing to my aesthetic is a real factor as well as attracting wildlife.  I don't use outdoor lights at night unless I'm expecting someone; because of this, I have a healthy population of lightning bugs, moths, bats, etc.  I have frogs and foxes and even an occasional bear.  I have people on all sides who just have lawn, so I am a wildlife oasis.  I will not apologize for the bit of lawn that I do have, though. Balance and a few niceties are important.  The militant no lawn attitude is just not working for me when all of the negatives have been removed.  It's sort of like "No Mow May" that was all the rage.  I did some research about it, and it started in England and it was where people just asked that the hell strips and public roadside areas not be mowed until after insects could hatch and fend for themselves.  It was never meant to be a replacement for people's lawns.  They then discovered that creatures would live in these unmown areas assuming safety, only to be mown down come June, removing their habitat and therefore killing the very things that people were trying to protect.  Even Doug Tallamy has come out to say that this is not a good practice.

I've read Doug Tallamy and Robin Wall Kimmerer who were both life-changing for me, and I agree with everything they talk about.  Tallamy talks about striving for 70% natives.  That's great.  Some people might only have ten plants on their property, so seven of them being native qualifies.  I have 40 blueberry bushes alone, all sorts of elderberry, paw paw, and persimmon ...the list goes on and on.  I have lots of native flowering plants like asters, Joe Pyeweed, monarda and shrubs like viburnums, witch hazels, chokeberries and dogwoods as well. (There are too many to name, so this is a very incomplete list.)  I let some milkweed and goldenrod grow and I mulch with wood chips and leaves.  I don't till my vegetable garden and I let things go to flower and seed in the fall...I've inoculated most areas with wine cap mushrooms. Many people do these things.  

Remember, you'll attract more bees with honey than you will with vinegar!  

james matalik wrote:Best mowing alternative is not to have a lawn.. plant trees or natives.. or at least something that needs mowed less.

https://www.opnseed.com/collections/eco-friendly-lawn-alternatives

Lawn Turf Facts:
- It's the number one irrigated crop in the US
- It's the number one fertilized crop in the US
- It's the number one crop for pesticides in the US
- It's the number one crop for herbicides in the US
- Homeowners don't need licenses to use these chemicals  (farmers do!)
- Many of these chemicals end up in landfills and waterways.. and eventually in our groundwater and oceans.
- A gas-powered mower emits as much pollution per hour as 11 cars.
- Most common lawn grasses are not native to North America.
- With 85 million home lawns and over 16,000 golf courses, you have close to 50 million acres of cultivated turf in America.

I left the city in the early 90's and a primary reason was to escape mowing. I do weed whack along a few paths after the spring growth to give a buffer zone in case Mr Timber rattler is lying in wait. We enjoy the native grasses so much more anyway.

One of the best options is to change what we think about with the word lawn.  Go from monoculture that needs a lot of care, to something like this
https://richsoil.com/lawn-care.jsp

Geese and sheep are also good choices.  We seldom have to get the gass powered mower out more than twice a year.

As for animal care.  It's location dependant.   My geese go to bed each night and get locked up so the raccoon don't eat them.  They are too big and bothersome for most daytime predators and too small and bothersome for the rest of daytime prediction. Our property has a game fence to keep out the dear and this seems to keep the animals in so long as the gate is closed.

Please excuse my tone, forgot I was in front of the choir.  I'm usually speaking to audiences that are unaware of such facts, which I then follow up with good alternatives.  I also live in an area where many houses sit on 5 acre parcels with nothing but lawn. I hear a lot of complaints about all their mowing, but not as many as when I bring up the idea of getting rid of some of it!  Lawns are a touchy subject.. Lol.  Great to hear about all that you have done, sounds wonderful!  

Barbara Simoes wrote:While all of this is true, I'm sure, many don't use chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or gas-powered equipment.  I've never watered my lawn and it is seeded with lots of clover and other weeds which help to release nitrogen when cut. I harvest plantain and other beneficial weeds from it for salves and medicines.  

Your message would be better received if you used a less lecturing tone and instead made positive suggestions: As equipment breaks, think about converting tools to electric as you can, invest in solar--there are lots of grants and electric companies are offering help.  

Personally, my heating system is geothermal powered by solar--over twenty years ago, I had a well dug just for the geothermal heating and cooling. I haven't bought oil in over 20 years; I drive electric, and I have permaculture gardens all over my property with hundreds of fruit and nut trees, thousands of smaller fruit producing shrubs, etc.  

The implication that all lawn is bad is getting really old for me.  It's nice to have a soft area to walk on, a lot of wildlife use it--robins gathering worms, rabbits eating clover, etc., it's calming to my eye, and, by comparison, it is quite low maintenance (I'm 65 so these things matter.)  Using an electric mower is a compromise that I think is valid.  I live here and maintain it all by myself;  appealing to my aesthetic is a real factor as well as attracting wildlife.  I don't use outdoor lights at night unless I'm expecting someone; because of this, I have a healthy population of lightning bugs, moths, bats, etc.  I have frogs and foxes and even an occasional bear.  I have people on all sides who just have lawn, so I am a wildlife oasis.  I will not apologize for the bit of lawn that I do have, though. Balance and a few niceties are important.  The militant no lawn attitude is just not working for me when all of the negatives have been removed.  It's sort of like "No Mow May" that was all the rage.  I did some research about it, and it started in England and it was where people just asked that the hell strips and public roadside areas not be mowed until after insects could hatch and fend for themselves.  It was never meant to be a replacement for people's lawns.  They then discovered that creatures would live in these unmown areas assuming safety, only to be mown down come June, removing their habitat and therefore killing the very things that people were trying to protect.  Even Doug Tallamy has come out to say that this is not a good practice.

I've read Doug Tallamy and Robin Wall Kimmerer who were both life-changing for me, and I agree with everything they talk about.  Tallamy talks about striving for 70% natives.  That's great.  Some people might only have ten plants on their property, so seven of them being native qualifies.  I have 40 blueberry bushes alone, all sorts of elderberry, paw paw, and persimmon ...the list goes on and on.  I have lots of native flowering plants like asters, Joe Pyeweed, monarda and shrubs like viburnums, witch hazels, chokeberries and dogwoods as well. (There are too many to name, so this is a very incomplete list.)  I let some milkweed and goldenrod grow and I mulch with wood chips and leaves.  I don't till my vegetable garden and I let things go to flower and seed in the fall...I've inoculated most areas with wine cap mushrooms. Many people do these things.  

Remember, you'll attract more bees with honey than you will with vinegar!  

james matalik wrote:Best mowing alternative is not to have a lawn.. plant trees or natives.. or at least something that needs mowed less.

https://www.opnseed.com/collections/eco-friendly-lawn-alternatives

Lawn Turf Facts:
- It's the number one irrigated crop in the US
- It's the number one fertilized crop in the US
- It's the number one crop for pesticides in the US
- It's the number one crop for herbicides in the US
- Homeowners don't need licenses to use these chemicals  (farmers do!)
- Many of these chemicals end up in landfills and waterways.. and eventually in our groundwater and oceans.
- A gas-powered mower emits as much pollution per hour as 11 cars.
- Most common lawn grasses are not native to North America.
- With 85 million home lawns and over 16,000 golf courses, you have close to 50 million acres of cultivated turf in America.

James, thank you for that.  Yes, I have done quite a bit, and I've had many garden clubs reach out to me and ask for tours.  Just last week, I gave three or four tours; one group consisted of at least thirty people, so there is interest out there and people want to be or are becoming educated on better gardening practices.

There is a quiet revolution brewing, especially being people are also starting to eat better and are taking to heart the saying, "You are what you eat." After having supply chains so disrupted during Covid, prices of groceries sky-rocketing and artificial everything being put into what is sold as food, say nothing of soil depletion, bird flu or even just the love of birds and butterflies, people are wanting better. The lady across the street, although she still has all lawn, is raising chickens.

Getting rid of some lawn and growing your own is having a moment.  I try to live by example--this is a big reason why I planted out the entire swath in front butting right up to the sidewalk where people pass every day.  I constantly see people stop and point--usually at all of the strawberries or the asparagus but as the apple trees grow along with the persimmons, medlars and paw paws, I bet there will be a whole new discovery.  A lot of people have said to me that they never thought of growing asparagus/strawberries/mushrooms/rhubarb/figs etc. until they saw mine.  In the spring, I offer strawberry runners, I bring extra fruit to the food shelf and give away elderberry and rhubarb starts.  As I talk with neighbors, I have them taste serviceberries and offer them some suckers to plant.  They just need to start growing something and see that they are able...it's an addictive hobby for sure. I just try to give them a little nudge by offering what I can for free.

The pic I've included is from when the garden was just a year or two old.  You can't see the strawberries that covered the ground or the fruit trees planted because they always come as sticks and take a while to grow.  It was a very conscious decision to plant recognizable flowers by the sidewalk because of dogs, curb appeal and attracting beneficial insects. Right now, the asparagus has ferned out and is 8' tall, but it's behind the Regent serviceberries which are planted the entire length and help support the fronds from tipping over.  I now use mulched leaves and raw wood chips, but I was getting ready for Charlie Nardozzi to come over to see it, so I used up some purchased mulch.

Beautiful.. love your variety!  We practice your same method (Live by example!) and give away free produce.. on a table we put by the sidewalk.  Since transforming our new home (8 years now) from absolutely "no landscaping" into a manicured jungle, we also have people taking photos, asking questions and now nearby neighbors following suit and reducing their lawn.  Who said that "keeping up with the Jones'" can't be a positive thing!  

Barbara Simoes wrote:James, thank you for that.  Yes, I have done quite a bit, and I've had many garden clubs reach out to me and ask for tours.  Just last week, I gave three or four tours; one group consisted of at least thirty people, so there is interest out there and people want to be or are becoming educated on better gardening practices.

There is a quiet revolution brewing, especially being people are also starting to eat better and are taking to heart the saying, "You are what you eat." After having supply chains so disrupted during Covid, prices of groceries sky-rocketing and artificial everything being put into what is sold as food, say nothing of soil depletion, bird flu or even just the love of birds and butterflies, people are wanting better. The lady across the street, although she still has all lawn, is raising chickens.

Getting rid of some lawn and growing your own is having a moment.  I try to live by example--this is a big reason why I planted out the entire swath in front butting right up to the sidewalk where people pass every day.  I constantly see people stop and point--usually at all of the strawberries or the asparagus but as the apple trees grow along with the persimmons, medlars and paw paws, I bet there will be a whole new discovery.  A lot of people have said to me that they never thought of growing asparagus/strawberries/mushrooms/rhubarb/figs etc. until they saw mine.  In the spring, I offer strawberry runners, I bring extra fruit to the food shelf and give away elderberry and rhubarb starts.  As I talk with neighbors, I have them taste serviceberries and offer them some suckers to plant.  They just need to start growing something and see that they are able...it's an addictive hobby for sure. I just try to give them a little nudge by offering what I can for free.

The pic I've included is from when the garden was just a year or two old.  You can't see the strawberries that covered the ground or the fruit trees planted because they always come as sticks and take a while to grow.  It was a very conscious decision to plant recognizable flowers by the sidewalk because of dogs, curb appeal and attracting beneficial insects. Right now, the asparagus has ferned out and is 8' tall, but it's behind the Regent serviceberries which are planted the entire length and help support the fronds from tipping over.  I now use mulched leaves and raw wood chips, but I was getting ready for Charlie Nardozzi, to come over to see it, so I used up some purchased mulch.

If you're not ready to start over or completely replace a traditional lawn, there are ways to limit the maintenance needed.

Various companies sell low/mow grass seed mixes or native wildflower lawn mixes which require no mowing. I use low/no mow seed mix and my favorite: volunteer moss. Requires no maintenance, easy to walk on, etc. If the idea is to have something green/soft to walk on and that critters love, there are alternatives.

https://www.vermontwildflowerfarm.com/collections/grass-seed-mixes

I have a serrated kitchen knife that I use for sickling that works well, about nine inches the blade, fine serration. I was given a real sickle but lost it harvesting cattails. Somehow I have never really lost that knife though, and it serves excellently for all sorts of cutting. I actually tried mowing with a hatchet yesterday and it worked! Not the most efficient though.

I have a scythe but tend to use it for coarser plants. It is inconsistent for cutting grasses; it might be the sharpness, or my technique.

Some tree cover will help with keeping ground open because the trees take the sunlight, leaving less for grass and ruderal weeds thus less cutting effort, and better water retention and shade. Not Norway maple though—those you plant if you want to turn a place into deep dark forest. Willow could be very good for this, or birch, perhaps ash, trees with fine leaves that don’t smother grass. There is many an old weeping willow planted long ago that gives a pleasant shade and a grassy spot for sitting down. I notice also that butternuts selectively inhibit the goldenrod and encourage the brome grass in the meadow; just underneath them brome grows happily and no goldenrod. Black walnuts may be similar.