We have half-a-dozen hundred-year-oaks in our front yard in Michigan. A year ago an arborist told us that our lawn was not healthy for the trees. The trees shade the grass, which starts to struggle, which makes you want to use fertilizer and pesticides, which hurts the trees, etc. Therefore, we are letting the lawn go back to nature by not mowing. The oak leaves and twigs are starting to accumulate and the grass is dying out, which seems fine to us. The old oaks are far more precious than a manicured lawn. We would be interested in hearing your perspectives on this situation. Is there anything that we should or should not do to hasten or enhance this process? Would wood chips help? We have other areas of woodland with a natural forest floor of decayed leaves, tufts of grass, understory plants, etc. That seems like a fine idea for our front "lawn", too. Thanks for any input.
