If you don’t have the time, space or energy levels for our lawn ideas, you don’t have to give up on your dream garden. There are plenty of grassless garden ideas to enjoy over the warmer months – hurrah!
From creating the perfect patio to delightful decking spaces, these garden ideas are perfect for those without the luxury of a lawn. After adopting one of these schemes, you’ll want to celebrate your lack of grass, and can sell or give away that mower or strimmer, freeing up space in the shed.
1. Lay extra-large patio tiles for quick coverage
Image credit: Joanna Henderson/Future PLC
For an efficient and modern way to cover your garden, turn to contemporary extra-large paving slabs. You will cover the ground fast, with minimal gaps between where weeds might grow.
2. Bed a container garden in gravel
You don’t need a long rolling lawn to achieve that archetypal English country garden look – this beautiful area features a variety of different flowers in pots to give the space that well-tended and established feel. Set against the stone of this rustic home and a half-hidden garden gate, we can’t get enough of this pretty, almost secret grassless garden idea.
3. Lay shingle for a beach feel
Image credit: Future PLC
Missing your days at the seaside? Create a perennial beach feel with a shingle landscape and add coastal features – think deck chairs as seating and suitable planting. Gardening expert David Domoney suggests rosemary, sea kale and cabbage palms, among others.
4. Deck across your garden
If a small garden is something you’re struggling with, opt for easy to care for decking rather than a cramped lawn – doing away with the mower will allow you more usable space after all! A few potted plants, a canopy for shade, bunting and a range of seating is all you need!
Related: Garden decking ideas and designs for plots both large and small
5. Pave your way
Image credit: Future PLC
If you want to take a patio further, run limestone paving slabs through the garden, with paths leading to individual areas for dining, sunbathing and pottering with plants. Break up the landscaping with flowerbeds to soften the look.
6. Soften the ground with wood chippings
Image credit: Future PLC
Wood chippings are a very natural and forgiving surface as an alternative to lawn. It’s a great choice if you have children and is unlikely to attract weeds, reducing the maintenance further.
7. Combine paving with living walls
Image credit: Robert Sanderson
Flip the idea of greenery on its head by creating boundaries – usually brick walls or wooden fences – of climbing plants and wall-mounted shrubs. Then use hard landscaping in place of turf. For a strong look, also exchange traditional blooms for colour introduced by way of bright furniture.
Related: How to make a living plant wall
8. Mix materials with water features
Image credit: Future PLC
If an endless expanse of paving or decking doesn’t appeal, why not break things up with an ornamental bed created with gravel, and shallow trenches of water. Bring your landscaping to life with colour on your garden walls. The brighter and bolder the better. Really go to town and splash your personality about – it’s pretty much the one space in your home where anything goes.
9. Widen your borders
Image credit: Future PLC
Losing a lawn doesn’t have to mean sacrificing greenery. Take your borders deep across the width of your garden, leaving small channels of moss or wood chipping so you are able to easily tend to your plants and shrubs without damaging leaves and blooms. Or create a wide channel of raised borders, with gravel paths for access either side.
10. Mix decking and gravel
Image credit: Future PLC
Hard landscaping can leave some feeling a little cold, so choose your materials widely. Both timber decking and gravel have a warmer feel that will soften a garden without grass – as do the curved lines used here to separate them.
11. Cheat with artificial grass
Read more: Artificial grass – everything you need to know about buying and laying a low-maintenance faux lawn
Swap the lawn mower for a vacuum cleaner – yes, a vacuum cleaner – and lay artificial grass. It gives the same look as grass, obviously, but is far less demanding of your time. Faux needn’t look fake, either. The latest designs are far more realistic than you might imagine. Plasticky imitation grass is a thing of the past.
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