There's been a lot of talk on the Internet about whether to have a lawn. It's an ecological desert, it takes a lot of fertilisers and effort to keep it looking pristine. There are lots of seemingly logical arguments against having a lawn. And I understand all of those arguments - I don't actually agree with them though.
After years of not having a lawn in my garden, I recently decided to put one in.
Where I have put the lawn used to be a great big flower bed and when I first put in this flower bed, it was lovely. It was full of colour, and I really enjoyed it the first few years it was like that, but then I started to feel a little bit restricted in the garden, a little bit closed in.
Finally, I realised that the reason was that there was nowhere to for the eye to rest in the garden. There was nowhere to pause. There was no negative space. As a garden designer I tell my clients all the time about balancing up positive and negative space and I realised I hadn't done that in my own garden. So, I cleared out some of the plants in the middle of the bed and a couple of weeks ago my husband and I put in a new lawn.
I can't tell you how much I love looking at it. It has transformed the way I see the space. It feels like the garden is complete now.
The crucial point is that I don't intend to keep this lawn as any sort of pristine space. It's not big enough for a start and I don't have the time or the inclination to start putting lots of chemicals on it, and aerating and clearing out moss and all of that. But the grass is healthy, it's growing really well. I intend to cut it sparingly and leave it reasonably long, and then also in the late summer to let it grow and flower.
This will mean that the lawn is a space not only for me to enjoy, but also for pollinators and insects and other wildlife to enjoy, and it will be a healthy addition to my garden.
Lawns don’t have to be pristine – they can be amazing, flowering wildlife havens, as well as family-friendly spaces. The picture below is of the stunning meadow at Ivycroft in Herefordshire – a wonderful showcase of combining formal flowerbeds with meadows and traditional cut grass lawns.
September is the perfect time to put in a lawn, whether you’re laying turf or sowing seed. If you’d like to do more with your garden, add more colour to your flower beds, create a wildlife pond, or build a seating area – get in touch and book a consultation today.