How to Convert Your Lawn Into a Meadow
Did you know there are over 40 million acres of lawn in this country, and that 85% of the land east of the Mississippi is privately owned? YOU can be part of the solution!
Step 1
Evaluate your yard
Take an objective look at your property.
Where are the existing lawn areas?
How much of that area do you regularly use for outdoor recreation?
Could you re-purpose the perimeter or the back area without impacting the way you use your yard?
Any successful meadow planting will require at least five hours of direct sun. Beyond supporting pollinators, there are many advantages to establishing an area of meadow: increased carbon sequestration, preventing storm water runoff, decreased reliance on the water, fertilizer, and chemical weed treatments.
Once established, a meadow requires very little care and greatly enhances the natural beauty of your property!
Step 2
Remove the turf grass
There are three ways to remove the existing lawn:
1) manual removal - can be done by renting a renting a sod cutter, or if the area is not too large, with a shovel. (NOTE: you can hire day laborers through Neighbors Link in Mount Kisco for $15-20/hr. You provide transportation and lunch.) This method gives you the advantage of being able to seed right away, but the soil disturbance will encourage weed growth.
2) by smothering - cover the area with dark plastic, landscape fabric, a tarp, multiple layers of newspaper or cardboard topped with mulch for an entire growing season (spring through fall). If you use a tarp, consider removing it every 4-6 weeks until some weed seeds germinate and then cover it up again. Very effective, but takes an entire season.
3) by applying herbicides - not recommended
Step 3
Seed & Mow
If you follow one piece of advice from this page, it is this: don’t skimp on wildflower seed. Buying cheap wildflower seed full of showy annuals will mean your meadow will not last more than 1-2 years. Meadows seeded with a combination of annuals, short and long lived perennials, and grasses will only get better each year as more plants get established. We recommend these mixes from Ernst Conservation Seed - one with grasses and one without.
Showy Northeast Native Wildflower Mix
Showy Northeast Native Wildflower & Grass Mix
Spread in fall or spring (spring if it’s a slope). For the first year, keep it mowed to 6” or the highest setting on your mower, and do not let the weeds produce any seeds. You may not get many flowers the first year. For year 2 and beyond, let it grow! Clip (don’t dig) any weeds before they go to seed.
Step 4
Add Plugs (optional)
If waiting 2-3 years for some perennials to flower is too long for you, consider adding landscape plugs in the fall. This is particulary effective with some of the slower growing perennials like baptisia, senna, and nodding onion. Many nurseries that produce native plugs only sell wholesale but you can find plugs at Prairie Moon at certain times of the year, and they are often included in the Native Plant Center’s pre-order sale in February.
Wild Gardens Nursery occasionally has plug-sized plants for sale, so be sure to add yourself to our mailing list at the bottom of this page if you want to be notified.
Step 5
Enjoy!
After the first year or two, your meadow will be well established. Each year you will see new species emerge. All summer long the meadow will be full of butterflies and dragonflies, and goldfinches will flit from tall stem to tall stem in the fall, looking for seeds to eat. You may want to add diversity through the purchase of specific seed packets that are suitable for your meadow conditions. You can also collect seeds to share with friends and neighbors, or redistribute them in areas of the meadow with bare soil. There’s nothing better than wandering through your new meadow like a detective, waiting to see what will come up. You may even be surprised by a few native volunteers like white snakeroot, goldenrod, cinquefoil, or fleabane.
Additional Reading:
In Lawns Into Meadows, landscape designer Owen Wormser makes a case for the power and generosity of meadows. In a world where lawns have wreaked havoc on our natural ecosystems, meadows offer a compelling solution. They establish wildlife and pollinator habitats. They’re low-maintenance and low-cost. They have a built-in resilience that helps them weather climate extremes, and they can draw down and store far more carbon dioxide than any manicured lawn. They’re also beautiful, all year round. Owen describes how to plant an organic meadow that’s right for your site, whether it’s a yard, community garden, or tired city lot. He shares advice on preparing your plot, coming up with the right design, and planting―all without using synthetic chemicals. He passes along tips on building support in neighborhoods where a tidy lawn is the standard. Owen also profiles twenty-one starter grasses and flowers for beginning meadow-makers, and offers guidance on how to grow each one. To illuminate the many joys of meadow-building, Owen draws on his own stories, including how growing up off the grid in northern Maine, with no electricity or plumbing, prepared him for his work. The book, part how-to guide and part memoir, is for environmentalists and climate activists, gardeners and non-gardeners alike. Lawns Into Meadows is part of Stone Pier Press’s Citizen Gardening series, which teaches readers how to grow food and garden in ways that are good for the planet.