Alternatives to grass for your lawn

Instead of planting lawn grass like every other shmuck on your street, you could break conventions and go with something a little less seen: clover. Most lawns have clover, but the clover is dominated - and literally strangled out of existence - by the overbearing presence of grass. So, if your thinking of an alternative to grass, an alternative that I might add requires less yard work and blossoms small flowers, I would go with clover. Not to mention, by having your own soft, plush lawn of clover, there would be no more worrying about itchy grass or exacerbating your allergies!

Clover is a nitrogen fixer. Clover absorbs nitrogen from the air and brings it into the soil. From there the nitrogen is utilised by naturally occurring nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil, which cluster themselves around the roots of plants - particularly clover - thusly increasing the health of your lawn and soil - all without expensive fertilisers or the use of comparable products. Flower beds, gardens and every other plant will visibly benefit from clover. Furthermore, clover has both longer and deeper roots than grass, which not only increases the aeration potential, but keeps the clover firmly planted in the soil (in other words, clover is much harder to tear up than grass - rain or shine). So go ahead and forget the landscaping service's number - you won't need it anymore.

Perhaps the final advantage to clover is its affect on lawn maintenance. As anyone who has ever cut grass has likely noticed when stumbling upon a patch of clover, no matter how high your grass is, the clover is still low and nestled near the ground. Unlike grass, which grows more vertical, clover grows more horizontally and sprawls out - albeit slowly. That said, the greatest advantage to clover is only having to cut your grass once a month; that, and increasing your chances to find a four-leaf clover.

Although I personally wouldn't want my backyard to look like the 50 yard line of some football field without lines, artificial options to the traditional lawn of grass are becoming increasingly popular. In fact, there are a myriad of companies that offer tasteful turf alternatives to natural grass. The artificial turf comes in a variety of shades, from dark greenish-blue to a light, vibrant green. Your "grass" will always been verdant, even during a drought, underneath of all that winter snow or from your continued neglect.

Adding to the benefits of a onetime "installation" of artificial turf is the lack of the distinct needs of ordinary lawns: there is no need to water your grass, cut it or perform any other form of maintenance. But there are downsides: planting trees or making flower gardens, for example, is nearly impossible without having to tear up tracts, cut them and lay them back down in custom configurations - a painstaking process. So, unless you live in a hot, arid place, like Arizona or Las Vegas - where water bills can't support the need to routinely water your grass - this is likely impractical and kind of silly.