Do you wish you could turn your lawn into a low-maintenance haven where you hardly need to mow it?

How about a garden where you don’t have to fight against weeds?

It’s possible to get an effortless garden with different types of plants and gravel. In this article, you’ll receive 11 tips to transform your garden from a lot of work to a low-maintenance backyard.

Unless you want to pave over your lawn—and maybe you do—it’s unrealistic to expect not to do anything with it. Instead of converting your lawn into a parking lot, you can install ground covers to replace your lawn grass. Ground covers are verdant, slow growing and hardly need any maintenance.

Some ground covers also have small blossoms or oils that when stepped on release a heady fragrance.

Here are 11 Exchange options for durable ground covers that don’t require mowing!

1. Selliera Microphylla: A native of New Zealand, selliera microphylla is a no-mow ground cover. It looks like lawn grass, but on closer inspection, it’s a succulent. Selliera microphylla needs to be continuously damp and planted in semi-shade. It’s also known as mountain selliera.

2. Mercury Bay Weed: Another native creeper, mercury bay weed (Dichondra repens) does well in some lawns. You can plant with seed or root cuttings. It’s prone to powdery mildew in the summer when humidity levels are high. You may be lucky enough to have it growing naturally in your garden.

3. Dichondra brevifiola Buchanan: This groundcover is easy to grow from seed or root pieces. It fares better than mercury bay weed as a lawn cover. It tolerates poorly drained, but fertile soil, and it grows in full sun.

4. Fragrant Thyme: In New Zealand, you have many choices of thyme to choose from as a ground cover for your lawn. White thyme, for instance, is a great creeper. It stays low to the ground, doesn’t require a lot of mowing and gives you fragrant white blossoms that leave off their oils when mowed or stepped on.

5. Corsican Mint: An excellent ground cover, Corsican mint has tiny leaves. It grows well as a lawn substitute. It likes well-drained soils and sunshine. And when you mow it or walk over it, you’re treated to a minty scent.

6. Native Pratia Angulata: This ground cover will grow to 10cm x 2m. It’s also called lobelia angulate. It’s a pretty ground cover that produces white flowers in spring and red berries in the fall.

7. Blechnun Penna-Marina: This fern is a native of New Zealand. Another low-growing, easy-to-take care of plant provides dense leaves and spreads throughout your lawn via the plant’s rhizomes.

8. Gravel Garden: A gravel garden is another alternative to a typical Kiwi garden. Instead of lawn grass, your lawn has a thick layer of gravel added to it. Gravel does a great job of keeping weeds out of your garden. Better yet, you won’t need to mow it. Drought-friendly plants are planted in the gravel. They need some extra tender loving care for the first two years. In the third year, you can leave them alone, and they’ll survive.

9. Artificial Turf: Astroturf, fake grass, call it what you will. It’s the ultimate in a no-mow lawn. You replace your turfgrass with fake grass. When the sun beats down on artificial turf, it does get pretty hot to the feet. But the only maintenance needed includes hosing off pet waste and using a leaf blower to remove debris. No weed control and no fertilizing needed.

10. Perennials: Spruce up your flowerbeds with perennials. You get more return on investment than annuals because perennials come back every year. Plus, you cut down on garden maintenance by planting native perennial flowers. Native perennials are even better because they can survive drought conditions, and other weather stresses better than non-natives.

11. Stone Mulch: Skip natural mulch for stone mulch. Gravel mulch keeps weeds from popping up, provides a low-maintenance alternative and gives colour to your backyard landscape. Plus, stone doesn’t break down or need to be replaced twice a year.

Indeed, you’re not required to have a typical grass lawn in your garden. Instead, exchange your lawn grass into one of the 11 options above to give you more time to dedicate to your weekend.

If you still want to keep your lawn grass, you can skip the mow. Instead, call your local Crewcut to provide you with a lawn care service. Call us today at 0800 800 286 or fill out our contact form.

At Crewcut, we service the following New Zealand regions: Auckland, Bay of Islands, Christchurch, Dargaville, Franklin, Hawkes Bay, Hokianga, Hutt Valley, Kapiti, Manawatu, Nelson, New Plymouth, Otago, Rodney, Rotorua, Taupo, Tauranga, Timaru, Waikato, Wanganui and Wellington.