How do I draw the line between moss - lawn?

19 years ago

The south side of my property is treed and part lawn/part moss.

The part adjacent to the house is strictly moss and I love it.

I am, however, indecisive about what to do in the back yard. I noticed some areas of the backyard lawn need to be reseeded. I was trying to decide how much to reseed when I saw how much of the south side backyard (the treed part) is moss or dirt with hardly any lawn. I am currently trying to figure out where to draw the line-- to make one side of the backyard moss and the other side all grass.

The moss is beautiful, but I'm afraid to relegate too much of the back yard to a moss garden because I might be biting off more than I can chew. Lately, I've been spending way too much time on the side of the house in my moss garden where I am obsessed with cleaning up the twig litter and pulling the lawn and weeds out of the moss. I'm afraid to commit to extending the moss garden to the back yard. I fear that as the season progresses, what looks like mostly moss and dirt now, will sprout a lot of lawn. That's what seems to have happened in past years. Possibly this happened because I put down lawn fertilizer, which I now know kills moss. If I don't put down lawn fertilizer, do you think I am still going to see a lot more lawn as the season progresses?

I am trying to decide where to draw the line so that I can know where to apply lawn fertilizer and reseed and where I should stop trying to grow lawn and shoot for a moss garden.

I worry about dealing with the moss side while it is in transition. I have heard that roundup kills lawn and weeds but not moss. Is that so?

How about crabgrass preventer (although it's a little late for this year)? Will crabgrass preventer prevent moss from growing?

Can I mow the grass and weeds growing within the moss to keep things under control until the moss is better established?

Before I get myself into too much trouble, I would appreciate any information that will help me decide where to draw the line and how to cope while the moss garden is getting better established.

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Comments (2)

judithjane
19 years ago
I have an area that I transitioned from lawn to moss over several years. The link below is to a photo of this area. Some advice that worked for me:
1. keep mowing during the transition. The weight of the mower compacts the soil which is good from the moss.
2. Don't aerate, lime, fertilize or reseed.
3. Yes, in the beginning, you'll spend time hand weeding, but once the moss takes over very little is required.
4. I had Chemlawn keep spraying the area with the weed treatment used on my lawn. Didn't hurt the moss and controlled the weeds, but not the grass. I used scissors to cut the grass to the roots. It eventually dies of starvation.
5. I use an electric leaf blower to keep the moss clean. I'd be dead without it since my moss garden is close to 1/2 of an acre.

Growing moss is more rewarding than growing lawn in the long run. Hope this encourages you to give it a try.
Happy gardening......jjane

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:602588}}
judithjane
19 years ago
Sorry the link didn't work try this one...jjane

Here is a link that might be useful: moss lawn
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