I'm working on it but I can only do a little at a time. We bought our house December 05 and there was not any landscaping. There was grass and lots of my "mystery plant". I work full time so I am not able to spend days at a time working on it so it's slow going. Here is one area that I've been working on. I hand dug all of the grass out and then covered the dirt/sand with grass clippings and then a thick layer of newspaper. Wet it down well and put down a 2"-3" layer of shredded mulch. As I've acquired plants I just move the mulch to the side, dig a hole, fill with good garden soil and plant. It's coming along nicely. I'm also working on other areas as time allows. Mostly I've started at the fence and worked in. In the areas that I remove the grass I dump grass clippings. It's amazing how quickly they amend the sand! Slowly but surely.

Here most of the grass is removed and you can see I left some of the "mystery plant". It was in clumps completly surrounding the house. LOL!:

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This is the entrance to the area above. I had de-grassed and planted this last spring:

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And here is a photo taken this weekend. It's definitely a work in progress. It's a small area and I want to put a trellis in the entrance. This is "Sarah's Secret Garden". Sarah is my DGD and we are working on a butterfly garden. I plan on making a bench, birdbath and some pretty stepping stones as time allows.

Betsy

I have no grass and in addition to your list, I use very low maintenance ground covers.

Betsy, I love your secret garden. That is really nice. It is fun to see how it starts to develop. Mine seems like it is just starting to take shape since last summer.

minibum, what ground covers are you using and do any of them like poor soil and full sun. I have a drain field in the front yard so I can't plant trees with deep roots for shade.

Pat

Instead of "de-grassing" I like to call it "Sodocide" hehe. I committed sodocide at my last house...a very large area between the house and lake. I wanted it all native landscaping. I had a landscaper draw a design for me and I improvised from there. There were no HOA involved here so no worries about that. I was looking for some pictues but I don't have any on my computer now. I did have a flagstone area put in the center which I eventually used as a fire pit with sitting area and it had paths running off that center area. It was getting kind of over grown by the time I sold the property but that was what I was looking for. I'm afraid the new owner will put sod back in! Duh! Can you say nematodes?

I am always taking out more grass. The sides of my house has none at all. In the front I have a circle of grass around the berm. On the other side of the side walk I have a berm with plants and trees also. And the same on the other side of the driveway. I don't have an HOA. :o)

Wow,

I had a little nook like that at the house in Orlando(Apopka. Loved living in that little town just because of all the nurseries and greenhouses.) I would set up my greenhouse there in the fall to overwinter baby bananas, heliconia, gingers and start seeds. I stored pots etc there other times. Was like a potting area.

There was grass there too in the beginning and it didn't stay long.

Tropicalfreak

I find since I have been doing this that I have started looking at things like gnomes and other decorative goodies with new appreciation:) I am pretty sure I won't start making things out of old tires although I have been hanging out in the Garden Junk forum:) I do want some concrete statues, and more bird bathes.

pat

i recently installed some of those micro sprinklers (mister lawn from LOWES) in my veg garden -- they are very very easy to install (really ingenious system -- no tools but one!), cheap, and efficient in watering exactly where you want it, and you can set every nozzle to spray just the right amount of water -- lots for roses, say, and not much for pentas. the whole system is easily expanded and work well with timers.

i bring this up b/c, for me, the ease & efficiency of the micro system makes big mulch beds more feasible. i have a large mulch bed in the front of my house, but my gripe about it has been that i still have to water it by hand (too much work, and not possible when i travel) or with a hose-end sprinkler during dry spells, and it really didn't seem much less water-intensive then my st aug lawn (which is growing in high shade and has very low water needs).

but this micro system means that i can easily & unobtrusively run the irrigation to my mulch beds, plant some roses and pretty flowers, and still lower my watering needs. since it only waters where you want it to, i can mix up xeriscaping plants with water-hogs in the same bed for a nice effect.

the system also easily adaptable to containers, so i can add some of those to the mulch bed for variety and instant wow.

anyway, i guess my point was -- mulch beds with micro sprinklers are the way to go, imho.

Ill Mannered, that's good to know. I have the same problem with one of my large mulched beds in the back.

Ill Mannered,

I have always thought that the micro sprinklers would be too hard to set up? I guess it attaches to your hose and you would have to unattach it if you wanted to use your hose without it? I am watering every day and it sure would be nice not to have to do that.

Laura1, I like "sodocide" much better than de-grassing. I think we should ask to start a Sodocide Forum!

Pat

I've been usning micro irriagtion for years and I do it all myself. That means it has to be easy! I have my potted roses on one line and the roses in the bed on another line. I have it on a timer but in the winter I just by pass the timer and start it manually as needed. If we ever start getting regular rain I may turn it off then. When I move (late july/or aug) I will take my potted roses and yank up the micro irrigation and take it with me!

pat,
you can buy a manifold for a few dollars -- essentially a splitter that takes one bib and makes it into 4 (or 2 or 6). so you can have your microsprinkler and hose on the same spigot.

the system uses a main line (1" black pvc flexible tubing) and then feeder tubes (smaller 1/4" flex tubing). you can bury all of it very easily -- i've just used my fingers to dig a shallow trench, then mulch over the top of it. it hides the whole system perfectly in just a few minutes. the only thing that's visible are the plastic stakes that hold the nozzles -- unobtrusive.

both kinds of tubing are sold bulk -- i can't remember how much, but 100' of mainline tubing didn't cost much, maybe $10-15. the smaller feeder tubes are likewise inexpensive. then you just buy nozzles and stakes as a set -- as many as you need. they're a couple bucks each.

i recommend getting the kit -- $30 and enough to do a medium sized bed. from there, you can expand bit by bit. i plan on doing my entire rose bed in july, when i'm back from my research trips.

Bordering the yard with tough native shrubs can reduce water needs. It does shrink the size of your yard, but it creates a living fence, a haven for birds, and they're very low maintenance. They also give nice structure to the garden. Another option if you have room is to group the shrubs in islands.

Meadows--areas of native grasses with wildflowers mixed in--dont' need as much water as St. Augustine--but I've found in my dry sand they do need a bit of water during the dryest times to look their best.

I use the variegated form of wandering jew (not yet on the invasives list, but the green version is), and it makes a great solid living mulch in shady areas. Trailing lantana (also not invasive) works okay, so long as I trim it back now and then. Dune sunflowers work well--but are semiperennials and will have to be torn out from time to time--though it reseeds like crazy, so you never have to plant again.

The much-used but dependable dwarf ilex vomitoria can be used in all the ways that box is further north. It has very low water needs. Africann iris needs no irrigation in my yard.

And finally, the old bahia grass lawn needs much less water and fertilizer than St. Augustine. In fact my small front lawn is one of the most drought tolerant areas in my yard. The key is cutting it regulary and HIGH--four inches.

I use all of the above in part because they let me focus my energy, mulch, compost, water, and fertilzer on the vegetable garden, containers, and other high input areas.

Bill

I'm loving all this info! I have seen Ill's drip irrigation set up and can't wait to get it set up in my OGR bed, in particular. We are in the process of replacing nearly all of our grass with brick pathways, large beds, and before too much longer, a big pond. I will leave a small crescent of grass in the back for the dogs for awhile. It might go, too, eventually, and be replaced by groundcover.

In the main portion of the front yard, shade from our oaks has killed almost all of the sod left by the previous owners, and we have allowed it to happen. That's where I want to dump my first load of mushroom compost to do a large berm bed. It will be bordered by mulch and stepping stone paths, I believe. Or more brick. There will be no grass there at all.

I'm considering leaving another small crescent of grass along the front of our side yard, but the rest of that area will be a formally laid out garden, surrounded by a low fence, and divided into beds by criss-crossing brick paths. The entry will be a rose covered trellis on each end, and it will have the feel of a large herb garden, though I'll be growing lots of different things in the beds.

So eventually, I will only have two very small areas of lawn, and even those might not be permanent. We intend to revamp the current irrigation system to take care of the beds, and I definitely want to install drip irrigation wherever feasible. I was very impressed with Ill's layout.

And Bill's grassy meadow area with the wildflowers was just super cool. I'm looking for places to incorporate that idea, too. It's perfect for birds and butterflies, would be very low maintenace and low water, too.

I wish all homeowners were thinking along these lines, or were at least ALLOWED to consider these things in their communities.

Marcia

Dune sunflower, Mimosa, and low-growing lantanas became most of my lawn after 2 years of going through such drought!

When the grass would die back these plants were going STRONG!

Also consider planting some areas with coontie, muhly grass, gaillardia (it will spread by seed) twinflower and even dwarf chenille plant. Twinflower became one of my favorite, blooming, native groundcovers under my rosebushes (especially the shrub "Belinda's Dream"!)

I have a big corner lot and hate the St. Augustine grass that came with the house-- the lawn gets eaten by bugs all the time and looks horrible, and I don't want to irrigate during droughts. One large section has been taken over by some other kind of grass-- bermuda, maybe? but it looks okay-- it's green. I've started trying to plant bahia grass seed in bare patches but want to get rid of some of the sections of lawn entirely-- I just have to figure out how to landscape it.

What's the best way to get rid of big sections of remaining grass-- do I need to rent a tiller, or is there some easier way to break it up so I can start landscaping and planting?

I found this great website below-- looks like it has some ideas

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida-friendly landscaping

That is an interesting site zarbiya except when I asked for sun-loving groundcovers it gave me a list of some plants that I know just can't hack full sun. I am surprised at home many sites list plants as full sun when they are anything but. It does break down plants/flowers/shrubs/ground covers,etc into lists which is pretty useful though.

I do know there is a machine of some type to remove the grass but I don't know what it is called.

What is everyone referring to when they say "dune sunflower?" Do you mean wedelia? ..and whatever it is, does it take a lot of sun?
Thanks!
pat

Pat, it is not Wedelia. I just planted some in full sun and it is doing great.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dune sunflower

Hey joanm,
thank for the info on the dune sunflower. I have posted over on the Fl.exchange for some. I think that might be a great addition to my front yard:)

Pat

Pat, we just used one of those machines last weekend...it's a sod cutter. Dennis brought it home from work so we could begin the paver project. It makes amazing quick work of removing sod.

IllMan-I have to check out that sprinkler system you mentioned. Do you remember the cost?

Betsy-BEAUTIFUL photos! It must be so fun to have your grand daughters interest in gardening with you. I know when Dennis' granddaughter was here from Chicago, I took her to get watering cans, trowel, visor and a garden apron. She and I had a blast watering, digging and watching butterflies. I wish she lived closer, I'd have her with me everyday in the garden! It's wonderful seeing a garden through a childs eyes.