G'bye Lawn: Making a Sustainable Prairie Garden

For years my wife and I have wanted to remove our front lawn and replace it with a prairie garden that increases water penetration, soil fertility, and helps pollinating insects. We're up against suburban dogma that says lawn is king -- we have neighbors that mow 3x a week, hire TruGreen, trim lawn with scissors, and water every morning with auto sprinklers. But we're burning to make a difference.

We want to set a better example and use our space to teach and inspire in as many ways as we can. But of course, we need help to make it happen -- we need you to believe in us, believe in this sort of thing in our neighborhood, city, and across the country. If our project doesn't get fully funded by September 14 it won't happen. Can you help us? Will you spread the word? Here's the link to our Indiegogo campaign.

Our strategy is to get the garden in as fast as possible so any "messy" transition or years of slow building won't rile up the neighbors. We have a wide 6' swath of lawn we'll keep as a pathway through the 600' garden. We'll use plants that get less than 3-4' tall, and plants nearest the driveway, curb, and property line, will be 1-2' tall at most. I'll source my plugs from a local nonprofit prairie nursery who uses many local genotype seeds. There will be a sign saying what the garden is, why it is, and what it's doing for water, soil, and wildlife. We're ready! Can you feel it?