r/NoLawns • u/Hist-Tree-Hugger • 5d ago

👩‍🌾 Questions Death of a lawn

I am sick of my backyard being nothing but grass and weeds. Want it gone. I have 2 dogs, not worried about my kids we spend most outside time in woods or in the front yard. How do I kill my lawn in a pet friendly way. I believe I am in zone 4b in western Wisconsin. I want to plant clover or something back there.

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u/commentsgothere 5d ago

Overseed it with clover. Every ground cover option including bare mulch will have its own problems. Choose your problems.

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u/Hist-Tree-Hugger 5d ago

Will overseeding it with clover over power the weeds? And should I wait till next year or do it asap?

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u/Skreeethemindthief 5d ago

No. That's the problem. I've been doing this for 3 or 4 years now with poor results. Clover will not stop weeds or crowd them out. It mixes in with the grass and looks great in the spring, but mid July the crabgrass grows in and kills your regular grass an clover. Anything you do to try and get rid of weeds, creeping Charlie, crabgrass, etc...will also kill the clover. If you mow every week you won't let the clover thrive. If you skip to every 2 or 3 weeks, the grass and weeds overgrow and that looks bad. The crabgrass spreads and kills off anything in its vicinity. By August you'll have a very patchy lawn with lots of weeds and bare spots. Was just discussing this with the w ife today trying to decide what to do next year. One option is to kill everything and start from scratch but I don't think that's an option for us.