converting to a moss lawn

by Meredith
(Anchorage, Alaska)

Hi Doug,
My front yard lies on the north side of the house. I have rather huge and healthy spruce trees that further shade the property and ferns that grow to Amazonian proportions., and I have discovered that most of the lawn has moss and lichen growing under the (mostly) dead grass. Now, I really don't care what grows in my lawn, so long as it is green. Our seasons are way to short to not enjoy green when it is summer, so I am thinking that I could convert the mostly dead grass lawn into a lovely green moss covered lawn. Why fight it when that is what really wants to grow in my super shady yard? I have done some research, but can't seem to find out how to get rid of the grass that is there so I can just have the moss because most people seem to want to do the opposite thing. Do you have suggestions, and can you tell me some pros and cons of having a moss lawn? Thanks!

Doug says that moss lawns are dynamite landscaping in the right conditions - very attractive. However, they don't stand up to a lot of foot traffic. So if you walk around on moss, you'll kill it faster than if you walk around on turf.

But given the amount of shade you have, it does sound as if grass is struggling.

There are several ways to eliminate the grass. The first is just ignore it and the odds are the moss will grow nicly and slowly and surely choke it out. In other words, stop mowing (yes, it will look ugly) but the moss that's getting damaged by mowing won't and it will slowly outcompete the grass. This is the slow painful way to create a landscape.

The other option is to kill the grass. One way to do this is to put on a rubber glove - then a cloth glove over top of the rubber glove. Spray the rubber glove with an organic herbicide (there are a lot on the market now) and simply stroke the grass blades with the cloth glove. This will burn the grass down and give the moss a bit more of a chance to grow. An easier method is to tie a rag to the end of a hockey stick and soak the rag with the same organic herbicide. You then go out and brush the rag over the long grass (you stop mowing) and this kills the grass blades.

In either method, the grass dies where it has been hit by the herbicide but regrows. A few applications this summer should weaken most of that grass to the point where the shade, the moss and the winter should kill it pretty thoroughly.

The trick is in not hurting the moss while you're tying to whack the grass (the hockey stick is my favorite method of killing off tall plants while leaving shorter ones alive.) :-)

You moss lawn will grow as you eliminate the grass.