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Why Moss is the New Grass

thedailygreen.com — With water shortages criss-crossing the nation and causing water restrictions during summer months, wouldn't it be great to have a lush, thick, green lawn that doesn't need to be watered or mowed, and doesn't allow weeds to penetrate? You can; It's called MOSS. I speak from experience, as my lawn is mostly moss. I love the stuff!

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  • mountainsurfer, on 05/01/2008, -1/+10Seriously, anyone with a shaded lawn should encourage the growth of drought-tolerant moss. Much of my backyard is covered in it and during mid-summer when the rest of my lawn is dirt-brown, the part covered in moss is lush and bright green. No watering. No cutting. No weeding.
  • mountainsurfer, on 05/01/2008, -1/+6Watch out for areas that tend to retain water though, such as natural dips / bowls in the landscape. Moss is great until it gets muddy out. Then again, who plays in the lawn when it's raining that hard anyway?
  • khunkwai, on 05/01/2008, -0/+7Does it cut up at all from wear and tear from kids and animals or is it deep rooted ?
    • chewbacca77, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2I think it would depend on the moss and the grass you're talking about, but from my experience, it would get torn up. Some moss is not nearly as hardy as grass when it comes to physical abuse.
  • mountainsurfer, on 05/01/2008, -0/+7Kunkwai - I don't have any kids but I do have two dogs and they end up killing my grass long before they kill the mossy stuff. I'm not sure if it's actually moss; it's more like a low-growing fern that spreads like a carpet. At any rate, I'm trying to let it take over my entire lawn because it sucks to try to grow grass in Denver without sprinklers and fertilizer.
    • MaLaCoiD, on 05/01/2008, -0/+10Any chance we could get a picture of what you're talking about? I live in Clearfield, UT and would love to use moss instead of grass.
    • zephyr42, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1It sucks growing grass in CO period.
  • jjive, on 05/02/2008, -12/+3Enough already about your girlfriends crouch, what about the environment?
  • fhernand, on 05/02/2008, -2/+4who else made a mental image of a moss joint after reading the title?
  • foxhaze, on 05/02/2008, -3/+3I prefer to set my grass on fire. Scorched earth, and such.
    • Gabberwok, on 05/02/2008, -0/+4Ned: Excuse me, neighbor. I couldn't help but notice, you picked pretty much all of my flowers!
      Homer: Can't make a float without flowers.
      Ned: Oh, sure. But did you have to salt the earth so nothing would ever grow again?
      Homer: Heh-heh, heh-heh ... yeah.
  • diggstown, on 05/02/2008, -4/+2This is such a bad idea.

    Not only will moss not grow in sunny areas, but have you seen the prices on the referenced Moss Acres website? Assume you have a standard 1/2 acre. That's 21780 square feet. Now let's assume that 2/3 of that property needs a lawn. That's 14520 square feet of moss you'd have to buy. You'd have to buy 290 x 50 square feet packages of Fern Moss to cover that. With the 10% discount they're offering for over 1000 square feet and not even including shipping charges, creating a moss lawn would cost you 290 * $229 * .9 = $59,769!

    I'll stick with grass, thanks.
  • beabis, on 05/02/2008, -2/+3There are several commercial mixes of no-mow grass and plants for lawns. Anyone who is planting a new lawn would be insane and immoral to plant ordinary grass in this era of scarce water and fuel. The whole lawn idiotic lawn care treadmill was invented by politicians to to keep the masses occupied while they have their way with our tax dollars.
  • RoroCo, on 05/02/2008, -0/+6If you are looking for a good method to start a moss lawn:

    1) Remove all grass from your yard
    2) Water thoroughly for the next couple of days.
    3) Compact the ground until firm (rent a compactor)
    4) Finally, plant these all around and wait for the growth (http://tinyurl.com/6yurgw)
    5) ENJOY!
    • insomniac8400, on 05/02/2008, -2/+1You forgot one.
      6) Put a tent over the whole lawn, or watch it die.
  • Boagrius, on 05/02/2008, -1/+0Is it just me or are all of the women on that homepage incredibly HOT!!!!?!?!?
  • redcolumbine, on 05/02/2008, -0/+3If your area is too dry and too sunny for moss, check with a local nursery for a more suitable no-mow mix. Sometimes a combination of different plants makes for healthier turf. Quit wasting energy on mowing the lawn and money on lawn chemicals - tailor your yard to your climate!
  • AlbinoRaven, on 05/02/2008, -0/+4I have a combo of lichens, moss and clover int he back. No mow, no watering and really comfortable to walk on barefoot. Keeps the other weeds out as well, the lichens strangle everything that pops up except the clover and the moss fills in the spaces.

    Moss and clover are spore based btw so if you have allergies or don't want it to take over the neighbourhood you might want to think about that before hand. Because once you have moss/clover growing, you are never getting rid of it unless you use some serious back labour to do so.
  • maddvibe, on 05/02/2008, -0/+3Very nice! Don't know how well that would are out here in the desert. We have plenty of our own native plants that do great instead of growing grass though. :)
  • Gabberwok, on 05/02/2008, -0/+5I live in a city. What is this "grass" of which you speak?
    • anewname, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2It's kinda like what they use in the stadium, but not as nice.
      • TJ11240, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1And its alive, and gets taller and *****.
  • Arcesius, on 05/02/2008, -2/+2Moss ***** RULES!! Wooooo moss!!!!
  • talonstriker, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Can you smoke these?
  • Falc, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1sooooooo.... all that and nowhere is the link to the nytime article???
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/garden/01moss.ht ...
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