When I bought my house, my grass was a mess of thatch and weeds. My neighbors all thought I was insane letting it grow so tall every year before mowing, and for not hacking it down to the dirt like they do. The first few years I would let it overseed itself. Didn't take long to produce a healthy lawn with minimal effort. Now my neighbors tend to follow my lead on grass height. Their yards are coming in nicely, too.

The key isn't infrequent mowing, it's letting the grass grow tall, especially in the spring, before bringing it down. I mow just as often as others, just not as short. The article nicely lays out the reasons why one would do this.

Nature doesn't need hacking. It needs to be understood. Learn about the root systems of grass, and that stuff on top everyone seems to care about is simple.

> I mow just as often as others,

That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid! :)

(Thank you for your post though, interesting clarification on how that approach to lawn care works.)

Plant something other than grass. Seriously. I'm experimenting with yarrow in some problem areas on our property: a hot dry and sandy septic bed and some embankments with crappy soil. Yarrow can be mowed much less frequently, looks amazing (better than grass), grows on any soil, chokes out weeds, and doesn't need watering. For shady areas I'm having good results with periwinkle.

A quick search turns up warnings of periwinkle being an invasive species: http://www.canadiangardening.com/how-to/pests-and-diseases/t...

Seems like something that you might not necessarily want to introduce.

Periwinkle may be invasive but it's also easy to control, similar to English Ivy. It does great in shade and is an attractive option to plant (or allow to self-propagate) under large evergreens ... as an alternative to doing nothing and just having dead grass there like most people do.

I agree but it depends what you want the surface for. If you don't care about using it for outdoor stuff like sports, kids playing, picnics, etc., then ivy is totally the way to go. Periwinkle is nice. The ultimate in hardy and tenacious but also potentially invasive is English ivy. Not sure what to grow in warmer climates but visit a garden centre and you'll be set.

Artificial turf is increasingly popular in Australia due to water restrictions and water pricing, but even the modern stuff can be a bit ugly and often it gets really hot underfoot because of the dark rubber "soil" used.

Have to shake your head when you see people with artificial turf that has weeds sprouting through it too. Worst of both worlds - dorky looking surface, plus still get the weeds!

Maybe not the cheapest solution, but robotic lawn mowers are popular where I live.

maybe not the cheapest, but a rock/native plant lawn is probably one of the easiest, something like this: http://img2-2.timeinc.net/toh/0708_watersmart/watersmart.jpg .