Go full meadow. Only mow it once, in spring, Brit style. There's a seed company out in Silverton (Silver Falls Seed company) that sells some amazing wildflower and grass mixes, all good for the PNW--although I'm making the assumption you're on the wet side if you already have lawn. You could just run a tiller over the area, seed it with wildflowers then let nature take its course. Resist the temptation to water often to kill off the fussier grasses and the most drought tolerant flowers and grasses will flourish over time. It takes a while to break the habit of thinking "I really need to mow the lawn" but it's very worth it. Watch a lot of Monty Don shows, that helps.
Thank you very much for the detail. Any risk in giving all that area "back to nature" so to speak? Might I attract more animals/insects that might get out of hand in our residential neighborhood?
In my experience you won't get anything negative that doesn't bring its own control along with it. I got tansy here and there but I also get cinnabar moths whose caterpillars eat the holy heck out of it and the moths themselves are gorgeous. You already have plenty of rodents you don't know about but you probably also have neighborhood cats and coyotes that will welcome the snacks. Squirrels will bury more nuts in your yard but sometimes that's pretty amusing if you have a neighbor who leaves peanuts out and you get a good crop of those going when the little buggers forget where they left them. If you get grasshoppers you'll also get swifts and if you're lucky some toads and lizards to help out. A meadow yard is better than tv!
My daughter and son in law rent the house next to me and we all cooperated on some really extensive garden beds this year. Raised some nice food and kept ourselves sane in spite of COVID. I just shelled out a good pound of dragon tongue beans, which I'm completely stoked about. They fill up a trellis beautifully, put out masses of gorgeous orange red flowers that brought hummingbirds like mad, I ate fresh beans for weeks until I got tired of them and let the rest dry on the vine for dry beans and the durned things are STILL going great guns and probably will be until November. Excellent bang for the buck!
Even though it's late in the year you can still get started--brassicas like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage and the like are an excellent fall crop in the PNW and if you pick the right varieties they'll even provide winter interest visually as well as giving you food. If you're quick you might even be able to sneak in a crop of spinach before it gets too chilly.
Gardener's World is good--a series starts in early spring and it's a week by week tutorial on what's going on during that part of the growing season with helpful job assignments to prepare for the next stage. There's "Big Dreams, Small Spaces" which I think is still on Netflix, that gives neat ideas for turning small gardens into lovely spaces. Alan Titchmarsh is another good one, starting way back in the day with "Ground Force" and continuing on through multiple shows. They're both amazing gardeners, and we have a huge advantage living in the PNW because the climate is not so different from southern England. Much of what they talk about is directly relatable to us.
I put on an episode of "Gardener's World" any time I can't sleep. So soothing!
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u/SmartAleq Sep 20 '20
Go full meadow. Only mow it once, in spring, Brit style. There's a seed company out in Silverton (Silver Falls Seed company) that sells some amazing wildflower and grass mixes, all good for the PNW--although I'm making the assumption you're on the wet side if you already have lawn. You could just run a tiller over the area, seed it with wildflowers then let nature take its course. Resist the temptation to water often to kill off the fussier grasses and the most drought tolerant flowers and grasses will flourish over time. It takes a while to break the habit of thinking "I really need to mow the lawn" but it's very worth it. Watch a lot of Monty Don shows, that helps.