Goodbye, Lawn. Hello, Wood Chips and Drought Tolerant Plants.

From that point on, I became determined to get rid of all the grass. I had a good workout applying newspaper, filling wheelbarrows, emptying their fragrant wood-chippy contents onto my feet.  We used medium-sized chips. Any smaller and the chips would have flown all over the place. Any larger and it would have been kind of clunky.

Two years later, only the Salvia and Westringa have become enormous. The Flax and Licorice died.

I wanted drought tolerant plants that would attract bees where we did not plant vegetables. To be honest, I was not convinced the vegetable beds would look that good in the winter and I wanted pretty.

Applying newspaper over the lawn followed by wood chips. The lawn (and weeds) forever disappeared.

Wood chips are soft underfoot and make a lovely, fragrant ground cover. Over time, it decomposes and adds organic matter.