Medium sized yard, mostly hardscape or leave a bit of grass?

Looking for experiences from folks with similar sized yards. We have an 18′ X 36′ yard. We are thinking of mostly hardscaping with planting beds around the perimeter. Since it’s not a huge space hardscaping most of it seems like it will yield the most practical use. We do see the appeal of having some grass though. If we hardscape most of it we could have more of a lounge outside. Grass could be nice for young kids (which we have) but the park is never far. I’m aware that mosquitos might stop us from using the yard much anyway but we can dream! Anyone have any advice from their own experiences? Thanks

mousta

in Landscaping 11 years and 11 months ago

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est | 11 years and 11 months ago

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 I just put lawn sod in a 25×9 foot space to replace astroturf. Did it for the kid factor and I’m very happy with the result. The one downside, however, is that after a year of persuading the neighborhood’s feral cats to mostly relieve themselves elsewhere, I’m seeing more deposits of that nature. Not a huge amount, but still something to consider. The upkeep is also definitely something to consider as it grows pretty fast.  Haven’t seen a huge jump in mosquitos though. Good luck.

anotherposter | 11 years and 11 months ago

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We have all stone near the house and where there is a little sun there is grass in the middle with plantings arouond the edge.  We have a dog and no kids.  The dog *loves* the grass and spends tons of time rolling and sleeping on it (we walk him a lot to deter him from peeing all over it).  I have a little reel mower and it works just fine for mowing the space and our neighbor uses a weed whacker for the same effect.  I also like to go sit in the grass and when we have people over, they seem to gravitate to the grass.  We had good sod put in once and it’s been doing fine since.   If you do much hardscaping, make sure to put in drains and make sure it’s pitched well towards the drains.  Our neighbor has a fully hardscaped back yard and it always has big puddles (which I see as mosquito factories).  You could do all hardscape and buy some of the apparently nice artificial grasses available and put it down like a rug.  I’ve read you can hose them off and they feel nice.  A kiddie pool left for more than a day or two will kill the grass.

nalusurf | 11 years and 11 months ago

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Our previous property had a similarly sized outdoor space, about the same depth, but narrower, about 12′.  The initial 10′ off the house was a sunken concrete patio with 4 steps that went up to a raised yard portion.  Originally it was grass in the yard.  Poor quality grass, weeds and very unevenly sloped.  I wound up digging it out, leveling it and hardscaping the entire yard section with a deck and built a pergola on the one end which we trained vines to grow on for shade.  Our kids could play on the deck and it really turned into a nice outdoor area.  In fact, I think it was the biggest reason we were able to sell it recently for a very good price.  Personally, it is much less upkeep than a yard, and we had some potted plants for the green effect to soften the area a bit.  My vote is for hardscaping, which I will do at some point in our new place. Good luck!!