Alternatives to grass for your lawn

The Clover Alternative

Instead of planting lawn grass like every other shmuck on your street, you could break conventions and go with something a little less seen: clover. Most lawns have clover, but the clover is dominated - and literally strangled out of existence - by the overbearing presence of grass. So, if your thinking of an alternative to grass, an alternative that I might add requires less yard work and blossoms small flowers, I would go with clover. Not to mention, by having your own soft, plush lawn of clover, there would be no more worrying about itchy grass or exacerbating your allergies!

Clover is a nitrogen fixer. Clover absorbs nitrogen from the air and brings it into the soil. From there the nitrogen is utilised by naturally occurring nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil, which cluster themselves around the roots of plants - particularly clover - thusly increasing the health of your lawn and soil - all without expensive fertilisers or the use of comparable products. Flower beds, gardens and every other plant will visibly benefit from clover. Furthermore, clover has both longer and deeper roots than grass, which not only increases the aeration potential, but keeps the clover firmly planted in the soil (in other words, clover is much harder to tear up than grass - rain or shine). So go ahead and forget the landscaping service's number - you won't need it anymore.
Perhaps the final advantage to clover is its affect on lawn maintenance. As anyone who has ever cut grass has likely noticed when stumbling upon a patch of clover, no matter how high your grass is, the clover is still low and nestled near the ground. Unlike grass, which grows more vertical, clover grows more horizontally and sprawls out - albeit slowly. That said, the greatest advantage to clover is only having to cut your grass once a month; that, and increasing your chances to find a four-leaf clover.