To landscape a small backyard with less lawn to mow, keep one simple patch of grass with smooth curves and turn the hard spots into mulched beds or ground cover. Put a solid edge around every bed, then lay a real path where you already walk. That’s the whole plan, and you can do it one corner at a time.
I mow about an acre, so you might wonder why I’m writing about a small yard. Honestly, it’s because I know where the time goes. It isn’t the long straight passes. It’s the corners, the tree trunks and that skinny strip by the fence where you back up and try again. On my zero-turn that’s the annoying part of the job. In a small yard, it’s nearly all of it.
I’m no landscape designer, and I’m not a certified tech either. So the planting advice below comes from Maryland Extension, NC State, UF/IFAS and Gardener’s Supply. The parts about what a mower will and won’t do are mine.
Start With the Spots You Hate Mowing
Cheapest check first: walk your yard and ask which patches you’d happily never cut again. Gardener’s Supply says the obvious ones are places where grass doesn’t thrive anyway, like shade under trees or wet sections. It also names “the steep bank where you risk your life mowing every weekend,” which is a fair way to put it.
Grass that’s already losing is the cheapest grass to give up. Maryland Extension makes the same point about a steep slope, bad soil or too much shade. And if moss is moving in, it says that’s a sign the spot isn’t right for turf. Don’t fight it.
You don’t have to do the whole yard at once, either. Gardener’s Supply says to start small and replant over months or even years, and NC State suggests picking one small area first. Take one patch this fall. Mow around it next season and see how it feels. Bet you’ll want to do another.
Keep One Simple Shape of Grass
Here’s my whole contribution to landscape design: round the corners. Every square corner makes you stop, back up and swing around with the blade running. NC State’s advice is to take the grass out of the corners and turn them into curved beds, since curves make mowing easier. A curve is one smooth turn. A square corner is a three-point turn, every single week.
That garden has way more palms than you’ll want, but look at the lawn. It’s one plain shape, and all the fussy stuff happens around it, off the grass. That’s the idea.
Keep every strip of grass wider than the deck, too. My old push mower cuts 21 inches, so a 12-inch strip is a string trimmer job, forever. Leave enough for 2 passes (call it 40 inches with that mower) or get rid of the strip.
Then ask how much lawn you really use. Gardener’s Supply asks it straight: do you need grass for games, or are the side yards just unused space that borders the house? If nobody’s walked on it since spring, that’s your next bed.
Turn the Corners Into Mulched Beds
Whatever you cut off the corners becomes a bed. Mulch is about the cheapest ground cover you can buy, and it doesn’t need a blade. Gardener’s Supply says to put down 3 to 4 inches of shredded leaves, bark or wood chips. Under a tree, Maryland goes lighter at 2 to 3 inches, out to the drip line, and it says the mulch keeps the mower off the trunk.
Not sure which kind? I compared them in [what kind of mulch is best for landscaping](https://gardentooly.com/what-kind-of-mulch-is-best-for-landscaping/). If you’ve got trees, shredded leaves are free, and [mulching leaves with a lawn mower](https://gardentooly.com/mulching-leaves-with-a-lawn-mower/) is one more reason to keep the mower around.
Start along the fence if you’ve got one. That’s the worst trim job in most yards, and a bed there means no more scraping the deck on the posts. I’ve got more on that in [fence line landscaping ideas](https://gardentooly.com/fence-line-landscaping-ideas/).
Edge Every Bed
A bed with no edge turns back into lawn, kinda slowly and then all at once. Gardener’s Supply says a band of edging keeps turf from invading your plantings. It’s the piece people skip, and then they’re pulling grass out of the mulch by July.
Rock borders look great, and here’s where I’d push back a little. A loose stone is something your blade can hit or throw. So bed them in tight and keep the mower wheel on the grass side, then finish that last few inches with the trimmer. If you set a flat edging strip flush with the soil, one wheel can ride right on it and you skip the trimming.
Clip a rock anyway? Shut it off and pull the spark plug wire before you put a hand under the deck. Check the blade for a bend or a big nick. Then look up the torque spec for the blade bolt in the owner’s manual, because a blade that’s been hit and put back on loose is worse than a dull one.
Lay a Path Where You Already Walk
Look for the worn line. Gardener’s Supply says that if you’ve got a worn footpath from the deck to the tool shed, or between the back door and the compost pile, you should think about a fieldstone or gravel path. The grass there was losing anyway, so you may as well stop reseeding it.
Set the stones low. If the tops sit level with the soil, the mower rolls right over and you never think about them again. Gravel is cheaper, but keep it boxed in with edging, because it migrates. One piece in the lawn is one more thing for the blade to find.
Those wood rounds look great, and I’d be sick about what they’d do to the deck. They sit proud of the grass, so you’d mow around each one. Either sink them flush, or give them a strip of mulch of their own.
Ground Covers for the Spots a Mower Can’t Reach
Ground covers spread but don’t grow tall. Maryland Extension says that means no mowing and little maintenance, and that they work on steep slopes, sharp angles and narrow driveway strips. UF/IFAS says about the same: they’re great for small spaces the mower can’t get into. Got a real hill? My [sloped backyard landscaping](https://gardentooly.com/sloped-backyard-landscaping/) guide goes further.
Here’s where my sources split, so pay attention. Gardener’s Supply suggests vinca and pachysandra for shade. Maryland lists both types of periwinkle, plus Japanese spurge and carpet bugleweed, as invasive plants to avoid. I’d go with the extension service, and I’d check your own state’s list before you buy a flat of anything.
Turns out sedges are the neat trick here. They look like grass and don’t need frequent mowing, says Maryland. You’ll still have to weed and mulch until any ground cover fills in, so don’t expect a free ride in year one. Maryland also says to use an edge barrier to hold the spreaders back.
Give Up Some Lawn to a Patio or Raised Beds
Hard surface is lawn you never cut again. You don’t need anything as big as this deck. An 8-by-10 patio is 80 square feet you’ll never mow, trim or feed.
Raised beds are great, but put them in the right place. Set in the middle of a lawn like these, each box adds 4 corners to trim around.
Push them up against a fence or an existing bed, or mulch the whole area so they read as one shape. And leave a gap wider than the deck if you’ll mow between them. Measure before you build, including your gate. The owner’s manual lists your mower’s overall width, and it’s the chute side that catches you out.
Mow What’s Left Less Often
Less lawn means a shorter job, and you can stretch the time between cuts as well. US lawns cover more than 40 million acres, and they’re the largest irrigated crop in the country, so we’re all doing a lot of this. Here’s what Gardener’s Supply says to do with yours:
- Mow high, at 2 1/2 to 3 inches, for deeper roots and more shade on the weeds
- Leave the clippings, unless they’re thick and wet
- Try a slow-growing grass like fine fescue or tall fescue, which takes fewer mowings
And do you still need the big machine? If you’ve cut your lawn down to a patch, a rider may be more mower than the job needs. This rusty old thing is where a lot of them end up.
A walk-behind handles a small patch fine, and there’s no belt to replace. Here’s [the difference between a walk-behind and a push mower](https://gardentooly.com/what-is-the-difference-between-walk-behind-and-push-mower/) if the names confuse you. Whatever you pick, a small lawn burns very little fuel, so stale gas becomes your main enemy. Buy a small can at a time, and read up on [what gas to put in a push mower](https://gardentooly.com/what-type-of-gas-do-you-put-in-a-push-mower/).
The front yard works the same way, and I went through that in [low-maintenance front yard landscaping](https://gardentooly.com/low-maintenance-front-yard-landscaping/). But start out back with the one corner you hate most. Get a bag or two of mulch and a shovel, and see how much shorter next week’s mow gets.
Sources: Gardener’s Supply, “Be a Grower, Not a Mower”; University of Maryland Extension, “Lawn Alternatives”; NC State Extension, Forsyth County Center, “Lawn Alternatives: Replacing or Reducing the Size of Your Lawn”; UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions, “Groundcovers”.
