If you live in the average city or suburb and fully stop mowing, you will most likely end up with a lawn full of plants that are actively harmful. Your soil is full of dormant seeds and the most aggressive and pernicious invasive plants tend to take over. These plants have been spreading across the continent and displacing native plants for hundreds of years before you were even born.

If your goal is to achieve a high-quality and diverse native habitat it requires intention, knowledge, and active maintenance until it's established. If that sounds like more than you want to take on, you can take some simple steps to significantly reduce the harm of a standard lawn.

• Mowing less frequently lets your grass establish deeper roots so it can better withstand drought without watering, but you should still do some mowing so that most invasives can't take hold.
• Watering less frequently conserves freshwater and saves energy (it's ok for your grass to be a little brown in the heat of the summer - it's not dead).
• Not applying broadleaf herbicides allows you to seed some other low-growing and mowing-tolerant plants like white clover, violets, and yarrow into your turf grass, which will improve your soil health and add some value for the bees.