In most cases, gardens use grass for their lawn as it does come with a lot of different benefits. However, like any other thing in the world, grass still has a few drawbacks that can make you rethink your choice of a lawn. This is why there are now plenty of people who are using moss as an alternative to grass. So, what are the pros and cons of moss for your lawn?
Moss is generally easy to maintain, doesn’t require regular mowing, can grow well without fertilizer, is free of insects and weeds, and looks very good. On the other hand, moss can be difficult to grow in neutral and alkaline soil, will need frequent watering, can easily get damaged, and requires regular cleaning.
Similar to how grass comes with its own pros and cons, the same can be said about moss. Moss can be great for your lawn, but you have to make sure that it is right for you based on your own personal preferences and on other factors. As such, it is important for you to know more about the pros and cons of moss lawn for you to make a more informed decision.
Is a Moss Lawn a Good Idea?
When it comes to your garden or backyard, the lawn is one of the most important things that you need to maintain because this is basically the star of any yard. A beautiful lawn can make a lot of difference when it comes to the overall look of your yard, and that’s why you need to make a good choice when you are choosing a lawn for your home.
In most cases, grass tends to be the most common choice for lawns because of how it has become the staple type of lawn. Grass does come with its own advantages, but there are some people who may not think that grass is the perfect choice for them because of how it also comes with some disadvantages.
With that said, moss has become a good choice for lawns as well, especially when people are looking for the best alternative to grass. But is moss actually a good idea for your lawn?
For sure, moss can be a good alternative to grass for your lawn because of how it is capable of mimicking grass better than any other type of lawn. This is a low-growing and dense plant that can easily form a good mat on your lawn. As such, it gives your lawn a good carpet-like feel that may be just as good or even better than turfgrass.
Of course, there are other reasons why moss can be a good idea. One such reason is that it can survive in shady spots in your backyard. As such, if you tend to have a taller house or if you have plenty of structures in your yard, moss can be a good alternative to grass because it doesn’t leave any bare spots on your lawn.
Moss lawn can also be a good idea because it does a good job at making life easy for you because moss has shallow roots. What that means is that you probably won’t even have to dig to plant moss in your yard. And you can even allow moss to grow on grass or anything that can attract moisture.
You will also love how moss is on the low side of the maintenance scale because you hardly ever have to do anything to make your lawn look good. The plant will remain relatively short throughout its entire life, and that means that you won’t have to trim it. Of course, any sort of wildlife such as insects or animals tends to leave moss lawns alone.
All that said, a moss lawn is a good idea for your yard if you believe that grass tends to be too much work for you. However, for you to make a more informed decision, it still is better to look at the different pros and cons of moss lawns.
List of Moss Lawn Pros
1. Moss can survive in shady and humid spots
One of the most amazing things about moss lawns is that moss can survive in the shade. We’re not only talking about spots that don’t get a lot of sun, but we are actually talking about spots that are dark and are hardly ever going to get any sunlight. This includes shades under a tree or the spots that your house tends to cast its shadow on.
Because of this, you can basically plant moss on any part of your yard without worrying about whether or not it gets sunlight. It will give your lawn a full-on carpet-like look with no bald spots whatsoever because of how moss can grow in the shade.
Then there is also the fact that moss can grow in really wet conditions. You don’t have to worry about how wet the conditions are because moss doesn’t care. On the other hand, grass will rot when planted on soil that’s really wet. So, if you don’t have time to allow your soil to dry up, moss is great because you just leave it there, and it will suck up all of the moisture it needs.
2. It doesn’t require mowing
We previously stated that moss is generally low-maintenance. And one of the reasons why moss is very easy to maintain or doesn’t even need any sort of maintenance is that it doesn’t need to be mowed.
The reason why moss lawns don’t need to be mowed is that moss won’t ever grow tall. Moss will always stay short. As such, you don’t even have to worry about mowing it because of the very fact that you know that moss will never grow tall enough to require mowing. This makes it perfect for those who don’t have enough time to mow their lawns regularly.
Of course, the fact that moss doesn’t require mowing makes life easier for you. If you’ve tried mowing the lawn before, you would know that it takes a lot of work because you’d have to remove the grass residue. Also, lawnmowers can cost money.
So, by using moss, you are never going to have to worry about ever using a lawnmower ever again or even cleaning up grass residue because moss will always stay relatively short and easy to maintain.
3. It doesn’t require fertilizer
Fertilizing your plants is one of the most important parts of taking care of your garden or yard. Of course, this includes making sure that your grass is well-fed with fertilizer as it needs the nutrients in the fertilized soil to grow healthy and green.
However, one of the advantages that moss lawns have over grass lawns is that they don’t even need fertilizer. Moss can grow fast and healthy without fertilizer because all that your moss lawn needs is water.
Moreover, aside from not needing fertilizer, moss doesn’t need extra maintenance such as aeration and scarifying. These are important for grass if you want your grass lawn to look green and bushy. However, you don’t need that for moss because moss can grow healthy just by relying on water.
4. Looks great
Of course, you wouldn’t want to have a moss lawn if it didn’t look great. Similar to how grass lawns look great on any yard, moss lawns are also very attractive because of how moss comes with the kind of green color that is quite deep and appealing.
Moreover, moss tends to be quite bushy and dense. This allows it to cover more areas compared to grass. As such, your yard will look bushier and denser compared with moss lawns compared to grass lawns.
You will also notice that moss lawns will look great no matter what time of the year it is. Grass tends to fade out whenever it’s fall or winter. However, the same cannot be said about moss because of how it can still look green and bushy regardless of what season it may be.
5. Short roots = easy planting
One of the best things about moss is that these plants have very short roots that don’t even need to dig deep into the soil for it to get the water it needs to survive. All that moss needs is for its soil to be latched onto something that provides enough moisture. That’s why moss can grow on rocks and trees as well.
So, because moss has roots that are very short, you don’t even need to dig the soil up to plant your moss. All you need to do is simply put the moss on the soil and make sure that the soil is moist enough to provide the moss with the water it needs to survive.
As such, this dispenses the need for you to spend more time and effort on digging. You don’t even have to remove any of the rocks that may be in your yard because moss can still grow on rocks and cover them up. This is why moss is very easy to plant.
6. Insect and pest-free
When you look at how short and dense moss is, you will notice that it will be very difficult for insects and other types of pests to hide inside. The stems are very close to one another, such that an insect that attempts to hide between the stems can easily get stuck there. There are even some varieties of moss that won’t even allow insects to get in.
As such, moss is generally free of insects. If you must know, yards that are full of insects can be unappealing because of how annoying insects can be when you are out doing all sorts of activities with your family in your backyard. You don’t want any bugs biting you or making it more difficult for you to cook your Sunday barbecue.
Of course, because there aren’t a lot of wild animals that tend to like hanging around moss or even like to eat moss, you will be sure that you’ll hardly ever encounter different types of animals hanging in your yard.
On the other hand, grass can be the perfect hiding spot for different types of insects and animals. They can even lay their eggs there as they multiply their numbers in your yard. This can bring all sorts of discomfort to your yard.
7. No weeds
One of the most annoying parts about grass lawns is the weeds. Weeds can quickly multiply and take over your lawn. And the worst part is that you’d have to pull them carefully and make sure that you prevent them from spreading all over the yard.
But the good thing about moss lawns is that moss, again, has a very high density. That makes it difficult for weeds to germinate through the moss. But this isn’t an assurance that weeds won’t grow on moss. They may still grow, but the chances are very slim.
On top of that, moss can grow in areas that are shaded and humid. If you must know, weeds can’t grow under such conditions. As such, if you have moss that you keep on the shaded parts of your lawn, you don’t have to worry about weeds growing on that side of the yard.
8. Prevents erosion
Another great property about moss is that it is great at preventing soil erosion. The reason is that it is capable of quickly covering the surface of the soil while clinging to the ground using its roots. Because of this, water won’t easily collect and pool up in certain parts of your yard to cause the soil to erode.
This property is quite useful if you live in an area where water tends to pool up whenever it’s raining.
Meanwhile, the grass is also great at preventing soil erosion. As such, they are pretty much equal in this aspect.
List of Moss Lawn Cons
1. Requires frequent watering
As mentioned, moss can survive on water alone. It doesn’t need sunlight or nutrients from the soil because all it needs is water. But because moss only needs water to survive, it also needs plenty of it.
This basically means that you need to frequently water your moss lawn if you want your moss to survive and look green and healthy. Moss needs constant moisture to thrive, and that’s why moist areas tend to be full of moss. And we’re not only talking about the soil but also the air as you might want to make sure that the air isn’t dry if you want your moss to thrive.
Then again, there are plenty of different varieties of moss that may vary in terms of how long they can survive without water. However, even if your moss can survive for a long time without water, the lawn will still lose its green. On top of that, your moss will shrivel up and will become half as dense as it once was due to the lack of water.
So, if you want to maintain your moss lawn’s amazing appearance, you need to make sure that you water your moss regularly, especially during the hotter and dry periods such as summer. The only exception is if you live in an area that sees plenty of rainfall because the rain pretty much does all the job for you.
2. Requires acidic oil
Another problem with moss is that you have to plant it on soil that’s quite acidic. This means that it will not grow in alkaline soil. You have to make sure that the acidity is below pH 6.0 for your moss to grow well on your soil.
Moss can still grow on soil that has a neutral pH value, but the problem is that neutral soil won’t allow your moss to look as green and as dense as it should be. This is why it is important for moss to grow on acidic soil.
When grown in alkaline soil, moss won’t be able to grow well enough to have that dark-green look that you want it to have. Instead, you might end up with a yellowish moss that tends to grow very slowly.
This is why you might want to use special agents that can increase the acidity of your soil. It can be a hassle, but you may want to make sure that your soil is on the acidic side of the scale so that your moss can grow in it well enough.
Still, moss can grow very well regardless of the quality of your soil. So, if you have soil that is on the lower end of the scale in terms of quality, you shouldn’t worry as long as the soil is acidic.
3. Doesn’t do well in full sun
Even though moss can grow in shaded areas, the problem is that most varieties of moss are not capable of withstanding full sunlight. That’s because such varieties are genetically wired to grow in shaded areas or in partially shaded spots but will never do well when they are exposed to sunlight on a regular basis.
While such varieties of moss won’t die when they are planted on spots that are exposed to full sunlight, the problem is that you would have to water them regularly. That’s because the sun can dry the moss out rather quickly. As such, the more sun, the more water the moss needs to survive.
Still, there are some varieties of moss that can actually handle full sun. They would still need plenty of water to thrive as rain might not be enough for them to stay healthy. This is why moss that can be grown exposed to the full sun needs regular watering, such as an automatic irrigation system.
4. Lacks durability
Another thing that you wouldn’t like about moss lawn is how it isn’t the most durable kind of lawn. Moss is very easy to damage because of how it isn’t capable of handling weight. Even dogs can easily damage moss.
This is where grass might seem to have an advantage over moss as grass can easily handle the weight without getting damaged. On the other hand, moss just doesn’t have the durability that grass has.
5. Requires regular cleaning
Finally, another problem with moss is that it needs to be cleaned regularly, especially when there are other plants nearby. You would have to clean leaves and other types of plant debris on your moss because such plant debris usually stays on top of the moss due to how dense moss can be.
If you don’t do this, you will notice how your moss will have problems growing. This can be a problem during fall because of how large amounts of fallen leaves can create a covering that may end up becoming too heavy for moss to survive under.
Are Moss Lawns Better For The Environment?
The thing about moss is that it is actually very good for the environment. Of course, the reason why moss can be great to the environment is that it dispenses the need for you to use any sort of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
As mentioned, moss lawns don’t need fertilizer to grow healthy and thrive. This means that you no longer have to use any kind of chemical fertilizer, which can harm the environment in the worst way possible.
And because lawns tend to be places that insects don’t like to hide on, you don’t need to apply pesticides or repellents on your lawn to keep the insects at bay. This may not be much, but it is a good first step when it comes to helping the environment.
Can You Walk on a Moss Lawn?
As mentioned, moss isn’t the most durable plant. Moss lawns cannot handle the weight and will easily get damaged. As such, when you just planted moss in your yard, you cannot step on it until it has settled and grown healthy enough. Even dogs can already be heavy enough for a moss lawn.
If you step on a freshly planted moss lawn, what will happen is that your footprint will leave a mark that will tend to stay on the moss. The moss won’t grow on that mark and will leave your lawn looking like it has a bald spot.
This is why it is important for you to have paved spots in your yard so that you don’t have to step on your moss lawn whenever you are out in the yard. You may be able to step on a moss lawn that has already established itself there but you shouldn’t stay on that spot long enough because that can damage the moss.
Where to Buy Moss For The Lawn?
The good news about moss is that it really isn’t that difficult to find because of how relatively easy it is to grow and maintain moss. Live moss won’t even be expensive compared to grass, which can cost quite a lot depending on the variety.
Most landscaping and gardening stores in your locality should carry live moss. If not, you may be able to find them online. But you can also buy moss spores in your local store or online if you don’t want to use live moss.
In some cases, you can just simply buy a few sections of live moss and then place them all over your yard. Moss can spread out and propagate really fast. As such, you are essentially allowing your moss to decorate your entire yard. Just make sure that the soil is moist enough for moss to grow in.