The perimeter of my back yard is a 6-foot strip of a short native grass blend called Thunder Turf, purchased from Native American Seed. That allows a walkway around the outside edge of the garden, and access to the fence for times when that needs attention.
On the south side of the garden, the Thunder Turf is significantly shaded by the adjacent fence, and so I have added Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora) to the mix in that area to help to provide coverage.
My Thunder Turf gets mown approximately two times PER YEAR! The grass blades don’t really need mowing — their maximum height stops at about 6 inches in my ecosystem. However, I have found it useful to mow when there are mature seed heads present so that those seeds drop to the ground to help fill in bare patches.
The last time I mowed this area was at the end of April 2026. On that occasion I also did some “top dressing” with mushroom compost to feed the soil. I plan to make that a regular spring activity.
In mid October 2026 I mowed again. By then there were a number of seed heads present, and the soil was still warm enough for germination to be possible (overnight temperatures of over 60 degrees F).
Here are some “before” photographs:
And here are some photographs taken after the mowing (in addition to the first picture in this post):
This is an area that is both Thunder Turf and Frogfruit. The Frogfruit is definitely the dominant force and would take over more area if I let it.
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