Since most of us start with a lawn of some sort, either manicured (or semi-manicured) and often simply too much work to keep up with, or an overgrown memory of lawns past that is an eyesore and starting to raise questions regarding public nuisance laws, let’s start with a discussion of what to do with a lawn.

Lawn-type grass is a survivor. You can douse it with chemicals, you can chop it, mow it, pummel it and it’s going to come back. Pretty amazing stuff. So, if you have a lawn and you want an urban oasis, one of the options is to cut and dig out the lawn, down to the sod and below. If you are young, have a lot of time on your hands, a good back, a place to dispose of sod, a truck to haul away the sod, then this approach is for you. This is some pretty heavy work. It takes a good back. Lots of exercise which is good. Another downside is that you are likely to be removing some of your best topsoil along with the sod.