You work hard to look after your lawn and keep it looking its best. Your neighbors have some friends over, don’t have much parking space and then pull onto your lawn. When they leave, they don’t notice, but they leave some pretty nasty-looking ruts behind. It’s infuriating!! But what can you do?! You can’t sit outside guarding the perimeter like you’re one of the “Crows” from the Knight’s Watch (sorry if you’re not a Game of Thrones fan). But there are certain things you can do to protect your lawn from cars. I’m going to talk about some of my favorite solutions in this post.
Things You Can Do to Protect Your Lawn from Cars
Nobody likes to have confrontations with neighbors (well, almost nobody). So short of that, if you’re going to stop cars from driving on your lawn, you’ll likely need to be proactive and take steps to prevent this situation from arising.
Below I’m going to discuss some of the ideas that I think might be of most use to you.
Natural Barriers
The most obvious thing to do to protect your lawn from cars is to install some sort of barrier that prevents cars from driving on it. These barriers can be split into two broad categories; natural and “other” for the rest.
Here are a few ideas for natural barriers you could install on the border of your lawn.
Landscaping Boulders
Landscaping boulders are quite possibly my favorite types of “barrier” to use. Why? Well, I think that on most lawns, they not only serve a purpose in stopping cars from getting on the lawn, but they can really improve aesthetics too.
Landscaping boulders can be really nice to look at and can be incorporated into the overall design of the space really effectively. They’re also very visual so an immediate deterrent for anyone looking to park on your lawn.
I’d really like to try and see anyone in a car get onto your lawn with boulders in place. Their car will come off second best, that’s for sure.
Hedge Along the Border
Another option is to plant a hedge around the border of your lawn. The height of the hedge doesn’t really matter here. Having any sort of hedge in place will stop cars from driving on the lawn.
Just like with the boulders, I do like hedges as they can fit in with and complement the rest of your yard’s design. The only negative here is that planting a hedge isn’t a quick job. It’s going to require a significant time investment on your part, and quite a bit of money. You’ll also be adding another landscaping task to your list, as like all living plants, it’ll need caring for.
All that said, using a hedge as a barrier can be a very elegant way to protect your lawn from cars and the nasty ruts that they can cause.
Related Article: How to Fix Tire Ruts in Your Lawn
Other Types of Barriers
In addition to using natural landscaping elements to create a barrier on the edge of your lawn, there are lots of other options too, ranging from the very simple (and cheap) to the more involved (and expensive).
Parking Posts
You may be more accustomed to seeing these used in commercial lots to restrict access, but they could be an option for protecting your lawn from cars too. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and often feature a highly reflective surface to make them visible at night too.
You can buy temporary parking posts that just stick into the ground, or permanent posts that have to be properly installed. You can also buy foldaway posts that still act as a visual deterrent from a distance, but should a vehicle get closer they will fold away to prevent damage to the car.
Parking Cones
If parking posts seem a bit “full-on” the lighter version would be parking cones. You know, the sort you see at airports or when there are roadworks going on. They’re used to clearly highlight areas that are “out of bounds”. Lining the edge of your lawn with some parking cones should communicate clearly to any driver that you don’t want them driving on your lawn.
They come in a range of different sizes. But remember this – if a driver wants to get on your lawn, parking cones are not going to stop them.
Brick Edging
If the area of grass that you’re trying to protect is next to your driveway, you might want to consider having some sort of edging installed on your driveway. The most common type is brick. This isn’t exactly an insurmountable kind of barrier, but it does give any driver the “oh, I shouldn’t be going on here” kind of feeling. That, you would hope, will be enough to keep them from driving their car on your lawn.
But you can’t always trust people to do the right thing. Just saying…
Retractable Driveway Guard
If you don’t need to have something permanent installed, and you’re just looking to protect your lawn from cars during a specific event or maybe during the holidays, buying a retractable driveway guard might be a good solution.
You install two small posts, on either end of the lawn’s edge, and then extend the netting between them. If the area of lawn you’re trying to protect is particularly big, you’ll probably have to buy more than one and do it in sections.
Wall Along the Lawn’s Edge
Taking the brick edging one step further, you could have a low wall built around the edge of your lawn to stop cars from driving on it. Just like with the landscaping boulders, this makes your lawn a no-go area, even if they wanted to get on it.
The downside to this idea is that, depending on the length of the lawn you’re trying to protect, installation of a low wall like this could get rather expensive.
If You Are Going to Have Cars on Your Lawn and Want to Protect It…
I’ve focused solely on one scenario so far. That being the homeowner wanting to prevent cars from either parking on or driving across their lawn without consent. But what if you know and accept that your lawn is going to be parked on (maybe you’re having a big get-together and there’s not enough space on the drive), and you’re looking for ways to protect your lawn from these cars?
Don’t you worry. I’ve got a few suggestions for you too!
Put Ground Protection Mesh Down
There is actually a product that you can buy that is designed to help areas of grass cope with the wear and tear that can be imparted on them by vehicles or high levels of foot traffic. This product is known as ground protection mesh, and is made up of thick plastic meshes that are arranged in an oscillated structure.
The way this mesh works is to spread the weight of any vehicle that is parked on top of it across a wider area. This helps to prevent ruts, smears, and other damage, which occurs when a car’s weight is concentrated in a very small area.
It’s very, very easy to install. The only thing that is really advisable to do is to mow your lawn before installing it, so the mesh sits as flat and level as possible.
But other than that you just need to roll the mesh out across the areas of your lawn where cars are going to be parked, and use some sort of pins or pegs in the corners to secure it in place and make sure it doesn’t move when cars drive over it.
Replace Your Lawn with More Resistant Grass Variety
This is more of a long-term suggestion, and I’d only really ever consider this if your lawn is likely to repeatedly need protecting from cars. In such a situation, you might at least want to look into the possibility of replacing your lawn with a grass variety that is more resistant to heavy traffic.
Zoysia grass, Kentucky Bluegrass, Tall Fescue, and Bermuda grass are a few suggestions that are worth looking into. Kentucky Bluegrass is ideal if you’re in one of the Northern States, as it’s a cool-season grass. Tall Fescue is a good bet if you’re in the Mid-South, and Zoysia or Bermuda grass are well suited to the environment in the Southern States.
Don’t Forget to Check Local Building Codes
Before you install anything to protect your lawn from cars, please, please, please make sure you check local building codes. These vary from state to state and you need to check that the option you want to install is permitted in your area. I’ve heard stories about homeowners being liable for damage caused to cars when they have driven into lawn boulders on their land, for example. I know, it’s a crazy world that we live in…
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