Planting into grass ?

Not sure where to ask this question and apologies if it sounds daft !

We have quite a big lawn and I wanted to plant some evergreen bushes , grasses etc into one part of the lawn to give us something to look at all year round BUT is it possible to do this without removing the turf, putting a weed membrane down etc...I'm 63 and it would save so much effort... I'm guessing the answer will be Lazy gardening doesnt work !

suggestions..?

 

Hi @Smallzoo , in theory yes it's possible, but the success depends on what you want to plant and what's under the lawn.

If the soil underneath is good, digging a modest hole below the grass root level and planting in it can very well work as the roots will find their way under the surrounding grass roots.

A couple of things to consider are the kind of plant you want, a suckering one will make whooping noises when planted into a lawn and you will very likely suffer premature ageing pulling out the suckers.

A thirsty plant may deprive the grass from moisture, and one with low growing parts may make mowing quite challenging.

I had to make a drainage sump in a patch of grass that was a swamp most of the year, so dug a circle slightly bigger than a bucket, removed soil down to a spade deep, added sand and gravel and as an afterthought, lawn edging, compost, some plants and a circular piece of root membrane. I topped it with big stones and so far the thingy has worked well by both acting as a drainage point and by hosting a bird feeder covered in an evergreen Honeysuckle.

Maximum gain with minimum digging. The lawnmower wheels run on the stones that are about an inch below the grass root level so the edge gets trimmed quite neatly with little effort.

Laziness is a road to clever solutions, they say

 

Would this work for you Smallzoo? I took off the the turf, planted the tree and surrounded it with flat paddle stones. I didn't use a membrane.