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Although I'm sure it's anathema to most posting here, I'd like to completely eliminate my lawn/grass in an environmentally friendly yet very cheap (free, if possible) way. I'm going to try the mixture I read about, possibly on this forum (a combination of Epsom salts, vinegar, and Dawn sprayed with a pump), as a first resort and nail down cardboard (furniture or bicycle cartons broken down) as a last resort. Anything else out there I don't know about? Again, I don't want to invest a lot of money in planting ground cover, etc.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Vinegar only works when applied on a hot sunny day, after left in the sun for a few days. Depending on the size of your lawn it could take several gallons, and the neighbors will think you have been making pickles. When I turned part of my lawn into a vegetable garden with greenhouse, I placed many layers of newspaper over it in that area, with scrap boards and some stones to hold it down. In a few months it was dead. The only problem is the thatch and roots are still there and had to be removed or tilled. In your case you could do the vinegar and cardboard, then when dead buy weed cloth before adding the mulch or bark. If you don't you will be forever trying to get the weeds out which will come up as the cardboard rots, or even growing on top of it.
Depending on where you live, there may be rules against getting rid of all of your grass. Ironically in a nearby town, where they have had major drought issues the city won't allow owners to get rid of all the grass in their yards. SMDH.
Depending on the size of your yard, maybe covering it with some decorative
gravel would help? It would block the sun from the grass to help it die out, and
be a bit more aesthetically-pleasing to the eye in the process. I don't know.
I hate mowing as well, and decided to hire a lawn-mowing service for just this
year. It will likely be my last year as a homeowner anyway (I'm so ready to
rent!!), so I figure I should probably get used to letting someone else have fun
with the landscaping.
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