You wouldn't consider your lawn to be a luxury - after all, lawns are the main feature of many gardens. Yet they were once the preserve of the super-rich. When grass had to be cut with hand scythes even a modestly sized lawn required a permanent gardening staff.

With the invention of the lawnmower, lawns may have lost their upmarket status, but they are still one of the greediest elements in any garden. To get anywhere near perfection your green sward will require weekly attention: cutting, scarifying, fertilisers, pesticides and gallons upon gallons of water.

The anti-lawn movement has been around for several decades now, encouraging gardeners to replace their lawns with vegetables or flowers. But you don't have to take such a radical step. There are a number of simple, significant changes that you can make to the way you manage your lawn that will make it easier and cheaper to look after. The simplest change you can make is to stop using weedkillers and artificial fertilisers. This will allow native plants to return to the lawn: wildflowers such as violets, clovers, bugle and thymes. At the same time, stop irrigating your lawn. The colonising wildflowers have a far greater drought tolerance than the rye grass that makes up a traditional lawn and you will immediately see less scorching and browning in the summer.

Another way to keep your lawn looking green in warm, dry weather is to cut your grass a little longer (and a little less often). Longer grass helps to retain soil moisture, so raising the blades on your lawnmower

to 3.5-5cm (1-2in) will make a noticeable difference. If you are not keen on the patchwork effect of a low-growing wildflower lawn, there are lots of alternatives that provide a more uniform cover (seeright).

Camomile This is a low-growing aromatic herb that is tough enough to be walked on and looks very much like a lush grass lawn. Provided that you use Trenague, the low-growing flowering variety, your lawn will never need mowing. Another advantage of a camomile lawn over turf is that it does not turn brown in dry weather. Camomile does best in sandy, free-draining soil, with some sunshine.

Clover Clover makes a great alternative lawn, even on poor soil, and because it is nitrogen-fixing it improves the soil quality beneath. Clover has long roots that enable it to access water at deeper levels. This makes it drought-tolerant, so it stays green even in the driest summers. Uniquely, clover also tolerates dog urine without bleaching yellow.

Thyme Another excellent choice for a sunny garden with free-draining soil. Drought-tolerant and low-growing, your thyme lawn will require clipping about once a year to keep it looking tidy. Try interweaving Thymus Porlock and the woolly thyme, Thymus pseudolanuginosus, for a painterly effect.

If you are feeling adventurous why not experiment with your favourite groundcover as lawn? My choice is Cotula squalida, a creeping evergreen from New Zealand. This makes a great alternative lawn because it reaches only 2.5cm high and is happy in a semi-shady spot. Ajuga reptans, Vinca minor, Pachysandra terminalis or Hedera helix are other good choices to carpet a shady area, or you could try Achillea tomentosa or the fast-spreading Acaena microphylla Kupferteppich in a sunny area.

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