First of all, what eco region are you in? NJ right? There’s lots of overlap between our flora and what’s up that way. Also, is the space you’re trying to convert full sun? Part shade? There’s something for everywhere, just gotta know the right tools for the right spot. What kind of lawn do you have fescue? To get rid of that I’d say spray with herbicide, a couple times, or solarize it with a nice sheet of heavy black plastic. Herbicide has a bad rap, and for good reason, misuse, but when compared so solarizing a spot it’s negligible. Herbicide, when using the right one, can be very effective and be less impactful on the area. Solarizing tends to kill everything under the plastic for a couple inches. This excludes all the great bugs and mycelium, etc. that’s so beneficial to the soil. Sometimes this can be beneficial if there’s an invasive that’s been dropping seeds. Solarizing will tend to sterilize the seed bank, so if unwanted seeds are there, it usually will kill em.
This is a reason you’d have to spray herbicide at least 2 times. Then the seed bank germinated, let it grow about 6 inches and then spray again.
After you have a nice clean slate, I’d say seed And plug with live plugs, from a locally sourced native plant nursery. Local ecotype seed will be well worth it for the success of the planting and speed of its establishment.
As for what to plant, we can discuss that more. There’s so many native plants in the US. We are currently working on a grant to reestablish perennial native food crops as an option for farmers to establish and bring to market, instead of doing the annuals and tilling every year. That’s another topic.
We converted the front 3 acres from lawn (Brome) to native 3 years ago, and the guy that sprayed did a horrible job. But we have been burning it every year and over seeding it and it is looking gorgeous now. It doesn’t take awhile for many natives to grow to large attractive plants. I could go on… Hahahha
Lol. Send me your address again so I can send you a cut. Got too many flying around to keep everyones location in mind. I just remember your north east of me.
Great info there! One day I’ll have my own house and I want to convert the front lawn to something that helps the ecosystem. Ive seen a few YouTube shorts about them and their lawns turned out amazing! Wonder if this would be legal on town if you own your house or if the city would put an end to it quickly if it were in your front yard
Local rules vary wildly. My aunt in Minnesota found state law would overrule her uptight HOA if they were nearly all native plants. My 55+ park is pretty permissive, but has a specific rule against dandelions but no one enforces it.
It’s so worthwhile. Just the wildlife and pollinators it attracts the first year is incredible! And the jam I make from our native strawberry patch, everyone that’s ever had it says it’s better than any other they’ve ever had. That’s because native strawberries taste like 4 of the best cultivated ones, in the size of a quarter or smaller. And they’re not the mock strawberry/(east) Indian strawberry everyone has im their lawns - at least around here.
We have 2 huge hoop houses we grow native plants in for our restoration work. Also, we grow a couple thousand native trees/shrubs. Lots of fun and work.
If you ever need help advocating for this, hit us up. My wife is on the weed ordinance reform committee for Lawrence and they’re about to require new and renovations in the city to have at least half the yard as green space. Natives and gardens, not lawns. You’re in
MO, right @HighTilliDie ? Check out the resources at https://moprairie.org/ specifically grow native.
We might have info on our site too. I never really mess with it but check us out at nativelandsks.org
Just a quick thought for you, Since your Veg tent is filling with so many nice cuts, Might be time to learn some Grafting Techniques to keep different strains on one mothers root stock… Opening space for other projects…
Got too many flying around to keep everyones location in mind. I just remember your north east of me. 
but no one enforces it.
monsters.