In our back yard we have a very small lawn about (10ft by 20ft) that needs
mowing weekly and sometimes twice weekly in summer.

Now I'm looking for lower maintenance so everything can be left unattended
for weeks at a time if were out of town. I have a neighbor that "may" mow
the rear lawn for us if he has time and remembers and I don't want to hire a
service for that small area. Our HOA takes care of the front lawn and
plants.
I could simply expand our back patio and cover the current lawn area with
concrete, but since we already have automatic sprinklers set up, I'm
considering replacing the lawn with low-maintenance groundcover than can be
walked on and that we could ocassionally place outdoor furniture on for an
evening without killing it.
We want to be able to simply set our automatic sprinklers on a timer and not
have to attend to it more than a few times a year with fertilizer and
trimming.
Recommedations for ground cover and how to get rid of the grass so it does
not interfere with the new ground cover?