Lawns are Evil
Living in the Southwest, there are very few people who have lawns. We just can no longer afford the water.
I do think there is something to be said for the (and against) the
psychological effect of a wide expanse of glistening sward. It says: "I can do this better than you. I can afford the time and money and to waste water on this."
But house's footprints bother me some; and urban permaculture interests me more. Here's a guy who is campaigning to turn front lawns into productive, food growing spaces:
Edible EstatesGlistening sward sounds so dirty. Now I have to look up sward, and find out what one is.
Lawns are for fun. Vegetables get damaged when you wrestle on them, asphalt hurts, shrubs do not join in the game and will not give you your ball back.
A garden would be great for an older couple but it is nice to have a lawn for kids unless there is a good park nearby.
My lawn is struggling to survive in the drought. Right now, it's mostly green bits shouting defiance at the waterless sky, surrounded by large bare patches where the grass has given up the ghost and returned to the dust from whence it came.
I never water the lawn. Especially right now when watering it is illegal due to water restrictions. Some autumn rain has made parts of the lawn green again, and it may yet return to the green vigour it once had. But right now it's looking rather like a bald man with a combover.
Living in the Southwest, there are very few people who have lawns. We just can no longer afford the water......Cloud
I came very close to accepting a position with the drilling division of the Nuclear Test Facility near Las Vegas. If I had decided to live in the Vegas suburbs, I would have been condemned to an hour long bus ride every work day, so I decided to continue to suffer the Houston humidity. Every home I saw there had rock gardens instead of lawns, cacti, the whole bit, and they looked great to me. Of course, after the flight back my first chore was to mow the effing lawn. :headshake Stupid me.
I think there's some grass in my lawn. Mostly its just various weeds. Some of them, I can identify. Others, I can't. We've got a good crop of dandelions growing in the front yard now.
I think there's some grass in my lawn. Mostly its just various weeds. Some of them, I can identify. Others, I can't. We've got a good crop of dandelions growing in the front yard now.
Pretty yellow dandelions have gotten a bad rap, I say!
you're growing food--dandelions are edible. If you don't put weed-killer on them, that is!
If I killed the weeds, all I would have is bare dirt. No lawn at all.
No weed killer here.
I don't think small lawns are worth the effort.
We ruined my parents' every summer with our swing, tent, paddling pool etc and wore patches bare simply by being there.
It was horrible to lie out on because of the ants, hard and knobbly to fall on and would have great growth spurts timed when it was especially miserable weather so my poor old Dad got nagged about mowing it for days.
My dream house will have a lovely big deck and then either a sunken brick terrace, with a vegetable patch at the end (although I will be happiest if someone else is prepared to look after it).
My best friend when I was at school had a half lawn/ half vegetable patch garden and I spent many happy hours helping to pick and prune and weed (proving that children will enjoy anything as long as it's not their own parents asking them to do it).
If I killed the weeds, all I would have is bare dirt. No lawn at all.
No weed killer here.
I now have a song from Hee Haw stuck in my head. If it wern't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Gloom, despair, and agony on me.
If it wern't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.
I now have a Albert Bell/Cream/Pat Travers song stuck in my head.
I don't think small lawns are worth the effort.
We ruined my parents' every summer with our swing, tent, paddling pool etc and wore patches bare simply by being there.
It was horrible to lie out on because of the ants, hard and knobbly to fall on and would have great growth spurts timed when it was especially miserable weather so my poor old Dad got nagged about mowing it for days.
My dream house will have a lovely big deck and then either a sunken brick terrace, with a vegetable patch at the end (although I will be happiest if someone else is prepared to look after it).
My best friend when I was at school had a half lawn/ half vegetable patch garden and I spent many happy hours helping to pick and prune and weed (proving that children will enjoy anything as long as it's not their own parents asking them to do it).
Lawns are so different here. And so easy in the Midwest (although Michigan is very much north and somewhat east of centre, it's apparently in the Midwest ;) ) Plant stuff is such a doddle here, I now can't believe how hard it was to get stuff to grow in Birmingham. And lawns are bigger. In the UK, we used to struggle to keep 9*9 foot of lawn alive. Here, we could trash that and reseed it and it'd be back to normal by the end of the month. fantastic.
BTW my 9yo daughter was out voluntarily weeding the front garden after school today. She begged to be allowed to do it :D
(Multiple flower beds are called "English gardens" round here. Gardening just isn't a big thing compared to the UK. Shame, when the climate is so perfect. In general, in the "cookie-cutter" neighborhoods it's shove in a few symmetrical shrubs, mulch and grass the rest and you're done. Low maintenance. If you feel adventurous, throw in a few pre-grown annual plants every now and then, and when they die through lack of water, get some more.)
Glistening sward sounds so dirty.
The sward is only dirty on the bottom, Harold.
Now, glistening
furze -- that's dirty. :p Sometimes.
Don't you just know it! My mower broke down second time of use this season - only ten minutes into the second cut - had to get it to the repairers pronto - luckily it fits into the old Passat estate nicely.....
.
Was it a problem with the engine or another part of the tractor?
You never hear of anyone with lawn burns, we should grass the inside too :D
CF , " you might be a Redneck IF ,,,,," ;)
There is a natural lawn movement here in FL, where you cannot use fertilizer, other than natural, and you can only have indigenous plants. You must have dead-fall for wildlife somewhere in your area, size depends on your lot size. Some of them are lovely.
I preferred the desert "lawns" in CA when I lived there.
Was it a problem with the engine or another part of the tractor?
Just the spark plug.....
There is a natural lawn movement here in FL, where you cannot use fertilizer, other than natural, and you can only have indigenous plants. You must have dead-fall for wildlife somewhere in your area, size depends on your lot size. Some of them are lovely.
trying not to hijack, but it sound like you approve of this policy?
I absolutely approve. We need to stop using fertilizer. The common aesthetic is created and needs to be discarded.
I absolutely approve. We need to stop using fertilizer. The common aesthetic is created and needs to be discarded.
But isn't this a loss of freedom? Or is it entirely voluntary?
I don't disapprove, don't get me wrong, it just seemed to un-you to be in favor of prescribing behaviour for others. But maybe I just read it wrong the first time. No offence intented, just wondering...
It is voluntary. Though I am in favor of water restrictions and fertilizer restrictions when it is dangerous to the water table and the environment.
Just the spark plug.....
Wouldn't it of been easier to bring the spark plug, to the lawn mower?
Interesting thread. :)
I have never really wanted a lawn, but I would love to have a vegetable garden. Unfortunately, we don't exactly have room for one in the apartment. :D
If you have a stoop or a porch, you can do some container gardening Hime. I grew some wonderful tomatoes a few years ago - Sweetest 100's (cherry) and Patio Princess (romas). You can also trellis train some viney things - Cucumbers and Zucchinis (we're doing that in our big garden this year - but I've read about container planting these as well).
Container gardening works pretty well - you just need to water a lot more frequently because the soil dries out quicker. Nothing like the taste of fresh herbs and veggies in your meals!
It is voluntary. Though I am in favor of water restrictions and fertilizer restrictions when it is dangerous to the water table and the environment.
Cool. Thanks. :)
I've never seen a zucchini on a vine...well, not that you'd be able to put on a trellis anyway.
I just wanted to share that on Saturday, I mowed the lawn for the first time in nine years.
At the time I took my current job, it involved a bit of a raise. My daughter was not quite 4 and my son was a newborn. Mrs. Dallas was involved in several projects that often took her out on evenings and weekends. What this meant was that mowing the grass was hard to find time for, because I couldn't do it unless she was home to watch the kids--and between her being gone and the occasional rain, it just seemed like I was often feeling like I ought to cut the grass, but couldn't find an opportunity.
So it made sense to start paying to have the grass mowed, and we continued on. Lately, we're looking for expenses to cut (damn, where did that raise go???), and we decided to get rid of the lawn service. They came one time anyway before they got the message that we weren't using them, two weeks ago.
The lawn mower was rusty, after sitting in the shed (itself in need of some maintenance) for so long, but it did the job. I should dig out my blade sharpener. I was rusty too--I forgot how hard it was to use a string trimmer to edge the sidewalk, without leaning over and wrecking my back.
Why edge the sidewalk? Where you walk the grass will die. Where you don't, it doesn't matter.
I just like the look. I also find when I don't edge it, it eventually grows out further into the walk than I'd like. (And this is the REAL problem with lawns... the grass plants are not intended to be a height of 2-3 inches, but much taller. One day some clever boffin at a county extension office will develop some short grass and we can all stop mowing. Of course conspiracy theorists maintain that this has already happened, but was suppressed by Toro, John Deere, Lawn Boy, and other mower manufacturers.)
Or someday people will stop being brainwashed into thinking they have to poison the earth with lawns and get goats. Or if you're horny, sheep.
What do you mean by that? Goats are the ones with horns, right?
Where I live, the local government is offering $3000 towards the replacement of grass with desert landscaping. Now, most houses have rock gardens and cacti and such. Except mine.
I did put in a request for a lawn so the dogs would have someplace to go without tracking in dirt and mud so I guess it's my fault. And the loved one is already clamouring for me to mow the lawn and I'm not quite even there yet.
Six days and counting to the big move!
Brian