The Monday Garden, Eco-gardening at its best
July 10, 2005, Issue 172
My main personal problem with the all-American all-grass turf lawn is not that it is a chemically-dependent water-waster that requires seemingly constant attendance by persons using annoyingly loud machines which excrete noxious fumes into the air and equally attractive chemicals into the ground. It is true that just one of our local plant nurseries got a seasonal delivery of something like 18 tons of pesticides and fertilizers (I could be mis-remembering the actual amount, but, could that number conceivably be right or even too low? I’m afraid so). It is true that, no matter how you slice it, this year’s lawn run-off from this year’s 18 tons or whatever isn’t real good for the water supply and all the creatures that depend on the water supply (e.g. you and me). It is also true that, because all-grass lawns are monocultures (i.e. large amount of one kind of plant), they can’t help but be magnet for plagues of bugs and disease, which, of course, then have to be kept at bay with the on-going “IV drip” of supplemental food, water and bug- and weed-suppressing chemicals.
Be that all as it may, my main problem with a perfectly manicured sweep of lawn is that it is boring, boring, boring. There is no way around it: the oh-so-neat-and-uniform all grass-lawn is the green equivalent of aluminum siding.
Picture: Dutch white clover and a Johnny jump-up in my mother’s chemical-free yard. Stamford CT, June 2005.
Test this for yourself: Walk across a field of blooming clover interspersed with violets and Johnny jump-ups; find some tiny white, yellow and purple wildflowers you can’t identify. Check out the butterflies. Now, check your heart rate and your mood. Feels nice, huh? If you don’t have such a space near by, close your eyes and pretend. Alternatively, if you happen to own a yard, you can make this happen (yes!).
Some kind of low vegetation around human structures is useful, and better than mud or concrete, but it can be more aesthetic and more environmentally- and kid-friendly, as well as less costly than the turf lawn. To re-design something, we need to start but examining why we have it in the first place. What function does it perform? To decide how to re-make your lawn you need to start here as well.
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| Pictures: My friend Peggy had created a master garden-yard in the woods, where cinquefoil runs free in the “lawn” and delicate native grasses are highlighted in the garden. Cool. Picture one: the head squirrel finds something good to eat in the front yard under the oaks; picture two: the grass under the swing set is interspersed with native mayflowers; and picture three: a beautiful but tough variegated ajuga, mixed with lime-colored sedum and clovers brings the garden into the yard. New Canaan, CT, July 4, 2005. | ||
Where do lawns come from? Since humans have had stationary dwellings, they’ve tended to have had a cleared space around the structures for work, play, security and gardening. Partially, the clearing created itself as human traffic beat down the vegetation and domesticated animals ate it. Alternatively, surrounding vegetation was purposefully kept low to create a buffer space to keep critters out of the buildings, to guard against surprise attack and fire, and to delineate private property. The space was often paved or mulched to keep it from getting too muddy or too dusty.
Picture: A front yard full of Dutch white clover is the garden at this house along as side street in Stamford CT, July 2005.
Some of the space was often used to grow herbs and vegetables handy to the kitchen and water supply. Some of it was used as an outdoor work area; some for play. They say that, at some point, the nobility of Northern Europe came up with the turf-lawn notion. What is known is that the American passion for lawns was inherited from the British. It is also known that an Englishman in the mid-1800’s invented the first mechanical lawn mower, that the first mass-marketable one was developed a bit later in, you guessed it, the good ol’ U.S.A., and that it was in the U.S.A. that power mower was first made popular, after World War II.
Lawns today: Lawns, for the masses, made possible by lawn mowers, spread with suburbia, until, from where I sit, it sometimes looks like the intermingled urban-suburban is all that’s left. The result is that, like all things suburban, so many people are doing them, that the environmental effects of what would otherwise be private activities are huge.
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| Pictures: Interesting things for the lawn: native oxalis, Hoyt Street Alley Stamford CT, July 2005; “red” clover in part-shade Bedford Street Stamford CT, June 2005; and scarlet pimpernel (European) with chicory growing wild along a hot sidewalk, Bedford Street, Stamford CT, July 2005. | ||
Designing your lawn: The phrase “over-designed” had crept into language to describe what I think of as “yuppy-gadgets” (even though I own a few) – things that cost 10 times as much as the ordinary household gadget of the type but have the capacity to double as inter-galactic light swords or something else equally handy if the need should arise. In other words, they have major excess capacity. Most turf lawns, believe it or not, are about the same. They are designed for medium to high traffic, including athletics, but for the most part, interestingly enough, in much of suburbia, a good part of the lawn is never tread upon by human foot, except for the lawn maintenance personnel.
So the first question to ask is: what is your yard actually used for? Do you have kids, outdoor animals, gardens? There may be a portion of the yard that actually gets heavy athletic use and needs a football-field type turf. This would be a thick rooted, tough grass, capable of withstanding punishment, and being kept fairly short. Board-leaf plants can be too slippery for athletics; likewise, it’s not the best place of bee-attractors.
Now the rest of your yard is a whole different story. Much of it, admit it, is just for looks, literally. It’s for looking out your window at; it’s for your neighbors to look at; it’s what you see first when you come home, it’s the view from the patio; it’s under your feet when you stroll over to enjoy the garden. The reason it is lawn, not garden with paths, is that you don’t want more garden to maintain, or you like the open look of lawn or the freedom to stroll in all directions, or may be you just haven’t had a chance to think about it. Curious that lawns are for looks but how we’ve made then look is boring-boring-boring.
Now’s the chance. Realize that you are free to have guilt-free flowers from the mail box to the garage all summer long and that you have do very little work to maintain it. How? Make a mowable meadow out of short, flowering plants that do well in yards.
Step one: stop using herbicides and see what comes by itself. Pull up the “bad” (e.g. plants that you don’t like) and encourage the “good” (e.g. ones you like).
Step two: sow a little Dutch White clover here and there (not more than one-third of the yard and do it spring or fall). You can buy the seeds on the Internet.
Step three: start looking around to see what grows naturally in your neighbors’ yards and when they say “oh, I have to get rid of this awful wild strawberry in the yard”; answer with: “Can I have it?”
Step four: plant a few seeds the strike your fancy: say thyme, Johnny jump-ups, and violets.
Step Five: continue to check The Monday Gardenfor articles about different plants to encourage or discourage in the yard.
Picture: wild strawberries (the barren yellow-flowered ones) and English ivy, First Congregationalist Church, Stamford CT, June 2005.
picture: moss, ferns, and ground ivy, First Presbyterian Church, Stamford CT, July 2005
Picture: birdsfoot trefoil a European native, long the darling of right-of-way maintenance crews, often finds its way into lawns. Looks nice mixed with white clover. Cove Island Park, Stamford July 2005.
Photo credits: Sue Sweeney
© Sue Sweeney 2005
Comments (5)
(This is from the Internet, sent in by my friend Diane, source unknown)
Conversation between God and St. Francis about lawns
GOD: St. Francis, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there in the USA? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect, no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles.
ST. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers weeds and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.
GOD: Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.
GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it, sometimes twice a week.
GOD: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?
ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.
GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?
ST. FRANCIS: No, sir -- just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.
GOD: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?
ST. FRANCIS: Yes, sir.
GOD: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.
ST. FRANCIS: You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.
GOD: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stoke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life.
ST. FRANCIS: You'd better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.
GOD: No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist and loose?
ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.
GOD: And where do they get this mulch?
ST. FRANCIS: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.
GOD: Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?
ST. CATHERINE: Dumb and Dumber, Lord. It's a real stupid movie about ...
GOD: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.
Posted by S. W. Sweeney | July 10, 2005 2:39 PM
Posted on July 10, 2005 14:39
See
http://earthcaretaker.com/lawns/godstakeonlawns.html
Posted by Walter Muma | July 11, 2005 7:31 PM
Posted on July 11, 2005 19:31
I have three dogs. I dislike boredom - especially in my garden. I have two large trees near each other and a seedling (8'high) from the woods.
The grass, dandelions and clover is in a big swath around the trees, leaving tall grass in the shade for the dogs to keep themselves cool and to play tiger.
My compost heap from year to year is raked out for wild perennial and annual wildflowers.
This keeps the drudgery of keeping the "lawn" cut, but leaves enough for badminton or a roly poly field for croquet of a sorts.
Posted by Brenda Huxley | July 19, 2005 1:55 AM
Posted on July 19, 2005 01:55
My mother wrote to me: The land service rep just stopped by -- he's worried about all the grubs in the backyard. I told him that you didn't want anything put down. He said we could loose
our entire lawn, which is true. What do you want done? Is there any safe product?
I wrote back:
Don't worry. It's not a problem. The worst that could happen already has. Remember the year before last when the skunk tore the whole yard up? (That was the year that West Nile killed the starlings so the birds didn't control the grubs.)
We now have several kinds of plants besides grass with longer roots and with roots that the grubs don't like, so the grubs can't do that much damage.
Sue
Posted by S. W. Sweeney | April 10, 2006 10:32 AM
Posted on April 10, 2006 10:32
MS Dempsey--
As you mention it is late to plant. Suggestion: As to your existing white clover, leave it for now. It may decide to grow shorter after it's been mowed a few times, especially if isn't over-watered. The new clover may be over-enthusiastic due to a lack of competition, overly abundant resources, etc. Too much shade could also cause long stems, but again, a few mowings might help.
If you still want to rip out your existing clover try the Dandelion terminator (www.DLT100.com). It hasn't been tested for clover yet, as far as I know, but should work with a little practice, and the DLT-100's fun anyway and will end most of your other lawn weed problems.
Also, take a look at this pink clover, O'Connor's Strawberry Clover , from gaiam.com
http://www.gaiam.com/retail/product.asp?product%5Fid=14-0350%20MSTR I planted some last year but don't know how high it will grow yet -- it's mixed in with the outsidepride.com white dutch and I won't know which is which until it blooms.
My favorite hug-the ground, stoppable lawn ground covers are cinquefoil for sun and the wild yellow-flowering strawberry for shade. I acquire them from neighbors' yards. Most people are trying to get rid of the stuff so they are very happy if I take starter plugs.
There are many, many adorable little plants that you can mix in-- ajuga, mazus, self-heal, pimpernel (sun only), Irish moss (shade only) - the list is endless. The best way to find what grows best in your area is to check the public parks, sidewalk areas, other people's lawns, etc.
Also, consider asking the new owner of your old house for some plugs of your old clover.
Sue
Posted by S. W. Sweeney | May 10, 2006 10:29 AM
Posted on May 10, 2006 10:29