Grass

[photo caption: my boring front and back yards when we moved in, my floriferous front yard a few years later. Don't have a good photo to post of the changes to my back yard, will get one this summer!]

Grass: the Good, The Bad and the Ugly

I’ll get my bias right out at the start-I hate grass and work hard to kill it. I am married to a wonderful man who hates it too. Both of us would way rather spend our outdoor time pruning, planting, harvesting and trimming in the flower, vegetable and fruit gardens than pushing a lawnmower, let alone fertilizing and otherwise treating the stuff. When we first moved into this house we had a half-acre lot and the first mowing took us three days. No, we didn’t mow the whole time, just gave up in frustration and exhaustion, had a lemonade (or a beer) and tackled it some more the next day. We both vowed to get rid of as much of this grass as possible.

I started mulching with boards, plastic, old tarps. Anything to kill grass so it would be easier to dig. I added new beds or paths each year, so that now we can mow in a few hours. The majority of the yard is now delightful garden.

OK, why do we hate grass so much? First it takes so many inputs of energy, chemicals (fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides,…) and water to keep grass grass, and not a collection of green weeds. For example, “one 40-pound bag of synthetic fertilizer contains the fossil-fuel equivalent of approximately 2.5 gallons of gasoline, and mowing for one hour with a gasoline-powered mower generates the same amount of pollution as driving a car for 20 miles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To keep lawns green, we apply about 10,000 gallons of water, which leads to fungal diseases and weeds that attract pests, so we douse our coveted green patches with approximately 67 million pounds a year of synthetic pesticides” (from http://www.thegreenguide.com/home-garden/garden/easy-organic-lawn-care). We didn’t want to be a part of this chemical assault, and waste of water. So, to protect our earth, and to protect our family, we decided to forgo a conventional lawn (ever read up on the harmful effects of pesticides? Pretty scary stuff).

So, grass looks nice. Well, that’s what many people think. I find grass a dull, uninteresting monoculture. Yard after yard of the same short green blades is pretty boring. And when I look at it, I think of all the chemicals that are on it, that oil that goes into making it, and all that wasted effort. I once read that, if you scraped the surface of a golf course, in order to properly dispose of the sample you would have to take it to an EPA approved site, so toxic is it. Grass might be green, but it is not “Green.”

I vastly prefer flowers, vegetables and fruits. I prefer a varied garden, with interest most any time of the year. I like to produce food from my little patch of ground, as well as beauty and habitat for birds.

So, my advice? Chip away, plant a flower or vegetable bed, reduce even just a few square feet of grass for a "Greener" yard and home.

Happy gardening!