Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to mow the lawn? Then don’t! Give up the expense and time and noise and just let the plants grow. Take stock of your yard use. Are there parts of your yard where the kids don’t play and you don’t have a picnic table or lawn chairs? Letting those areas grow will at least reduce the size of the area that you need to mow. Particularly at this time of year, not mowing or delaying for a few weeks allows more flowers to grow which in turn supports more pollinators.
In an article at NRDC.org, Mary Talbot makes the case for putting away the lawnmower. She points out that annually in the U.S., "lawns consume nearly 3 trillion gallons of water a year, 200 million gallons of gas (for all that mowing), and 70 million pounds of pesticides."* Pesticides and fertilizers used on lawns are toxic to wildlife locally and in bodies of water contaminated by runoff. Alternatives are becoming more popular: "These no-mow yards fall into four categories: 1) naturalized or unmowed turf grass that is left to grow wild; 2) low-growing turf grasses that require little grooming (most are a blend of fescues); 3) native or naturalized landscapes where turf is replaced with native plants as well as noninvasive, climate-friendly ones that can thrive in local conditions; and 4) yards where edible plants—vegetables and fruit-bearing trees and shrubs—replace a portion of turf."*
*Mary Talbot, September 30, 2016, More Sustainable (and Beautiful) Alternatives to a Grass Lawn,"
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/more-sustainable-and-beautiful-alternatives-grass-lawn?fbclid=IwAR2lnW6evfXJhzfg99qfIPwdgNxkDUAkL7EO_91QZTZ1I4U5JRrBxvWAGTc
Photo by Susan O'Donnell
In an article at NRDC.org, Mary Talbot makes the case for putting away the lawnmower. She points out that annually in the U.S., "lawns consume nearly 3 trillion gallons of water a year, 200 million gallons of gas (for all that mowing), and 70 million pounds of pesticides."* Pesticides and fertilizers used on lawns are toxic to wildlife locally and in bodies of water contaminated by runoff. Alternatives are becoming more popular: "These no-mow yards fall into four categories: 1) naturalized or unmowed turf grass that is left to grow wild; 2) low-growing turf grasses that require little grooming (most are a blend of fescues); 3) native or naturalized landscapes where turf is replaced with native plants as well as noninvasive, climate-friendly ones that can thrive in local conditions; and 4) yards where edible plants—vegetables and fruit-bearing trees and shrubs—replace a portion of turf."*
*Mary Talbot, September 30, 2016, More Sustainable (and Beautiful) Alternatives to a Grass Lawn,"
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/more-sustainable-and-beautiful-alternatives-grass-lawn?fbclid=IwAR2lnW6evfXJhzfg99qfIPwdgNxkDUAkL7EO_91QZTZ1I4U5JRrBxvWAGTc
Photo by Susan O'Donnell
RSS Feed