Turning your lawn into something
more beautiful and useful would save time and money while curbing pollution and
water usage.
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Have
you taken your hounds fox hunting lately? You haven’t? Well, maybe you’ve gone
to visit a friend’s estate in a horse and carriage? You haven’t done that
either, have you? Most of the popular trends of 19th century
British aristocracy are not the norm in 21st century America.
Except for one: the lawn.
Centuries
ago, most Europeans (and their descendants on our side of the pond) produced
food on their land. Whether in the form of kitchen gardens, farm fields, or
pastures for raising livestock, most folks relied on their land in order to
eat.
Only
the rich could afford to flaunt their wealth by devoting large areas of land to
an inedible, yet beautifully manicured, green lawn. Back then, without lawn mowers,
lawn maintenance required paying a servant to “mow” the lawn with a scythe.
Lawns were mega status symbols.
Your
lawn, if you’ve got one, might be covered with snow right now. But the
groundhog has spoken and spring will be upon us soon. America’s No. 1 crop is
lawn turf. As a nation, we spend $30 billion on our 40 billion acres of lawn each year.
Think
about it. Is it time to ditch your lawn?
Lawns
were status symbols because they were wasteful. They’ve lost their status, but
they’re still plenty wasteful. If all lawns were watered at the recommended
levels, then we’d use 238 gallons of
water per person,
per day maintaining them during the growing season. Most of us also use
fertilizer, which is made using fossil fuels and often pollutes our waterways.
All to grow a crop we don’t eat.
If
your family plays soccer on your lawn, maybe you’ve got a good reason to keep
on mowing and watering. If your lawn serves no purpose, consider your other
options.
In
arid areas where green lawns mimicking Merry Olde England are particularly
ridiculous, you can try xeriscaping. That means planting drought-tolerant plants,
often native to where you live, that survive and even thrive with little to no
work or maintenance on your part. Done right, a yard full of natives can be
beautiful.
You won’t sacrifice any of your yard’s aesthetics if you go this
route, and your neighbors will respect your choice. After an initial
investment, you’ll be able to kick back while your neighbors continue investing
time and money into their lawns year after year.
Even
in parts of the country with plenty of rain, native plants are a good way to
go. They’re already adapted to your climate, so they don’t require watering or
mowing. I like to choose native plants with edible berries or beautiful
flowers, or ones that attract butterflies and songbirds.
If
you don’t mind doing a bit more work, start growing some food in your own yard.
Vegetable gardens are rewarding, but most vegetables must be planted each year.
Fruit trees, on the other hand, live for many years and bear fruit year in and
year out.
Instead
of ripping out your lawn — a monumental task, no doubt — you can compost it in place. There are many ways to do
this, but the principle is always the same: Deny your lawn sunlight and keep it
moist. Within a few months, the grass will die and break down, enriching the
soil and readying it for whatever is next.
With
the economy still in a rough patch, spending money on lawn care makes no sense.
This spring, turn yours into something more beautiful and useful.
OtherWords columnist Jill
Richardson is the author of Recipe
for America: Why Our Food System Is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It. OtherWords.org