![]() I let every “weed” that you are probably trying to remove from your lawn grow there. This is where the real horror starts: I let it go wild. It is so beautiful that I wish it would completely replace the lawn.īut now that I had eliminated all the lawn I could, what to do about the lawn that remains? I still have a large grassy area where my children play, which though not chemically treated is still a monoculture. Lawn veronica, Veronica filiformis, grows throughout my lawn. My lawn just did not fit into this scheme. In Bringing Nature Home, Tallamy explains quite eloquently how our home gardens are the last bastion of space where we can promote biodiversity through planting native plants. EPA, “Operating a typical gasoline-powered lawn mower for one hour produces the same amount of smog-forming hydrocarbons as driving an average car almost 200 miles under typical driving conditions.” Mowing accounts for 5% of air pollution in the U.S (click here for more details). and that every weekend we mow an area eight times the size of New Jersey. It is sobering to consider that we have planted 40 million acres of lawn in the U.S. The death warrant for my lawn as most Americans know it was sealed in stone in 2007 when I read an article by Doug Tallamy in which he pointed out the dangers of this non-native monoculture to our native flora and fauna. A White Paper produced by a diverse group of scientists and policy experts for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Project outlines the damage being done and recommends encouraging “consumers to question aesthetics-based behaviors (i.e., desire for visually attractive lawns or produce) in lieu of decision-making based on human health and ecological concerns.” Phrased that way, it is amazing there is any question what the right path is. For more information, read this article by the Chesapeake Bay Program by clicking here. Lawn chemicals are a major contaminant of the Chesapeake Bay, which is the largest and most biologically diverse estuary in the U.S. This whole hillside was an eroded, chemically dependent lawn when we moved in. After reading this would you let any family member, especially your children, walk on a chemically treated lawn? There is lots of information out there about the cancer causing hazards of commonly used lawn chemicals, for example, see The Truth About Cats, Dogs, and Lawn Chemicals. Chemically treated lawns are a scientifically documented toxic hazard to your pets. To me, as pointed out by this article, the whole concept of lawn is inherently ridiculous even before you get to the environmental issues. ![]() It also supports my practice of leaving leaves in my garden beds, see my post Fall Clean-Up. This clever but provocative piece was printed in the Spring 2001 newsletter of The Friends of Casco Bay, Maine. Francis and renewed my efforts to eliminate our lawn (click to enlarge): ![]() In 2001, I read this tongue-in-cheek discussion between God and St. Plus there was never any question of using chemicals to keep it green and weed free as we have been organic from day one. I just thought it was a ridiculous waste of garden space and resources like water and very high maintenance: it had to go. At the time I didn’t know that “advanced” gardeners were supposed to get rid of their lawn. When we bought our property in 1983, I already had it in for the lawn, which encompassed most of our 2 acres. Read at your own risk.ĭepending on how you look at it, I was always ahead of the curve on the lawn issue. Drug use is discussed, and nudity is recommended. It contains lawn profanity as well as intense language and strong opinions and recommends graphic violence to your lawn. WARNING: This post could be hazardous to your lawn or at least your relationship with your spouse. This photo and the next four all show beds created from former lawn at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens. ![]() For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog. The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas. Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade.
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