My town has been doing the same and there's even a program where they will come rip out your lawn and replace it with some kind of wood chip stuff. The town's main water supply is a lake just downhill from our little mountain so they take it pretty seriously. I hate lawn care so I've considered it, but haven't actually taken action on it yet. But I just might. I hate hate hate mowing.
this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
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No Lawns
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ELI5, why is lawn care/mowing bad? I know monoculture grass is iffy, but why are wood chips better than grass?
Grass takes a lot of water and maintenance to look good. A lot of places are increasingly short on water.
I let my grass get water from the sky, if it gets enough, cool. If not, nature intended it.
I do still mow though because if I don’t my city issues a fine. I’d be fine with my grass being up to my ankle, any further than that and it unfortunately becomes a hazard because we have a snake issue.
Wood chips might help hold water better/better promote natives to grow there, also probably to help the soil gain back some nutrients
Thanks for the great answers, punks!
Grass needs lots of water (resource that's scarce in places), mowing (gas lawnmowers are big polluters), many companies use fertilizers and herbicides (fertilizers run off into the water system and herbicides are very harmful). But mostly grass is a monoculture and doesn't support our native bees, butterflies, or birds which we rely on to pollinate our food crops. Grass is useful in areas with heavy foot traffic, but we grow way more of it than we really need.
I think in that particular towns case, they don't want people using any kind of sprays on the lawn. Native is always the best option when given a choice.
Not really sure, something about nitrogen runoff maybe? I don't really recall, but I have the memory of a goldfish so I could be way off.
I had a place in my backyard where grass wouldn't grow because it ponded too much. Have since covered with mulch to prevent any more erosion and planted blueberries and creeping phlox. Much prettier now!
IMO one of the most problematic area for lawns is not really conservative area, like bible belts; but old money area like several super rich neighborhoods in blue (and red states, but good amount of them are in blue).
These people care about social status more than money or really anything else. they are happy to dump all the pollution and spends a shit load of money, just be accepted in their "high-class neighborhood".
The biggest problem (in the US) has to be all the suburbs, especially those with HOAs, and rental properties.
These places aren't likely to change anytime soon. It's weird cus clover and no maintenance lawns would be ideal for everyone, but who knows.
But look on the bright side: when/if the no lawn movement gains momentum those same people will jump on the bandwagon to conform with their neighbors.
Public shame is a much stronger motivator than personal morality. Especially for limousine liberals. Once we get to the point where rich suburbanites replace grass with native plants or xeriscapes to look good for their neighbors, we've won.
My dad (who keeps putting herbicides on the native yarrow in his yard), just told me he wants to add microclover to his lawn. So the idea is really getting out there!
I don't quite know where you live, but AFAIK clover is native to Europe, like many lawn grass. I wonder if there are people who know more than me to explain whether clover is better ecological than lawn grass in the U.S.
On the other hand, clover is pretty and low maintainace, so that is obviously a win for the environment. I am just wondering about the ecological impact.
My area (in the north east uk) has started only cutting grass against paths, most of it is now left wild and the regularly replant wildflowers every summer too. It's great.
OMG this is great news I love to hear that!
I wonder if laziness is going to be what ultimately pushes mass adoption. Most people just don't want to deal with the maintenance associated with perfect lawns.
@Realtrain
Yes, yes. If you don't want a field of decapitated, useless plants that don't even want to grow in your local climate, obviously you're just lazy. :blobfoxgoogly:
@mercurly
My county metroparks is pushing native plants pretty hard. It's awesome 😎
lawns are dumb
That is really encouraging.
I noticed it too. The company I currently work at let two big lawns grow out this year. At first I was thinking it was just another way to save money for them, but then I asked around a bit and someone revealed to me it was a conscious decision for the environment.
The company is damaging for the environment in a lot of other ways sadly, but I was still happy to see this shift to consider the environment more.
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