Let's overthink my lawn for a post, shall we?
While we were in Paris, my Mother moved into my house (temporarily, as it turns out), fired my lawn guy, bought a gas-powered mower and was planning to take care of the landscaping herself. She enjoys it. But circumstances took her to Florida and now I'm left with no lawn guys and long grass.
No big deal, really. But it started me thinking about lawns. Then I read this article that summed up the environmental issues of our lawn obsession.
We, as a nation, over-water, over-fertilize and over-mow our lawns. And it's having a negative effect on our environment. While, yes, there are absolute positives for having a lawn and taking care of it, we're often doing way too much. Sure, grass is a plant and pulls a little carbon from the air, and is way better than paving or anything else, BUT it's doesn't need to look perfect all the time.
I live in the midwest, so I only need to worry about the lawn a few month each year -- starting about now. And because I haven't treated the lawn this spring, my front lawn is dandelion heaven. And, as compared to our neighbors, it's looking pretty underwhelming.
But then I got a knock on my door one evening from a guy from one of those services who treat my neighbors' lawns and asked if I had a "plan for the weeds in my yard." First, that's kinda rude, right? And, second, yes, enjoy the lovely dandelions! They're pretty and yellow. (Yes, I know they'll eventually kill patches of lawn ... BIG DEAL.)
So he starts selling me on his products. "It's safe for kids and pets to walk on after an hour." This immediately sends up a red *poison!* flag. "So, what's in it?" And he had NO IDEA. How can you sell something and NOT KNOW what it is?! Whatever it is, it can't be good or nontoxic. And it's going into the GROUND where there is drinking water and all kinds of things I want to keep alive. Soo.. ugh. That's a hard pass.
And here's the thing: a quick Google search and I found five non-toxic ways to treat dandelions, including soap, hot water, vinegar, or just spending an hour pulling them out.
Plus, once I mowed, the dandelions started to die off, so why bother?!
And mowing turns out to be pretty simple, like I remember from my high school summer days. My yard is small so it only took me and Leah (yup, I taught her too) less than an hour to do the whole thing. (Let's quickly skip over the part that my Mom bought a gas-powered mower, instead of an electric or even push mower. ugh) And I'll probably wait to mow again until the grass is REALLY HIGH. I like a long, green lawn. The dog does too.
It's finally green after months and months of looking at dead grass or snow-covered lawns.
So, no, I'm not going to feel the pressure of spending big $$ to manicure my lawn and compete with the neighbors.
Related links:
More landscaping posts
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| Leah Mowing Like a Pro |
No big deal, really. But it started me thinking about lawns. Then I read this article that summed up the environmental issues of our lawn obsession.
We, as a nation, over-water, over-fertilize and over-mow our lawns. And it's having a negative effect on our environment. While, yes, there are absolute positives for having a lawn and taking care of it, we're often doing way too much. Sure, grass is a plant and pulls a little carbon from the air, and is way better than paving or anything else, BUT it's doesn't need to look perfect all the time.
I live in the midwest, so I only need to worry about the lawn a few month each year -- starting about now. And because I haven't treated the lawn this spring, my front lawn is dandelion heaven. And, as compared to our neighbors, it's looking pretty underwhelming.
But then I got a knock on my door one evening from a guy from one of those services who treat my neighbors' lawns and asked if I had a "plan for the weeds in my yard." First, that's kinda rude, right? And, second, yes, enjoy the lovely dandelions! They're pretty and yellow. (Yes, I know they'll eventually kill patches of lawn ... BIG DEAL.)
So he starts selling me on his products. "It's safe for kids and pets to walk on after an hour." This immediately sends up a red *poison!* flag. "So, what's in it?" And he had NO IDEA. How can you sell something and NOT KNOW what it is?! Whatever it is, it can't be good or nontoxic. And it's going into the GROUND where there is drinking water and all kinds of things I want to keep alive. Soo.. ugh. That's a hard pass.
And here's the thing: a quick Google search and I found five non-toxic ways to treat dandelions, including soap, hot water, vinegar, or just spending an hour pulling them out.
Plus, once I mowed, the dandelions started to die off, so why bother?!
And mowing turns out to be pretty simple, like I remember from my high school summer days. My yard is small so it only took me and Leah (yup, I taught her too) less than an hour to do the whole thing. (Let's quickly skip over the part that my Mom bought a gas-powered mower, instead of an electric or even push mower. ugh) And I'll probably wait to mow again until the grass is REALLY HIGH. I like a long, green lawn. The dog does too.
It's finally green after months and months of looking at dead grass or snow-covered lawns.
So, no, I'm not going to feel the pressure of spending big $$ to manicure my lawn and compete with the neighbors.
Related links:
More landscaping posts
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