A question I wish people asked themselves is: ‘If the only time I go out to my yard is to mow, do I really need this area as lawn?’
Americans love their lawns. And, there’s no doubt about it, lawns make a fantastic place to picnic and recreate. A tidy lawn represents social status, obligation to neighbors, and even patriotism. A weedy lawn, on the other hand, is a symbol of laziness, a social faux pas, and sometimes even considered rude.
But, let’s reconsider lawns for a minute. We water and fertilize lawns so they will grow only to complain about having to mow our lawns. And what do we do with the cut grass? Bale it and sell it? Eat it? No. At best, clippings are left on the lawn so they can act as a fertilizer. At worst, the clippings are bagged and thrown away, not even allowing those nutrients to be composted or go back into the soil.
Many fashions have come and gone over the past few hundred years, but lawns have had staying power. Historically, lawns have served as a status symbol for European aristocrats who showed they were wealthy enough not to need to grow food on every square inch of their property like peasants. In essence, they could afford to waste the space. With world population and consumption of resources steadily increasing, people are starting to question whether this consumptive style makes sense in today’s world.
The EPA estimates that one-third of all water used in American homes—7 billion gallons per day—goes towards landscape irrigation (2008). I n the Twin Cities, many cities cite a 50 percent increase in water use during summer months—largely due to lawn irrigation. In 2002, lawn care industries in the United States used 21 terajoules of energy in the production of pesticides, fertilizers, and gas-powered lawn mowers—more energy than used by the cattle ranching and vehicle manufacturing industries combined (Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment-Carnegie Mellon University 2002). Unlike cattle and cars, however, lawns don’t transform their intense energy inputs into anything principally functional or consumable.
Lawn alternatives
To achieve a low-input lawn, there are many alternative plants that grow in a wide variety of sun and soil conditions and still provide homeowners with the look of a lawn. Benefits of these turf alternatives abound: they are more drought and salt tolerant (think road salt), and may also provide food and habitat to pollinators. Examples of alternative lawns include everything from native plants like Blue Grama and Prairie June Grass to fescue blends, self heal, and white clover. Nurseries that specialize in native plants are typically very helpful in helping consumers determine which alternative would work well with their soil and sun conditions, and foot traffic. And, the University of Minnesota Extension Service is a wonderful resource too: turf.umn.edu/low-input-lawns/.
For the homeowners who have decided they don’t need some (or all) of their yards as lawn, native wildflower plantings are another alternative. Wildflowers provide higher quality nectar and pollen than their cultivated counterparts. To boot, native wildflowers come back year after year without replanting, don’t need to be fertilized, and typically have long roots so they don’t need watering after their first growing season.
For do-it-yourselfers and those who would rather hire alike, BlueThumb.org provides everything a person needs to know to transform their yards—native plant nurseries, how-to videos, grants, landscapers, designers, installers, garden coaches and folks to assist with maintenance.
Another question I hope people ask themselves is: “How great will it feel to look my grandchildren in the eyes and explain how grandpa and/or grandma helped make sure they had enough drinking water?”
Written by Dawn Pape on behalf of the Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission (BCWMC), a local unit of government comprised of the nine cities that drain to Bassett Creek, focused on protecting water. BCWMC is a member of the West Metro Water Alliance. www.bassettcreekwmo.org.