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gardening
September 2007 
Kill your lawn
Posted on Aug 28th, 2007
by 
feliciamaria
feliciamaria
OK, I really am great, big hypocrite, sitting here trying to tell you to get rid of your lawn. Not that I have one myself, of course -- I'm not that much of a hypocrite! But I do recall frolicking on the lawn in the back yard of my house when I was a little girl, playing kickball with neighborhood kids. How could I ask anyone to deprive deprive their child of that?
Well, then, let me rephrase that first sentence: Keep the parts of your lawn that are actually enjoyed. Turn the rest into a combination mini-meadow, woodland, cactus farm, sculpture garden, pond, meditation area, patio, outdoor dining room, whatever. Yes, you love looking at that flat expanse of green, but how much more will you love looking at a real landscape of varying hues and heights, paths weaving in and out, birds twittering, critters crittering...?
Lawns are a fashion long overdue to fall out of favor. They began in England as an exercise in waste (of labor, of land) and so they largely remain. In the drier parts of the U.S., lawns are particularly hard to justify, as they waste water as well. When I was in the Southwest 2 years ago, I admired the many surreal displays of cactuses and succulents in the gardens of Santa Fe, but, alas, in Phoenix and LA lawn-worship continues in full-swing.
Enough nagging! Here are a couple of websites that will help you get started in strangling, er, shrinking your lawn:
http://www.lesslawn.com/
http://www.foodnotlawns.com/
Well, then, let me rephrase that first sentence: Keep the parts of your lawn that are actually enjoyed. Turn the rest into a combination mini-meadow, woodland, cactus farm, sculpture garden, pond, meditation area, patio, outdoor dining room, whatever. Yes, you love looking at that flat expanse of green, but how much more will you love looking at a real landscape of varying hues and heights, paths weaving in and out, birds twittering, critters crittering...?
Lawns are a fashion long overdue to fall out of favor. They began in England as an exercise in waste (of labor, of land) and so they largely remain. In the drier parts of the U.S., lawns are particularly hard to justify, as they waste water as well. When I was in the Southwest 2 years ago, I admired the many surreal displays of cactuses and succulents in the gardens of Santa Fe, but, alas, in Phoenix and LA lawn-worship continues in full-swing.
Enough nagging! Here are a couple of websites that will help you get started in strangling, er, shrinking your lawn:
http://www.lesslawn.com/
http://www.foodnotlawns.com/
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