Backyard Betty Design

By Kara

Most people can say they appreciate the beauty of a lush span of grass. We enjoy common public spaces to sit in the grass and enjoy a picnic. We might also enjoy sports that traditionally must be played on turf, like football or soccer or Frisbee.

Lawns are for doing things on. A properly installed lawn starting at the soil is made to be uniform in anticipation of use. In my neighbourhood I’ve noticed that with the exception of families with children or pets, the time I really see people out enjoying their lawn is when they are mowing or amending it with lime and fertilizers.

I struggled for a long time over the waste of space. I started crunching a few numbers and suddenly it wasn’t just a matter of wasted space, but also time and energy. Here is what I found:

An average sized suburban property is 60′ by 120′ less the space of an average sized bungalow (42′ by 32′) and driveway (30′ by 15′). We are left with 5406′ sq of potential lawn.

To keep that much lawn as healthy as possible it will need between 3 to 5.5lbs of a nitrogen fertilizer 3 to 4 times a year. This translates to 9-22lbs of fertilizer per year. We already know that chemical fertilizers are toxic, with that said its important to think about leaching. A freshly fertilized lawn with an unexpected heavy rain storm and all of those chemicals will wind up in your municipal storm drains, then into rivers, lakes and oceans. While fertilizer from one person might not seem like a lot, multiply that by the number of people who regularly fertilize their lawn, and other leached chemicals from farms. Well, let just say that a of whole lot toxic being pumped into our environment, and it most commonly happens in very well developed countries that rely on big agriculture for food production. We are polluting ourselves.

In order to make sure that your lawn is able to absorb the nutrients that you are adding you need to make sure that the pH of the soil is correct for growing grass. For the maximum nutrient absorbency your pH should be near 6-7 this is quite neutral. One the east coast our soil is generally fairly acidic, so adding lime to correct the soil is necessary to have that lush lawn.

Depending on your soil texture and acidity it could take two to three years to properly correct the ph of your soil. For our average sized lawn with sandy soil average acidity, it would take 440lbs of lime. Now lets pretend that our average sized lawn has the optimal soil texture, called loam. Loam is made up of smaller particles as such it is more dense than sandy soil and it takes longer for the lime to effectively penetrate the soil. So we use more lime, with loam we need to apply 825lbs of lime to correct the pH. Lastly for clay soil you would need to apply 1100lbs of fertilizer to neutralize the pH. After you’ve corrected the soil, you’ll need to maintain that by liming every fall.

While these numbers seem outrageous, if you’re growing grass making sure that you have the proper pH and proper amount of fertilizer will produce a better quality turf that is more resistant to weeds, insects and disease. This means that you don’t need to use pesticides/herbicides/fungicides, chemical pest control is toxic, too but you knew that. With that said, chemicals that magically weed and fertilize turf are a trap for consumers who don’t know that dandelions are a sign of soil acidity, as are wild strawberries.

Now, lets talk water. To produce healthy and drought tolerant grass you only need 1” of rain per week. Usually our weather provides us with that much, with the exception of newly installed lawns which would need regular watering over the first two months. Browning grass isn’t a bad thing, if nature can naturally support the water requirements for grass, then the grass goes dormant not dead. What I’m saying is that in the middle of a drought, remember that roots grow deeper to find moisture. A well established lawn shouldn’t put a dent in your municipality’s water supply, because you don’t need to water it.

Water requirements can be lowered even further, by mowing less, a lawn that is cut very short, needs more water. A lawn that may be considered “out of control” needs far less water. Unless you have a gas-free, easy to maintain push mower, then you also need to think about gas. While 5 liters of gas every couple of weeks isn’t a big deal, think about how much that is over a growing season, and how many people mow their lawns. That is a lot of gas spend on grass, on top of the energy consumed to transport and create chemical fertilizers and lime.

Speaking of wasted energy, Caloric (like calories) Energy spent on physically mowing, and maintaining pH and fertilizer levels also has an associated cost which is tagged on to your grocery bill.

Other than parks and sports fields I really don’t see a need for grass, if you need a place for your children to play, then take them to the park. That’s why tax payers pay money for those services, to use them. Say you don’t live close to a park, using mulch and a jungle gym is much more cost and energy efficient over 20 years is easier than paying to maintain a perfect lawn that really gives you nothing in return. A yard with just dandelions is still more productive than a yard with just grass, with dandelions you can make wine and salad. Of course you only want to consume it if its chemical free.

Allowing your space to blend in with your natural surroundings is called “naturalizing” and it is the most Eco-friendly lawn you could every hope to have, because you allow your soil to naturally support the plants that have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to flourish in your area.  Natrualizing eliminates the need for watering, fertilizing, liming, and mowing.  Unfortunately some areas have regulations on what height your grass can grow, as well as mandates that state that you must have a lawn, especially if you happen to belong to a home-owners association. These rules and regulations are a hot pile of unsustainablity, much like grass it self, and our thinking on such things needs a dramatic overhaul.

Why spend money the money on grass get nothing in return? Turn your lawn into vegetables and fruit, flowering shrubs, trees, perennials, native species, and enjoy something pretty and productive, but for some silly reason its still unconventional, unique and radical.

Tags: eco, Eco-friendly, Environment, fertilizer, Gardening, grass, green design, green living, Growing, homeowning, Landscaping, lime, planet, responsiable, Sustainable, toxic, waste, weeds