Lawn - what lawn?

Category: Garden | Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 8:25 am

When we bought our home, it was surrounded by lawn. Yep, all four sides of it. But "lawn" might not be the right word... The back looked more or less like a collection of various moss. The east side and front seemed to be humps or dumps with grass and more moss. The bit to the west was actually rather nice, but very big.

We brought a battery powered lawn mower with us in the car. That was our first piece of "furniture" - everything else arrived later that day. The first year we spent redecorating the interior and mowing the lawn.

The next year we decided we did not want all that grass around. So we started transforming the lawns into something we didn't have to mow.

The back is now covered with stone, two raised beds and a messy under-construction-zone.

The east and south bit is an acid soil bed with hostas, lilies, trilliums, rhododendron, heathers and what-not. It looks rather nice.

To the west, we're still working on how to reduce the amount of flat greenery. We've made three flower borders, half a hosta walk, some steps that we call a donkey stair case and a sand box for the girls.

Now, why do we want rid of the lawn? Well, the mower's battery got poorer each year, so we had to decrease lawn size in order to get everything mowed in one charge. Then we've got this unstable weather. Mowing wet lawn is a patience-trying experience, and having to do that all summer is really not much fun.

In addition to that, there's moss. Some patches were all moss and no grass, and after having watched the neighbour spending a week removing moss, redressing lawn and tidying up, just to have a nice lawn for only two years, we realized that either we kept the moss or got rid of more lawn.

And to top things off, we're getting short of border space. A fact I believe many Stewbees can relate to.

We'll keep some lawn of course. It's nice to walk barefoot on the grass. But the size will be no more than a tennis court, that will have to do.

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Biita wrote on Fri Nov 09, 2007 10:51 am:

Keep the moss, no mowing, an sometimes the moss gets these cute little flowers on them.. but i would love someday to see those flower beds an borders, it just sounds so nice.

eileen wrote on Fri Nov 09, 2007 11:40 am:

Our lawn used to take up most of our back garden but each year it gets smaller and smaller as I run out of flower bed space. I'd love to see piccies of your garden Droopy as it sounds really lovely even with moss!!

Droopy wrote on Fri Nov 09, 2007 11:46 am:

The moss is just returning now after the Shetland Pony-treatment three years ago, and I won't do anything to keep it away.

Pictures, of course, when spring is back. I have lots of plant portraits but none of the entire borders or a big view.

Palm Tree wrote on Fri Nov 09, 2007 2:28 pm:

My goodness Droopy
A tennis court size lawn!!
That the size of my whole garden. - that is lawn, flower beds and garage. (I almost forgot inclusing the swimming pool

no wonder you call it a patiencetrying experience

glendann wrote on Fri Nov 09, 2007 5:17 pm:

Sounds like you will have a wonderful yard when you are finished.I wold love to see the Photos when all is back.

Droopy wrote on Fri Nov 09, 2007 5:44 pm:

I'm lucky, we got a fair-size property with the old house. Newer homes are so squeezed you can hardly walk around your own home on your own property.

GardeninVanGogh wrote on Wed Nov 14, 2007 12:31 am:

Congratulations for keeping America beautiful. There is no need to pollute air, soil,water and disturb the vecinity while cutting turf. The amount of money,energy and resources wasted in lawns is astounding.
On the other hand, what does a lawn do for you? Ground covers are much more interesting to look at. The both of you took a smart decision. Lets hope others will follow. Horticulture should be an example of wise people. Get rid of turf, plant something else. My advice to the novice.

Droopy wrote on Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:26 am:

First of all, I'm not American and I do not live in America, so what I do or do not with my lawn will have no impact on America whatsoever.

Second, my lawn mower is electric. It runs on rechargeable batteries, and my power source is water, not fossilized fuels, so I'm very environmental friendly.

Third, I like walking barefoot on my lawn. It's nice and soft. The children love playing on it. There is no better surface to lie down and relax on. The birds look for food all over it, and the cats enjoy chasing each other on it.

GardeninVanGogh wrote on Thu Nov 15, 2007 12:41 pm:

Yep. All true. But in a global, wider scheme of things, gardening,horticulture in our case, the actions of some affect the life of others. I prefer to see what I do in relation to what others do, perceive as natural. Complacency, indifference as the consequences to the environment by the action of others should not be swept under the rug, because I did not do it. Global warming true or false, will increase water levels, even though Norway had nothing to do with it, for example.