Funny thing - after I wrote and scheduled this post, I got in bed and picked up "Home," by Bill Bryson, (which I'm now on my third re-read of) and on the very next page he details the evolution of lawns as a pursuit for the leisure classes, to a middle-class norm. I'd read it before, but it was a great refresher. It would appear that the answer to the question "Who decided the middle classes are supposed to have lawns?" would be "the middle classes themselves"--but of course, consumerism helped us along the way. Just because things have been this way for a while, though, doesn't mean they can't or shouldn't change.
Consumerism. Always the culprit, hehe. I definitely want to do better next year, but I know for sure that I can't just let my lawn run wild. I do have a wooded area that I'm working on enhancing, and I know that I definitely want to mow much less and not do a traditional "fall cleanup." Will report back this summer. :)
I've been reading about planting clover in the spring - I actually meant to last year but didn't get around to it (the spring seems so far away when you're planning, but then is here and gone in a minute!)
True! It slips by quickly. I have some sort of grass that goes totally brown in the winter and doesn't seem to get that tall (or grows slowly). Though it spreads side to side pretty aggressively, so it can get crazy on the edges of my flower beds, taking things over. Not sure how I feel about letting that be a mess. I'm going to see what happens when I leave it be a little. I've been at this house 2 summers, so I really don't know a lot about this grass we have.
When we moved to Fort Wayne 7 years ago, the housing market was so hot and we had to jump on a house -- I was baffled at the amount of HOA's because where I lived in PA there weren't as many. Desperately wanting neighbors because I knew no one, we bought in an HOA but wow... there has been so much I dislike about living in one and especially the rules about the lawns. Thankfully, we do live in a not as strict of an HOA as others I have heard about . This year was the first year we left our leaves in the front yard and the backyard instead of raking and taking to the street for pickup. Last year it was backyard only because of the pressure of keeping up with the "look" of the neighborhood. It felt REALLY good to let the leaves be this year. As I get older each year, my perspective and what others think really shift more and more. Plus, I have been obsessed with birds since noticing blue birds in my backyard when moving here so the more I read about helping them, the more I want to help them and forget the opinions of what others think about our "messy" yard. It does help having a local bee guy behind us who also leaves a messy yard. Now that we've been here a while and have established a good sense of knowing others and our way around the community, we are actively looking for a home away from and HOA and can let our grasses run wild without the pressure of maintaining. I want to help nature and animals more and this book is really making me think more deeply into this.
Our back yard is an old Christmas tree farm so it’s full of tall blue spruces but in our front we have a small meadow. We mow at the road, along our driveway and up by the house but leave a good portion of it wild. It’s a lot less maintenance and I think it looks nicer. Especially in the summer when the grass dies in the heat, but the wild flowers and native plants keep going because they can handle it. I wish more people did that out by me. I drive by acres and acres of mowed lawns out in the country and there is no reason for it.
I've been trying to add more native plants to our urban yard for several years now. It's a little slow-going, as we have several large trees producing quite a bit of shade. The previous owners had done some beautiful landscaping, but many of the things they chose have died because our yard just gets shadier and shadier. The shade also means that grass doesn't grow well in most of our yard, either. I don't want a manicured grassy yard, but I would like some flat space for my kid to play that isn't always dust or mud. I'm thinking of bringing in a local native landscaping consultant to help with a spot in my backyard that's particularly shady. As for cleanup, we do still vacuum up most of our leaves, but mostly because I save them to be able to add to our compost pile over the summer. This year, I also used a bunch of shredded leaves as mulch for my raised bed garden and the handful of sunny spots where I like to grow cut flowers. Anyone looking to make their yard more hospitable to wildlife might also like this book - Nature's Best Hope, by Douglas Tallamy.
I absolutely loved this chapter. I have grappled with this issue for years. Wanting to be a "good neighbor" and follow the rules of a well-kept lawn, but hating the myriad negative effects that Meagan lays out in this post. I had already been thinking that we'd stop clearing out leaves and trimming tall grasses, but now I'm also considering not mowing our lawn in the back (much).
It'll save money, time, energy, gas, animals... it should be a no-brainer.
Funny thing - after I wrote and scheduled this post, I got in bed and picked up "Home," by Bill Bryson, (which I'm now on my third re-read of) and on the very next page he details the evolution of lawns as a pursuit for the leisure classes, to a middle-class norm. I'd read it before, but it was a great refresher. It would appear that the answer to the question "Who decided the middle classes are supposed to have lawns?" would be "the middle classes themselves"--but of course, consumerism helped us along the way. Just because things have been this way for a while, though, doesn't mean they can't or shouldn't change.
Consumerism. Always the culprit, hehe. I definitely want to do better next year, but I know for sure that I can't just let my lawn run wild. I do have a wooded area that I'm working on enhancing, and I know that I definitely want to mow much less and not do a traditional "fall cleanup." Will report back this summer. :)
I've been reading about planting clover in the spring - I actually meant to last year but didn't get around to it (the spring seems so far away when you're planning, but then is here and gone in a minute!)
True! It slips by quickly. I have some sort of grass that goes totally brown in the winter and doesn't seem to get that tall (or grows slowly). Though it spreads side to side pretty aggressively, so it can get crazy on the edges of my flower beds, taking things over. Not sure how I feel about letting that be a mess. I'm going to see what happens when I leave it be a little. I've been at this house 2 summers, so I really don't know a lot about this grass we have.
When we moved to Fort Wayne 7 years ago, the housing market was so hot and we had to jump on a house -- I was baffled at the amount of HOA's because where I lived in PA there weren't as many. Desperately wanting neighbors because I knew no one, we bought in an HOA but wow... there has been so much I dislike about living in one and especially the rules about the lawns. Thankfully, we do live in a not as strict of an HOA as others I have heard about . This year was the first year we left our leaves in the front yard and the backyard instead of raking and taking to the street for pickup. Last year it was backyard only because of the pressure of keeping up with the "look" of the neighborhood. It felt REALLY good to let the leaves be this year. As I get older each year, my perspective and what others think really shift more and more. Plus, I have been obsessed with birds since noticing blue birds in my backyard when moving here so the more I read about helping them, the more I want to help them and forget the opinions of what others think about our "messy" yard. It does help having a local bee guy behind us who also leaves a messy yard. Now that we've been here a while and have established a good sense of knowing others and our way around the community, we are actively looking for a home away from and HOA and can let our grasses run wild without the pressure of maintaining. I want to help nature and animals more and this book is really making me think more deeply into this.
Our back yard is an old Christmas tree farm so it’s full of tall blue spruces but in our front we have a small meadow. We mow at the road, along our driveway and up by the house but leave a good portion of it wild. It’s a lot less maintenance and I think it looks nicer. Especially in the summer when the grass dies in the heat, but the wild flowers and native plants keep going because they can handle it. I wish more people did that out by me. I drive by acres and acres of mowed lawns out in the country and there is no reason for it.
Living on an old Christmas tree farm sounds so lovely, Stephanie! Your place sounds beautiful, and very wild.
I've been trying to add more native plants to our urban yard for several years now. It's a little slow-going, as we have several large trees producing quite a bit of shade. The previous owners had done some beautiful landscaping, but many of the things they chose have died because our yard just gets shadier and shadier. The shade also means that grass doesn't grow well in most of our yard, either. I don't want a manicured grassy yard, but I would like some flat space for my kid to play that isn't always dust or mud. I'm thinking of bringing in a local native landscaping consultant to help with a spot in my backyard that's particularly shady. As for cleanup, we do still vacuum up most of our leaves, but mostly because I save them to be able to add to our compost pile over the summer. This year, I also used a bunch of shredded leaves as mulch for my raised bed garden and the handful of sunny spots where I like to grow cut flowers. Anyone looking to make their yard more hospitable to wildlife might also like this book - Nature's Best Hope, by Douglas Tallamy.
I absolutely loved this chapter. I have grappled with this issue for years. Wanting to be a "good neighbor" and follow the rules of a well-kept lawn, but hating the myriad negative effects that Meagan lays out in this post. I had already been thinking that we'd stop clearing out leaves and trimming tall grasses, but now I'm also considering not mowing our lawn in the back (much).
It'll save money, time, energy, gas, animals... it should be a no-brainer.