Interesting discussion in NYT about that most beleagured of gardening practices, the lawn. By now, everyone knows the drill. Lawns use a lot of water; lawns require a lot of pesticides and herbicides; lawns need to be cut, often by machines that burn gasoline even less efficiently than cars, etc.
And, it's all true.
I've certainly got no beef with other uses for the space, especially when they are attractive and imaginative, as many lawn alternatives can be. My little section of the world -- northeastern Arlington, VA -- is especially hilly and lots of people who don't care to mow steep hills have found lovely ways to terrace them and plant everything from ivy to hydrangeas, to horizontally-habituated pines, to ornamental grasses.
But I'll admit that I like lawns. Lawns look lovely when just mowed, dappled with early-morning shade and glistening with dew. Lawns are soft and a lovely gift to walk barefoot on (pace, Strangers in a Strange Land). Lawns are great for children to play on. I will admit that I wish that less of my yard were front yard (the more traditional place for lawns) and that more of it were backyard (the more traditional place of other yard uses, such as, oh, for me anyway, herb beds). But I'm not going to move my house and I have the front yard that was laid out in the early fifties when my home was built.
I suppose that I might seriously reconsider if I lived in Arizona or another desert state, but, for now, I still kind of like my lawn.
3 comments:
I agree, in the main. There are times,though, when it's just nuts to try to maintain this. I'm thinking of certain beach shacks of my acquaintance that are on a fucking sand dune, in particular. Grass isn't supposed to grow there, and it's insane to do what you have to to make it survivie.
Virginia
I like lawns. I just don't like lawn care. As you said, it's resource-wasteful, and if you have hilly or sloping lawns, it's horrible to mow. I confess, that at my house-with-huge-sloping-lawns, I turned most of the lawns into flower beds. ;) Now I live in a flat!
I think my problem is with excessively-maintained lawns.
The pesticide and herbicide and lawnmower people have conditioned lawn-owning Americans to expend vast amounts of time and money reducing their lawns to the consistency of Augusta greens.
A little bit of meadowish grass in one's back yard is no shame.
What's a shame is when the NYC Parks Dept throws in the towel and decides to plump for astroturf, which while easier to maintain in the short term has to be replenished in the long run with more artificial turf, made from... petrochemicals!
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