Lawns

This is the first of some informational posts I made on the HomeOne Landscape & Garden Design forum at the start of last year and have been given that date (just to confuse you!!).  They've been amended a bit, as my views on some things have changed a little since then, but in general they're the same.  You can check out the forum here.

Without wanting to be too controversial, there seems to be a lot of posts on how to grow a new lawn, revive an old one, what's the best grass, how to kill the weeds in it without the grass etc etc. So many people want a perfect area of flat, healthy green looking, grass with nothing growing in it. Especially it would seem, the dreaded 'clover'.


Sure we cut our grass regularly (well, perhaps monthly when it's growing...) and we use the mulch function on our mower. But we don't feed it. It gets plenty of nutrients from being remulched and from the leaves that fall off our gums, or the fruit from the trees that we don't find. It is strong and healthy and doesn't suffer from extended dry periods. We wouldn't even consider wasting water on it.

Yet, ask me what kind of grass it was and I'd say... grass. Mostly. I think. Maybe 20% other things...?

In my mind though, a 'lawn' is one of the most attractive and inviting areas of a garden. And not because of it's perfect looks. Yep, our 'lawn' is full of 'weeds'. Patches of crabgrass, couch, clover, oxalis, catsears, hawksbeard, maybe a few true dandelions, who knows what else.

But we love it and wouldn't consider treating it with a herbicide! 

A lawn (or in my case, more a meadow!) is where my children play and discover, almost daily, a new flower that my eldest will rush to show me. It's where the bees buzz in my ear as I sit reading to my baby, whilst her sister chases butterflies. It provides a soft landing when my eldest plays on her slide, or falls of her mini trampoline. It's the jungle where her elephants and dinosaurs live. The food source for her 'hungry, hungry herbivore' crocodile. The long wavy grass that goes swishy swashy whilst she hunts for bears.

It's where our cats pretend to be hunting tigers, stalking their prey (usually each other!) and where small mammals or lizards hide so they don't get eaten. This is where the ants forage, climbing to the tip of a blade of grass and waving round precariously, before running down the other side. It's where the jumping spiders run around and watch cautiously as my daughter carefully tries to encourage them onto a stick so she can see them better.

It's where the kookaburras dive to when they see something particularly tasty and where the cockatoos strut around looking for wild strawberries. It's where the possums play hunt the plum or fig, when they drop the one they were eating, and it's where the field crickets sing from at night. It's where the snails retreat to in the morning, after a night of feasting on everlasting daisies and the basil that I'm desperately trying to get to survive all this rain!

To us, our lawn is perfect!

Since writing that post, my opinion on the lawn hasn't changed.  We've done some work levelling out a ditch that formed outside the canopy zone of a large tree, dug up a largish area to place raised veggie beds and to terrace an area for a trampoline.  The mess we left from tramping muddy boots all over it was repaired by raking through organic compost, blood & bone, perlite and organic coir, then sowing grass seed over the top.  We chose one that doesn't have kikuyu (Pennisetum clandestinum), and that was suitable for our area, but that was the limit of the thought that went into it!

As for weeds, they still stay where they are.  I don't even worry about the Oxalis sp. anymore, but I will remove any Cyperus rotundus (red nut grass) that I find because it is a problem in this area.

The only new thoughts I have to add is that lawn areas really are a great place to put your veggie beds.  If you have deep rooted perennial grasses in particular (I guess the kikuyu had some benefit!), these guys penetrate deep into the soil, bringing lots of nutrients up.  Same goes for those deep penetrating dandelion tap roots.  Some of the best soil you'll find in your garden will be under that lawn you've been cultivating!

Oh, and for those concerned about the environment, an acre of perennial grass land can sequester more carbon than an acre of woodland, due simply to the massive root structures and depth of penetration.  The less you cut your lawn, the more the root structure will develop, and the lower your carbon footprint will be.

Bonus! ;)