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Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

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Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#191
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I could get my son to exercise twice a day. He hates going outside. He prefers his exercise running around in Minecraft, and if he does get it in real life, it's jumping around the living room.

Be a parent. Set rules and consequences. Outside time or no Minecraft seems like a no brainer. Interact and get him to join you in things you like doing outside. He’ll probably hate it for 1 month or 1 year, but it’s your responsibility.

Things I like doing outside? I'm afraid that's a very short list. I totally understand where he's coming from.

We do set rules, it's just that we don't always maintain them very strictly, and he loves to bend them. And when he does play outside to get more Minecraft time, he thinks 15 minutes outside it enough.

It seems he just has no idea what to do outside. As a kid, I regularly played outside, probably because I had to, and so did the other kids in the neighbourhood, so we played outside. But none of his friends plays outside, so there's nothing to do for him outside.

What doesn't help is that we live in a city: no backyard, no fields or forests behind the house, and watch when you cross the street. Plenty of playgrounds fortunately, but the youngest, who loves to play outside, is just 5, which is a bit young to be outside on his own, so he's learning to adapt to indoor play. Maybe playing outside is getting trained out of kids because of the environment we live in.

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#192
post #25

Getting rid of our lawn and growing other stuff has been amazingly fulfilling. I have fresh produce most of the year, I've got honeybees and bumblebees and mason bees coming around. I have to do a lot less maintenance, and when I do it's more varied and interesting. Everything from fruit trees to berries, flowers to vegetables, herbs to herbal teas like chamomile. Strongly recommend looking at what will grow in your…

Our apartment building has a butterfly garden with a small-ish stone patio in the middle. It was a major reason why we picked the place. Friends' buildings have standard-issue grassy lawns. Our backyard is the preferred place to congregate in the summer.

I'm sure the landlord went with it because it drops their groundskeeping costs to something approaching zero. But it's been great for everyone else involved, too.

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#193
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd guess you could do all of this on a meadow as well.

What's the difference between a meadow and a lawn? In relation to the article that is, obviously I could tell the difference between a meadow and a lawn. Edit: To add a bit of context here a lot of people are talking about pesticides and fertilizer and stuff like that but we don't do anything like that, we just mow it when it gets a bit long. Does that mean our lawn is technically a meadow?

I'm not aware of specific definitions, but in the context of the US, a lawn often has regular applications of fertilizer and herbicides to promote the growth of a small number (often a single) species of grass. This also requires more regular watering, as the grasses tend to be less drought resistant.

A meadow, or natural lawn, or whatever you want to call it would be a mix of grass, clover, and other "weeds". It wouldn't require anywhere near as much chemical treatment (if any) and could be mowed and watered far less often. To me, it would also be allowed to grow long enough to flower, to promote pollinating insects.

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#194
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh, interesting. I have a kid and I'm grateful we gave up our lawn. She plants in the spring, harvests, cooks, and preserves with us. She's excited to make pickles, jam, squash, pumpkins, corn, etc from things she's grown and tended to. She even got to pick out some of the flowers and make her own little square. Watching her step out to grab some blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries is one of the best feelings…

Where does she play ball games, set up a paddling pool, and wrestle? I'd agree if you have a house big enough to have a playroom, and have open space close by, it's probably easy enough. Our lawn is kinda a tiny, tiny, wildflower meadow, ie it's not cut much. The bees love the Clover.

Ball games are at the park. It's a short bike ride or moderate walk away. We have a small gravel area we set up the paddling pool in, and no reason one can't wrestle in between beds (or indoors on the carpet).

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#195
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have to do a lot less maintenance, and when I do it's more varied and interesting. The irony is that people think a lawn is easier to maintain because it looks simpler

This. In what lawn-owners treat as mowing season, more than half of the year here, they spend several hours a month with motorized devices keeping the grass trimmed. Meaning they also pay for the device and the energy to keep it running. And the trimmings are usually wasted. So all in all: pretty expensive thing, that lawn. And to stay on topic: pretty much dead as far as nature is considered as well. Almost like a l…

I agree it's probably better and more fun and maybe less "work" to have a garden or wild plants than a lawn, but:

> you might just as well have concrete and paint it green

No, you would miss out on the feel of soft grass under your bare feet, and your kids and dogs would be having a whole lot less fun playing in the yard.

> Maybe they perceive running behind a mower or sitting on one not as work. Or not as lost time.

A lot of people find lawn-mowing relaxing. It's light physical labor, it has an immediate payoff, it involves motors and/or engines and/or tools depending on your preference, and the smell of fresh-cut grass is amazing.

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#196

> “Get rid of your lawns,” she said. “Lawns are total biological deserts. It’s just grass with pesticides. The way it’s grown does not support a lot of biodiversity.” > Instead, plant native flowers that provide nectar and pollen for pollinators, Berenbaum said. I see this a lot recently where I live in Germany, but at the same time I see the opposite as well. Lawn replaced by gravel, often pitch black one. I don't m…

The stone gardens are more about reducing water use at least in the south west desert areas of the US.

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#197

I’m fortunate enough to have recently purchased a 38 acre property in the Midwest, a little hollow with small hills and a spring-fed creek. About 30 acres are woods and the remainder is open, most of it unmowed with lots of native wildflowers and grasses, part of it low and swampy and part high and dry. It was amazing spending the summer there and learning about other butterflies than Monarchs (though we had plenty o…

Matthias Wandel on youtube has a video of a DIY woodworking project for building a wild parsnip harvester that doesn't require touching the plant, for the purposes of manually eradicating it.

I have not seen that video, but he puts a lot of engineering work into his projects and might be hard to replicate if you are a DIY'er. Great videos to watch.

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#198
post #72
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since having kids I’ve been realising that a lot of the things in life that other people do, that have never made sense to me, suddenly make a whole lot more sense in the context of kids. With a kid, I’m suddenly super grateful for my little lawn.

When I was a kid, our (huge) back yard was more orchard than yard. It had at least 30 fruit trees, including cherry, apple, pear, peach and plum. There were hazelnuts, brambles and raspberries. Next to that was a patch of land with all kinds of produce. I loved playing in that yard. It had great places to hide. Ample trees to climb. Wildlife to look for and learn about. A variety of fun tasks to perform, from picking…

Wow, crazy. I grew up with a modest lawn (with two trees, one smack in the middle of each side of the lawn) and my best friend had a really big yard on a slope with a bunch of apple trees.

Playing in his yard was way more fun.

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can run around on it, play ball games with their mates, you can put down a slip 'n slide in the summer, there's room for a trampoline etc. etc.

Also (I'm guessing) room for barbecue parties and such - generally facilitating socialization with other families with children.

Many of our raised beds have a piece of flat wood on one side that serves as a bench. In the summer we'll host garden parties and people will socialize among the flowers and veggies. The delight people have picking tomatoes, peas, berries, beans, corn, and other things for their meal is real.

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#200

> “Get rid of your lawns,” she said. “Lawns are total biological deserts. It’s just grass with pesticides. The way it’s grown does not support a lot of biodiversity.” > Instead, plant native flowers that provide nectar and pollen for pollinators, Berenbaum said. I see this a lot recently where I live in Germany, but at the same time I see the opposite as well. Lawn replaced by gravel, often pitch black one. I don't m…

I'm not against native flowers, but I would point out that my mother's lawn in Northern California has not even smelled a pesticide since at least 1975, and while I'm sure it could be more bug-friendly it's hardly a desert. Plenty of things creep and crawl in the lawn.

Maybe there's more diversity in types of lawns than the anti-lawn crowd like to consider?

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