Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’ • Hacker News Board

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

#291

Post by jlangemeier » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:52 PM UTC

utopian3 wrote: post #249

_qwfv wrote: 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…

We get a lot of rabbits.. How do you keep them out of your produce?

One bio-ethical route (at least for many of us in the Mid/Mountain-West US) is to use a deer or pigs blood dilute. It isn't harmful for edible plants (you should be at least rinsing your produce anyway) and it keeps most foragers off the goods - minus birds, but netting part of the trees or shrubs is a good way to deal with birds over foraging produce.

If there's a local butcher they're a ready supply of the stuff, and it helps your local markets so win-win. Or if you already hunt for meat (or have friends that do), it's just making sure you're using even more of the animal, so again, win-win. If you don't think that locally sourced meats are ethically/environmentally sustainable then... ummm... /shrug; there's other methods, but none that have been as effective for our plot size.

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

#292

Post by wmeredith » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:57 PM UTC

utopian3 wrote: post #249

_qwfv wrote: 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…

We get a lot of rabbits.. How do you keep them out of your produce?

We are lucky in that we have a five foot rat snake that lives in the rocks in front of our house. I think I've seen it twice in 10 years. We have no rodents on our property.

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

#293

Post by Jamwinner » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:57 PM UTC

PretzelFisch wrote: post #265

Well it's been 5 years of no grass, it is the worse. The weeds are everywhere I have to use roundup to kill them or they will take over the yard. There is just too many to uproot. If you live in an area where people live close by and use leaf blowers to clean, keep the grass and your sanity.

You are missing the point. Grow other things or something will grow. Using roundup is just making the problem worse.

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

#294

Post by Jamwinner » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:59 PM UTC

jonstewart wrote: post #223

Alex3917 wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Japanese barberry runs rampant in the woods, though. That will take some effort to get rid of. Careful, it has more ticks than anything else, and the first time you get bitten you’re not going outside for 21 days.

Yeah, we're Lyme Disease Central. We're militant about DEET, footwear, and taking showers when we come inside. I really hope some kind of vaccine comes out soon, though.

DEET is no pancea, and has its own issues. Protective clothing is your first defense.

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

#295

Post by jlangemeier » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:01 PM UTC

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #209

Pfhreak wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Great for you, our house is small (for the UK), there's a shoulder width of space around the beds; a park with grass is too far for the little ones to walk and there's been a couple of stabbings locally which makes us a little reluctant to let them out. It's almost like sweeping statements such as "no one should have a lawn" need modifiers. ;o) I'd guess grass is still better environmentally than gravel; so long as y…

I know this may sound callous; but if they're too young to go to the park unsupervised, are they actually in your yard unsupervised; especially if you're concerned about local crime? I'm not pushing one way or another honestly, it just seems like an odd qualifier unless your yard is extremely private and maintained in a way that there are 0 hazards as well.

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

#296

Post by Jamwinner » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:02 PM UTC

digitalsushi wrote: post #165

EricE wrote: post #124

Get rid of HOA’s first :/

Or if you want to be a bit of a rebel, make seed bombs: seeds mixed in with spheres of fertilizer, dried, and then lobbed onto the sides of roads (safely, at a low speed, and not to be destructive to personal property); you can litter with native species to help bee populations.

I have sued someone for ruining some very expensive landscaping in a similar manner for the costs to remediate. It was over 60k. Sucks for them. Disrespect property at your own peril.

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

#297

Post by logfromblammo » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:03 PM UTC

danans wrote: post #275

logfromblammo wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The original purpose of lawns was to provide sight lines for castle defense. The forest was cut down, and native ground cover dominated the cleared regions. It was kept short by grazing animals. It was our old pal Louis and his Versailles palace that introduced the close-cropped grass lawn . It was kept short by grazers and gardeners. The poor used their near-house property to grow vegetables and culinary herbs. The…

> It wasn't until the mechanical lawnmower that the grass lawns became entirely useless. Grass is ruminant food, and ruminants are meat. But ruminants were never a part of the American suburban lawn the way they were in old world villages and wealthy estates. American lawns are almost completely post lawn-mower. The American suburban lawn is an explicitly visual copy by the post-war working class of the luxuries prev…

The mechanical lawn mower was invented in 1830-something, if I'm not mistaken. It would have taken a generation or so to become cheaper, at about 1850-ish for the earliest widely-available, manure-free, close-cropped grass lawns. So I'd put that as the advent of tennis and dedicated golf courses, among other lawn games.

Checking Internet... mechanical lawnmower 1830 exactly, tennis invented between 1859 and 1865, and Oakhurst Links is the oldest 9-hole golf course in America since 1884. Croquet apparently became popular in the 1860s. So that all checks out.

The lawnmower made the lawn. The lawn games and status-associations made them desirable to have.

So the lawn is essentially a long-enduring symbol of upper-class lifestyle. Resistance to grass lawn mono-culture is a symbolic rejection of aspirational wealth. People who live in personal fantasy-lands love their symbology; undermining their symbols can reveal the lies behind them. Those folks that reject the lawn are essentially admitting that they will never get rich. Maybe America will finally stop being a land of temporarily embarrassed millionaires, and start being one that eats home-grown dandelion salads when not eating the rich.

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

#298

Post by freepor » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:10 PM UTC

core-questions wrote: post #56

freepor wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the parent of a toddler I love dandelions because he loves to pick them and blow their seeds into the air.

Your neighbours may not appreciate this as much as you do. I have my toddler gather me the flowers pre-puffball as bouquets for Mummy which helps prevent them from getting a chance to go to seed.

I don't owe a dandelion-free yard to my neighbors, nor do they owe one to me. Our yards are not hospital rooms.

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

#299

Post by xnyan » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:11 PM UTC

utopian3 wrote: post #249

_qwfv wrote: 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…

We get a lot of rabbits.. How do you keep them out of your produce?

I live on the edge of the woods. Tons of deer, rabbits, etc. The only thing that 1) works reliably for me and 2) is safe and ethical (so not poison or the like) has been an enclosed wire mesh fence. I resisted this solution for a long time even though my neighbors warned me that a fence was the only workable solution, but it's the only thing I've found that really works in my situation and I wish I had done it sooner.

Other things I tried that did not work:

Repellents, both natural and synthetic including but not limited to deer blood, other animal blood, predator urines (tried multiple types and brands), soaps and bitter and/or spicy repent sprays and gels.

Fake snakes, fake predator models and even real predators (not uncommon for foxes and coyotes are to be seen in our neighborhood).

Noisemakers and motion activated lights.

Lots more.

I wasted a ton of time and money trying the above, not to mention all the time spent gardening only to have it eaten by our woodland friends. A fence just works and does not harm animals. It can look very attractive too and can be relatively inexpensive if you keep an open mind w/r/t materials and look out for good deals/craigslist.

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

#300

Post by alistairSH » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:32 PM UTC

nogabebop23 wrote: post #283

alistairSH wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on where you live, you could start with introducing clover into your yard. It grows well in most of the US, tends to be more drought tolerant than many grasses, is easier on the soil (requires less soil treatment), and flowers nicely part of the season, which is great for bees and other pollinators. It will co-exist with grasses, so you don't need to do anything beyond tossing seed in the early spring and l…

I only half-joke about cultivating crab grass; it's green, grows flat so never needs mowing and is drought-resistent. I never walk on the lawn in our front yard and could really care less about what the neighbours think. Resists inconsiderate dog-walkers as well...

The bane of my existence!

Not really, but I hate the stuff. I finally managed to get most of it plucked out of my front yard. Hopefully the additional clover will displace it fully next season.