We have replaced large parts of our lawn with Carpobrotus edulis or sour fig which is drought resistant. It's great for insect life as well. Planting indigenous replacement lawns helps indigenous life
Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
41–50 of 330 posts
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, lawns are obviously a dumb idea unless you're using the lawn for something like relaxing or playing games. If you're just in a conformity contest with your neighbors then you might as well have something zero-maintenance or agriculturally productive there.
Lawns are aesthetically pleasing to humans. It has been widely observed that humans, having adapted to life in the African savannah, have a tendency to turn everything into an idealised version of their natural habitat. Regents Park, or your local golf course, is like a superstimulus version of the nicer parts of prehistoric Kenya. Lots of nice green grass; not too long, indicating grazing animals nearby. Trees scatt…
Presumably you also live in a cave and hunt animals for your dinner. Meanwhile the rest of us have realised we can actually ignore our primal instincts that serve no beneficial purpose and use our brains to figure out something better.
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#43The best "lawn" I ever had was where I just let the local flora have its way. Best looking lawn in the neighborhood. I mowed it once a year.
I keep trying it in Seattle, but the invasive blackberry bushes and scotch broom keep throttling the native stuff.
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#44Getting 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…
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.
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 in the world.
We read seed catalogs together in the winters and plan what we could grow (Ooh, what if we grew purple cauliflower? Or rhubarb for pie!)
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#45Native-only plants people are somewhere between DIY garum makers and homebrewers in terms of the fierceness of their ideological warfare online, but in person they are a fun group to socialize with.
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#46Getting 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…
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.
Could you elaborate why that is?
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#47I’d love to see my “progressive” city end setback laws, which require me to keep 15 ft of either grass or dirt in front of my house.
Which city is this? I've only ever heard of rules like this coming from HOAs. Are you claiming that you're not allowed to plant trees or a native ground cover?
Strongtowns did a rundown on it [1]. It's often a feature of midsize town zoning laws, not just HOA busybodyness.
[1] https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/7/28/grassy-lawns-e...
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#48Earlier 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.
Could you elaborate why that is?
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.
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#49Earlier 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.
Could you elaborate why that is?
A friend once explained that boys are like dogs. They need exercising twice a day. A back yard and a ball are sufficient for that. A paved area is more likely than lawn to provide yet more trips to ER.
Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, lawns are obviously a dumb idea unless you're using the lawn for something like relaxing or playing games. If you're just in a conformity contest with your neighbors then you might as well have something zero-maintenance or agriculturally productive there.
Lawns are aesthetically pleasing to humans. It has been widely observed that humans, having adapted to life in the African savannah, have a tendency to turn everything into an idealised version of their natural habitat. Regents Park, or your local golf course, is like a superstimulus version of the nicer parts of prehistoric Kenya. Lots of nice green grass; not too long, indicating grazing animals nearby. Trees scatt…
Hmm. Average golf course is green monoculture that is a blight on landscape and eyesight, as are most lawns. It's the close cutting and grass only. Parks on the other hand have rougher grass in sensible combination with large expanses of trees, maybe a river or lake, flowers, paths, benches. A little oasis of beauty and calm in the ugly, angular city.
To reset my mind I take trees (that often come with some wild meadow and grass), or forest every time. A neatly trimmed lawn is for sports pitches.