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Give Your Yard Back to Nature
- skybrian 7y agoThe problem with this sort of article is that it's generic advice. Local advice will be more useful, but harder to find.
- mooreds 7y agoLook for a local permaculturist. They will have plenty of locale specific advice. And may even be willing to help you do it! Couldn't find an authoritative list, but googling for "permaculture [state or city name]" will probably get you what you need.
- mceoin 7y ago--> This will get you close. https://permacultureglobal.org/users https://permacultureglobal.org/users
- NickBusey 7y agoIt has 2 paragraphs devoted on how to get local advice under "Get to know your climate".
- skybrian 7y agoYes, that's generic advice about finding local advice, which is about the best you can do without giving any local advice.
- cptnapalm 7y agoTry your local library. Our system, at least, tries to ensure that there are always several books about local flora.
- ericras 7y agoThey use illustrations to sell the point because perhaps photographs wouldn't be so convincing.
- romaaeterna 7y agoMany natural locations near me are not pleasant for humans. Too many bugs (including ticks) and the underbrush is impassable. The areas that are more pleasant might be hard to replicate in a small space. You can't create a forest microclimate in a 1/4 acre yard. In fact, an isolated 1/4 acre yard is an unnatural habitat in a lot of ways. The easiest thing to manage there other than a lawn is usually a crop of 8ft high weeds.
- neaden 7y agoThe article is not recommending people don't mow the lawn. It's not even saying to get rid of grass. Just to plant native plants, minimize herbicides/fertilizers and watering.
- fhbdukfrh 7y agoNo one here is advocating untamed wilderness over a green sheet of lawn. You don't have to replicate impenetrable underbrush in your backyard. You could however focus on natural species and a broader variety
- khrbrt 7y ago> The areas that are more pleasant might be hard to replicate in a small space. You can't create a forest microclimate in a 1/4 acre yard Yes you can! https://youtu.be/ng-VskDFPpM https://youtu.be/ng-VskDFPpM It takes some work upfront to convert a lawn to a miniforest but it can be done. Just imagine how wonderful suburbia could be if this was the norm and not the exception. Edit: here's that same yard in early spring, where the fact that it's a normal suburban yard is more visible: https://youtu.be/CdthuPbn2uo https://youtu.be/CdthuPbn2uo . It's incredible how lush it is in the summer, you'd think it was miles away from civilization.
- deleted 7y ago
- magduf 7y agoGood luck with this in your typical HOA, where they forbid you to do any kind of natural landscaping, and insist on things like green grass in the middle of the desert. (Of course, the answer here is to make sure you don't buy a house with an HOA.)
- rmah 7y agoFunny aside, a friend of mine lives in a neighborhood with a HOA. One of the people in it kept making so much trouble (annoying others to do this or that) that they voted to kick him out of the HOA. The guy actually threatened to sue the HOA to be let back in! LOL, "wait, you want to pay dues and be subject to HOA rules?" Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.
- samirm 7y agoperhaps he didn't want to lose out on the benefits like shared pool access and whatnot.
- gowld 7y agoWhat's strange? From his perspective, it's the same as if all of the neighbors quit the HOA and stopped following the rules that he believed in. Would you like to be freed from your national taxes and laws if it meant you had no protection against your neighbors violating those laws?
- JoshTriplett 7y ago> they voted to kick him out of the HOA I would love to have this happen. Unfortunately, many HOAs have managed to get embedded in home titles, and they have the ability to put a lien on your house if they decide they're entitled to something.
- jsgo 7y agoI can't speak for all HOAs but was on the board of mine (specifically to work on getting out of a neighborhood media agreement). The only time we did the lien process was after they had went above an arbitrary $1500 deficit in HOA dues and there was no special circumstances in place that they had done so (there was one couple whose daughter was in and out of the hospital for a year, so we had the property manager work with them after the medical bills settled down on a reduced rate until they could get caught back up). The HOA dues at the time were about $115 (the previously mentioned media agreement and neighborhood package was a major amount of it) so it wasn't because a month was missed (no one enjoyed invoking the lien process anyway as it incurs cost to the HOA as well). But as soon as the lien happens (after three letters saying the next step is lien), those who became delinquent started paying HOA dues (at least temporarily). Now that we got out of the agreement and were able to get the HOA dues down to $25 (common area maintenance and insurance), I got off the board. I will say I've heard of some outright predatory HOAs that seemingly have it out for some homeowners, but liens as far as I'm aware are (second to) last resorts when you can't engage a homeowner to come into compliance. I hated paying for the media package too (internet and TV was garbage with them the last couple of years), but at the end of the day, the builder instituted that before any of us came into the neighborhood and all of those agreements were known to us before moving in so as trash as it is, we had to pay it.
- zadkey 7y agoPlanting native eh? Thistle, mesquite, dandelion, and cactus don't really sit well with home-owners associations.
- xipho 7y agoIt's highly interesting to consider that none of your examples are actually originally native to the areas I suspect you're referring to. Dandilions, for example, come from Europe IIRC. Mesquite and cactus were moved in and became dominant with cattle trade. Thistles refer to many things, but almost certainly the weed you refer to is not native.
- EADGBE 7y agoNative in the sense that it grows wild, here, there and almost everywhere. Regardless of its origination, it has adapted to its “new” native climate.
- Angostura 7y agoAs the original commentator was pointing out 'grow wild' and 'native' are not synonyms. Part of the fun of this - and it is fun - is learning about the actual native floral of the region and trying to make an attractive garden using those plants that will help native wildlife establish.
- gowld 7y agoMy parents came from Europe to USA. They are not natives here, and maybe they don't fit in. I was native born here, I grew up in the local culture, I fit in. Saying that only "original" species count as native, how many centuries or millennia back do you draw the line?
- metabagel 7y agoThe discussion is about native species, not native individual humans. Native species developed over thousands of years to form each particular ecosystem.
- yeahitslikethat 7y agoJust stop mowing and planting stuff. Your dog will thank you.
- blancheneige 7y agono lawn mowing? what else are boomers going to do with their lives every other morning?
- brodsky 7y ago^ does not contribute
- kiliantics 7y agoThere are some great youtube channels[0] on rewilding the land where you live and developing a permaculture garden. I have always found the obsession with lawns to be so strange. [0] e.g. https://www.youtube.com/user/BealtaineCottage https://www.youtube.com/user/BealtaineCottage
- ptah 7y agoyes, if you do all edible plants then you are on your way there
- vram22 7y agoJust watched the first video in that series. Great one, thanks for sharing.
- ageofwant 7y agoHere is another good one https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3CBOpT2-NRvoc2ecFMDCsA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3CBOpT2-NRvoc2ecFMDCsA
- adzm 7y agoI avoid those full lawn chemical treatments and my lawn has stabilized with a nice mix of grass, several types of clover, violet, ground ivy, and dandelions, among patches of other wildflowers and sedges. The colors when they bloom is beautiful. The pests I don't like seem to be minimized, and I get an amazing light show with thousands of fireflies every evening. I have to spot treat the dandelions to make sure they don't take over but for the most part it's a rewarding and aesthetically pleasing situation with little effort and reduces the amount I have to mow, and I never have to water the lawn either!
- enraged_camel 7y ago> The pests I don't like seem to be minimized Really? I've had the opposite experience. Two pests I can't stand are mosquitos and cockroaches, and they both seem to thrive in lush, natural lawns. Whenever I mow, I notice an immediate and significant reduction in their numbers.
- jwr 7y agoMosquitoes breed in standing water, so the height of your grass should have little to do with their population.
- athenot 7y agoIn climates that get rain every day, it doesn't take a lot to have a suitable pool of standing water for mosquitoes. A dead leaf curled up that holds 1 mL of water (and shaded by the taller vegetation) is sufficient as a breeding ground.
- ggpsv 7y agoI highly recommend the book "Redesigning the American Lawn" from Yale University Press [0] for people interested in this subject matter. It offers a deep dive into economic, cultural and environmental aspects of the standard manicured lawn, which they refer to as "industry lawn". They propose the concept of a "freedom lawn" as an alternative and solution to the problems presented by the infamous lawn. [0] https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300086942/redesigning-american-lawn https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300086942/redesigning-am...
- fasterdom 7y agoGood luck doing that in the land of the free, where you can get arrested for not mowing your lawn. https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-07-11/single-mother-arrested-for-grass-after-not-mowing https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-07-11/single-mothe... Contrast with Europe, where even in capitals you can have lawns so over-grown that you can't see the house behind them anymore. Nobody gives a fuck.
- mceoin 7y agoI’m surprised by the negativity of this comment. For every case of conflict there are others that can be cited of cultural change. Lawns have some legitimate uses, entertainment and play space come to mind, but for the most part are a cultural statement. I recommend keeping an open mind that “changing aesthetics” is the right way to go. More local biodiversity, less water use, more bee forage, insect habitat, birds, etc. Often (but not always), just “doing nothing” is a great step forwards.
- vinceguidry 7y agoThe article gave explicit advice on grass maintenance, such as never removing more than a third of the height at a time.
- mceoin 7y agoMichael Pollan has a great essay on this: Why mow? The case against lawns. https://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/why-mow-the-case-against-lawns/ https://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/why-mow-the-case-...
- fillskills 7y agoHi all, this is very timely. We are working on building a platform that encourages lush gardening. We have expert garderns who have been studying and working with lush native gardens for years. I am actually meeting two of them today. If anyone ever needs help building a garden like the one mentioned, we are more than happy to give free guidance and also guide you on where to find cheap resources and tricks we learnt over the years. The article is very much on point and give some handy tips already. Also if someone is interested in what we are building: we are making a pass to access lush private backyard gardens for therapy, yoga, meditation etc. Some of our most interesting customers are VAs, elderly folks, stressed out engineers etc. The underlying goal is to help gardeners earn money that they put into building more lush gardens thus storing carbon into top soil.
- mceoin 7y agoLink?
- foxhop 7y agoI want to do this as my career. Could you please provide a link or more info?
- fillskills 7y agoWe are following the lean methodology so right now we are on excel files mostly. Can you shoot me an email at abhi.2004@gmail.com so we can connect and also I will send over the draft website and other info?
- andrewgioia 7y agoReally agree with the premise here. I came to a somewhat similar conclusion (concession?) this year after spending tons of time and energy "perfecting" a couple acre yard we moved into. The kicker this year was spotting a weed growing through a crack in the concrete floor of my detached garage--no sun, very little water, and this thing was still growing! While not mowing is nonstarter in my and essentially every other neighborhood, I've completely come to terms with the clover and random broadleaf weeds we have, they're part of the yard. Trying to get that picturesque carpet led me down a path of using questionable chemicals and spending tons of unnecessary time killing native vegetation that _wanted_ to grow and has thrived here in western PA. I'm now consigning certain sections to wildflowers and just overseeding the rest of the yard with native grasses in the fall to naturally work up the more desirable stuff and thicken it. No more chemicals, and mowing slightly more frequently has also helped keep the dandelions down. Slowly I'll mulch other areas, especially around the trees, and try to put in some more low-maintenance landscaping like this article suggests.
- Isamu 7y ago> come to terms with the clover In particular, clover is good for the lawn as it is nitrogen-fixing. Some clover are much better at this than others, so you might even deliberately choose a clover for your lawn. Clover used to be a standard part of the mix for lawns (maybe as long ago as Victorian times) for this reason, it helps make the lawn self-sustaining. To me it looks weird to have a mono-culture lawn, like you're emulating a shag carpet.
- mazelife 7y agoAlong with other commenters here, I've given up on trying to have a perfect lawn. As long as it's green, it's fine with me. I'm also trying to gradually reduce the amount of property given over to lawn by a little bit each year as I expand beds of native plants. In my experience here in the Mid-Atlantic region the upkeep in terms of time between a lawn and garden bed is pretty much a 1:1 tradeoff. Occasional weeding and a one-time day spent planting annuals in the Spring is about the same as having to mow every 1.5 weeks.
- fhbdukfrh 7y agoMy advice? Cultivate crabgrass. It's green, grows without any care, drought resistant and lays low so no mowing. Bonafides: 20 year homeowner with neighbors who have come to accept I'm not going to waste every weekend on yard care
- mazelife 7y agoMy lawn definitely has it's share of crabgrass which I don't mind. But Kentucky blue grass and clover (both native) seem to do better. Which unfortunately means mowing.
- athenot 7y agoCrabgrass also gets tall (it grows faster than my bermudagrass) and will die back at the first frost. In comparison, Zoysia and Bermuda will go dormant but maintain a ground cover to prevent erosion.
- jordache 7y agoagree with movement, but this is a terrible article. No actual photos of a yard following these ideas? Done poorly and it will look like a ghetto trash pile. Done well (it's non-trivial), it could look great! Show us some actual examples of these yards!
- TomK32 7y agoA horrible trend over here in Germany and Austria are stone gardens. Not the artisan Japanese style, but the supposedly-no-maintenance-dead-as-can-be-heat-traps. It's so horrible that a few towns have started to outlaw them for new-builds. Here's an instagram of someone who collects photos of that type of garden https://www.instagram.com/gaerten_des_grauens/ https://www.instagram.com/gaerten_des_grauens/
- MandieD 7y agoOMG, the caged rocks that have shown up all over this place the last few years! There is no reason not to have a plant yard in Germany and Austria - even if you never water, there will be plants, and at most, running a lawnmower over them twice a month will keep the neighbors from getting too mad at you. We have a sorry-looking conventional “Rasen” (grass lawn), but I’m looking into how to turn it over to clover for happier bees and less ongoing work.
- TomK32 7y agoPlants will beat stone gardens every time. Simply make the Rasen smaller: when you do add some bushes, berries or largeish plants on the borders, make the borders two meters deep and not just half a meter. You want to use many different sized plants to get achieve visual depth and colours. If you can squeeze in a little bench or chair hidden behind waist-high plants it's even better.
- m23khan 7y agoi dont spray chemicals on my lawn nor do i seed/fertilize it - i just mow it really short every 1-2 weeks so it is pleasant enough for kids to play on and not get pricked by prickly weeds. And yes, I water just enough so not to kill off the grass during dry spell.
- ianbicking 7y agoIt occurred to me that flowers are like the virtue signaling of plants. If it flowers people are apt to think it's deliberate. If it's merely green, who knows... is it the product of deliberate effort or just laziness? (Is a natural forest the product of laziness?) The orange daylily (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemerocallis_fulva https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemerocallis_fulva) is a way to cheat this system, you can be incredibly lazy but they do technically flower. I read a survey somewhere that modern expectations now are that if you have 25% (some places 15%) of your yard as turf your neighbors will be happy. 0% indicates you aren't "doing" something, just letting things grow. One option not really mentioned in the article is to just let things grow, and only weed out annoying things (small trees poorly placed, things with thorns or bristles, etc). Not mentioned of course because you'll get in trouble even outside of a HOA. I'll admit, as much as I want to be (and I think I am) tolerant, I do have a dislike of weedy tree overgrowth. A neighbor is dedicated to doing no lawn maintenance, and the result is not particularly lush or interesting, just a ground layer that's relatively bare beneath small trees and bushes that are all competing. If they avoided that, and had primarily vascular plants, I think the result would be more lush, representing a better natural landscape. There's a kind of design challenge here that I don't know quite how to solve. Lawns are genuinely usable in a way that I appreciate. A more trendy approach is to add a bunch of hardscape or deck and then plant the rest... is that really better? Or, for instance, composting yard waste on-site helps support all the organisms that make use of that organic matter. People complain that it's also a great place for mice to nest. Which it is... and is that bad? I tend to change my mind when they try to come into the house in the fall. Overgrowth can be a hiding place and a safety concern. Of course lots of wildlife would like to hide, and so that very problem is also a feature. There's a challenge between having control and letting nature take its course... and neither is really right, and I believe good design goes beyond simple compromise. I don't know... something I'd love to work on in my retirement.
- rdiddly 7y agoA place that sustained itself and produced useful materials/medicines etc. without anybody's "doing anything" would have been the ideal about 500 years ago in what is now the US. And it's a permaculture ideal more recently. There seems to be a streak of the Protestant work ethic running through this. Otherwise how could doing more work be a virtue? Well actually I thought of an answer: Lots of things that take a lot of effort are done for not much more reason than to show how much effort they take. Which in turn reflects positively (supposedly) on the person who did it, testifying to their possession of ample extra resources to do the difficult thing. But I would think that would only be truly relevant for mating purposes. Like "This guy plays guitar, whose mastery takes an intellect, skill and devotion of time and resources that would potentially be available to you and your offspring if you were to mate with him" type logic. But what does it mean in the suburban lawn belonging to a complete family?
- fullstop 7y agoI've considered replacing parts of my lawn with creeping or wooly thyme. I'm not certain how it will do over the winter in Eastern Pennsylvania, so it might be something I test along paths or in flower beds first. I've decided to avoid killing the clover and broadleaf "weeds" and want to plant as much as I can to encourage honeybees to live near me.
- akeck 7y agoOur lawn was sickly, but chemicals are out due to both ethics and our rescue doggo. So we just cut it at max height to keep it happy. We also inherited lots of plantings from the previous homeowners. We keep those neat with a 1 ft house buffer, but not severely cut back. We now have fireflies. :-D
- davidw 7y agoArticle should definitely have at least made passing mention of fire risk, which is an important concern in many places.
- ageofwant 7y ago'Crime Pays but Botany doesn't' has a good working example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz9I2YwmV8M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz9I2YwmV8M
- qwerty456127 7y agoIn many countries and neighborhoods you are legally obliged to mow your lawn etc and will be penalized if you just live it to the nature.
- viburnum 7y agoI took out my lawn and planted a ton of perennials and ornamental grasses. It’s way less work than a lawn (I weed it twice a year, in the spring and in the late fall). It’s full of hummingbirds all the time. And it’s pretty.
- anbop 7y agoSorry, my yard is like a 4th bedroom for my 3 bedroom house that I paid $2 million for. It’s too expensive for me to give back to nature.
- Faaak 7y agoYou still can with a grass roof for example. Added benefit: cooler house in the summer.