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My own personal change to a lower level of consumption is driven by a modified form of greed: spend less, invest more, retire earlier. Even if my investments ar
by MandieD 7y ago
My own personal change to a lower level of consumption is driven by a modified form of greed: spend less, invest more, retire earlier. Even if my investments aren’t as profitable as I’d hoped, my lower level of consumption is still going to be easier to sustain on whatever income I have than a stereotypical German one, let alone the middle-class American level I grew up with.
Practical example: the lawn of our townhouse looks awful. Instead of doing the very spendy thing of hiring a gardening service to fix it, or the still spendy thing of replanting with lawn grass, I’m doing a bit of research to find something that won’t require much ongoing maintenance, will improve the soil (nitrogen-fixing), and will make pollinating insects happy.
- rangibaby 7y agoClover
- MandieD 7y agoThat’s pretty much the conclusion I’ve reached; now just narrowing down which species (or mix thereof) will make things better in a year or two but won’t be a complete PITA to deal with if I later want to take the next step and grow food.
- rangibaby 7y agoI have had success growing veges in small pots then moving them to my clover garden after pulling patches of clover out where I want to plant. In my experience that slows it down for long enough for the plant to get established. Clover provides enough benefits to your soil and ecosystem of your garden that I think it’s a net win in any case. Another ground cover I am experimenting with is strawberries. I let them get established (planted January) then added some clover and wildflower seeds in March. The strawberry plants are still growing and haven’t been outcompeted at all. That’s my experience anyway. I’m just a hobby “natural” gardener so I might be messing up without realizing it.
- foxhop 7y agoClover is a good idea but it also needs to be cut or ate eventually. Worth a try though. When I mow my lawn I avoid mowing my small but growing natural clover patches. When I do mow, all the clippings become mulch for my veggies, or mixed with leaves to compost.
- rangibaby 7y agoI have had success growing veges in small pots then moving them to my clover garden after pulling patches of clover out then mulching then where I want to plant. In my experience that slows the clover down for long enough for the plant to get established.