#natural lawns

[def-notagoose]

Based biofriendly lawn enthusiast vs. beta cuck HOA

[princessannelocavore]

The Case Against Leaf Blowers: A Sustainable Gardening Approach

Some end of the year thoughts on sustainable garddening.

Why are we at war with leaves? This area has been denuded, leaving the ground unprotected against the winter cold and heavy rains. It’s barren of any vegetation, and it’s eroding badly. In the last few years, our winters have been very mild, and the long, mild autumn seems to extend into the winter months. This year, leaves were still clinging to the trees in December, and landscapers and…

[typhlonectes]

[nyxfaei]

Think of the splendors

[mckitterick]

our back and front yard - dozens of species of fruit trees, wildflowers, and little critters share this space with us:

we get to enjoy so many pretty flowers year-round, a huge diversity of pollinators, and urban wildlife that feels comfortable and shaded among the growth

wouldn't you rather have these growing in your yard than a bland, desolate expanse of grass?

someone in the notes asked, "but how do you control ticks without pesticide?"

see, that's the scam of yard chemicals: they kill everything, including friendly predators and wildflowers. if you don't use poison in your yard, you'll attract and keep so many predator bugs who'll control the pest population for you (and don't forget your friend the possum, who eats their weight in ticks each year)

i need y'all to steal and repost my anti-lawn memes to as many pinterest boards and facebook pages as possible

[120daysofsodomm]

[blessedscavengers]

kill your lawn save the pollinators

made in 2022

[juliamstarr]

Instagram

[just-your-average-cryptid]

most of us have heard of the red car game. you’re on a road trip, you’re bored, you start looking for red cars to do something.

and then they’re everywhere. you notice them nearly every few minutes.

there aren’t suddenly more red cars now, of course. you were seeing them already, but you weren’t noticing. you weren’t looking.

I am noticing things.

there is a plant I notice everywhere now, a small bushy plant in suburbs, along streets, by shops on the highways. dwarf umbrella bush is what the internet tells me when I look for it’s name. I did this because I wanted to know why,

every time I ever saw it, every place,

it was always dying. always the leaves turning yellow, the branches small and scraggly. inside out - nitrogen deficiency. their soil drained.

I am noticing how many of these landscaping plants are yellowing, how small and sickly they look in just a few years. I am noticing how often the grass outside the house is replaced when it once again turns brown and dry, how the type never changes and the cycle starts again. I am noticing how the unmowed, unkempt spaces on lakesides and roadsides look more alive than this. how the preserve I grew up next to was miles of “messy” unmanicured nature and the ground was covered in leaves instead of grass and there was life.

I am noticing the birds that come by the lake. there was a flash of blue wings and red chest - eastern bluebird, male, relatively common. I had never seen one before. there is a family of ducks that appear every spring; i cannot say if it’s successive generations or different ducks, but I can always look forward to ducklings. there are little brown birds with white heads whose names I do not know - are they some kind of piper? why don’t I already know?

why is it so hard to learn about my native plants (accurately, that is)? why are so many gardening sites littered with people who think a plants value is based on how pretty or useful it is to them, who think a tree shedding leaves is “messy”?

why is knowing about the world we live in so… odd? why is it a hobby and not vital knowledge? I learned about polar equations. I taught myself about mycorrhizal networks and species of insects.

(did you know there are shiny green bees? a special species of wasp pollinating figs? that white flowers bloom at night for moths? do you know? have you looked?)

I cannot look at a lawn and see life anymore. it is a wasteland, devoid of life, dying slowly itself. everywhere is grass, grass, doused in water that runs over into storm drains, soaked in fertilizer and pesticides and a hundred other poisons and sending one clear message:

this is a place of death. life is not welcome here.

I do not think I could live in a city. too loud, yes, too busy, yes, too many people, yes, but the plants would bother me. a tree allotted only a convenient square, surrounded by dead stone and metal.

a forest cleared for this, for burning asphalt streets and racing cars and shops whose bathrooms are “for paying customers only”.

this is a place of death. life is not welcome here.

and now I am noticing.

[naturistbzh]

Mowing the lawn with a nice sun

[tomorrowsgardennc]

anybody on here built a garden or outdoor frog pond before and have any advice??

figured i'd ask before jumping down the rabbit hole and winging it 🙃

[rebeccathenaturalist]

So, long story short--a Master Gardener who has been maintaining a native plant garden for years is now being harassed by a neighbor, with whom the city code enforcers sided, and she's facing daily fines if she doesn't turn at least half of her yard into grass lawn. Apparently the only plants that are allowed to grow higher than seven inches are those that are edible, useful, or decorative.

If you are at all ecologically aware, you know that grass lawns are essentially ecological wastelands. A monoculture of non-native grass, especially if it's sprayed with herbicides, fertilizers, and so forth, is not going to support much in the way of native wildlife. Moreover, it can be argued that native plants do fall under the allowable category of "useful" and "decorative", and some are even "edible."

The article above is dated from two days ago, but this apparently started last year. And I found an article in their local paper from this past July that says she's still fighting the city about it, plus it has a bunch of photos of her garden if you want to see what the fuss is all about. Do be aware that if you decide to contact the Prospect Code Enforcement Board, City Council, and/or Mayor with a polite note in support of her, the website only allows you to send five messages every hour and you can only message one person at a time.

ETA: I did hear back just now from one of the code enforcement folks, who says--in their words--"Prospect City asked Ms. McGrail to redesign her current plantings into a more attractive and organized layout with edged definitions to her plant beds and a more obvious ‘walking path’ in between with a more “lawn-like” appearance, using native and no-mowing options"

[dustyaulos]

🪴

[typhlonectes]

[sagent-of-chaos]

why snowfall and not snow rise

[kajunroots]