Whole Life Times: Love the Landscape, Lose the Lawn

June 2007 | Green Scene

Love the Landscape, Lose the Lawn

Eco-Friendly Ideas for Your Yard

By Jenny Rough

Blair Peters slips on her noise-canceling headphones, hoping to drown out the rattle of lawn mowers and leaf blowers up and down the street of her Northern California community. “We live in a neighborhood that has large wooded lots and appears peaceful and quiet, almost bucolic,” she says. “Then the gardeners arrive and start giving blowjobs to practically every house on the street. There is a continuous buzz all day.”

Noisy neighborhoods aren’t the only downside to Americans’ obsession with manicured yards. Lawn is the country’s largest crop — the EPA estimates there are 40 million acres of residential lawn in the U.S. To water all of those acres of green would require 238 gallons of water per person per day (not surprisingly, the average American household allots 60 percent of total water use to lawn-care). Commonly used lawn chemicals and fertilizers leach into groundwater, affecting humans and wildlife. And all that obnoxious mowing and blowing burns through 800 million gallons of gas a year.

But don’t despair grasshopper; there are healthier ways to landscape. Peters, for example, will spend her summer tending to her Zen-like garden full of drought resistant plants, as well as her veggie garden, which she lovingly waters by hand. Her front yard is full of native meadow grass, able to withstand a potential water shortage. Come October she’ll clean up any dead leaves the old fashioned way — with rakes.

The Lawn Goodbye: Five Steps to a Greener Yard

GO NATIVE Native vegetation requires less water (if any) and attracts beneficial bugs, butterflies and birds and because native plants are adapted to the area, they’re more resistant to disease and pesky insects, negating the need for pesticides.

We like: The EPA’s web page Green Landscaping with Native Plants (EPA.gov/greenacres); The California Native Plant Society (cnps.org); The Washington Native Plant Society (wnps.org).

EAT YOUR ESTATE You’ve heard the stat: grocery store produce travels an average of 1500 miles before reaching your plate. But what could be more local than replacing your front yard with food — for your family and your neighbors.

We like: Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2006; $25); The Edible Estates initiative, an LA-based national project designed to replace the American lawn with fruit and vegetable gardens (FritzHaeg.com).

KEEP THE RAIN Growing in popularity, rain gardens are depressed areas of yard that collect runoff instead of letting the water be carried to storm drains, collecting pollution along the way. In turn, the garden feeds native wetland plants, wildflowers and animals.

We like: PondAppeal.com (click on eco-friendly rain gardens).

SWAP YOUR SHINGLES If you live in an urban area and want a patch of green, or if you’re looking to utilize the space on top of your house, consider swapping your shingles for a rooftop garden. Roof plants drink in storm water, mitigating runoff. They also absorb less heat, helping control temperatures (particularly useful in metropolitan areas).

We like: GreenRoofs.org.

GIVE A HOOT If you must have a lawn, don’t pollute. Reel mowers keep the air clean. Try organic fertilizers (the new generation of products on the market is far more effective). Gather your orange peels and grass clippings for composting. Rain barrels can help with irrigation, or conserve water by using drip irrigation systems or watering by hand. With a few changes, you’ll be on your way to a more sustainable yard.

We like: SafeLawns.org; InHarmony.com.

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