Fri, 07/18/2008 - 8:36pm — lambert
Interesting review in the New Yorker:
Lawns in the U.S. cover an area roughly the size of New York State; each year, forty billion dollars is spent on their upkeep.
Unsustainable, no?
I think I'm going to double the size of my garden next year, and let what remains of the lawn turn to clover.
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What about the water?
Around my area, I see all these McMansions with huge gardens / lawns being watered 24/7 as soon as the temperatures get over 80. How sustainable is that?
Sure it's sustainable
We could privatize the water supply.
Or go to war with Canada.
What's wrong with you?
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
My bad
I forgot there is always an imperialist solution to anything! :-)
Not very sustainable
and not just regarding the waste of water. Overwatering can contribute to compacting the soil and ruin the lawn.
This is a tough one for us westerners
On the one hand, it's insane to dump all of that water into kentucky bluegrass, and then use petroleum-based fertilizer and petroleum-consuming lawn mowers to maintain it. On the other--the soil will dry up and blow away without something to hold it down, and grass is pretty efficient groundcover that can take a lot of abuse (if you don't mind brown periods and patches--it springs back to life when temperatures drop and with more moisture.)
Clover seems like a good solution--needs no mowing, although I don't know what level of water it requires. (It seems to green up fast in the spring.) I was warned against it a few years ago by a landscape architect who pointed out that it's great for bees--which is good for the bees, but might not be great for the neighbors or young children who scamper about and may be allergic. Ripping up grass and planting with native wildflowers is a good idea too, if you don't mind the random and slightly unkempt look.
What are your thoughts about slow dancing?
Watch from 2:23 to 6:10 here.
Slow dancing and gardening
The roots of all evil! It's so obvious.
Why does Lambert - Il faut cultiver notre jardin - hate America?? */snark*
a third of all residential water use in the United States
currently goes toward landscaping.
Like-minded lawn conversion people in Maine are here.
Wisconsin readers?
There's a Wild Ones National Conference in Appleton, WI August 22 - 24, 2008. Anyone want to go and report back?
Great link, bringiton. Thanks.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Bill McKibben had
an interesting article some years ago about the reforesting of New England, do you remember it?
And I don't know how close people are but there's this talk by him in Portsmouth, NH, this Sunday July 20, and SLOW FOOD!! Wait, that seems wrong...sllloooow fooood. Yes.