the quest for the perfect suburban lawn

I've never lived in the suburbs. Not until a couple of years ago that is. Which means that I've never had to take care of a suburban lawn before.

Up until now I've either lived in the city with postage stamp lawns that require only the barest of attention or in the country where the large expanse of ground can hardly be called a lawn and whose "grass" is chopped to the ground twice a year and left to grow up to your shoulder blades otherwise. I simply had no experience on which to draw for dealing with a suburban lawn.

Two years ago when we moved into this house I was in awe of my new patch of ground that had been lovingly cared for by the previous owners. I looked around and imagined all the beautiful fluffy flowers that I could now grow on my expanded patch of earth. But the funny thing is, that's pretty much all I did for two years: imagine. Somehow, every time I would try to get serious, dragging out a paper and pen to take notes on where to put new flower beds, I found myself paralyzed by fear that I'd make some mistakes. So what I managed to accomplish in two years is exactly, nothing.

The first year, the lawn seemed to remember what those other owners had done to it so it pretty much cared for itself as I mowed it to within an inch of it's life. Only later did I find out that it's really not such a great idea to mow grass down to it's roots! The second year, all trace of those other owners must have dissipated because suddenly we seemed no longer to be growing grass but an amalgam of weeds that have names akin to those in the animal kingdom. That year the dandelions roared and the chickweed squawked. And I'm pretty sure the neighbors were not happy.

In my lawn ignorance I had, once again, done precisely nothing to care for the grass. I'd sort of vaguely heard of weed and feed but really didn't know what it was or how it worked. And of course I'd heard about how completely and utterly awful the chemicals were for our environment. So I dug in my heals and refused to put poison on my lawn. In addition to the greater world I was also quite concerned for Miss America, Mr. Cowboy, Slashables, and the Piggles. I didn't want them to come into contact with any harmful substances.

I started getting desperate to find a way to manage this patch of ground in a socially acceptable way and one in which my conscience wouldn't suffer. So I did what all good folks do when they're faced with a problem for which they need information. I went to the library.

There I found no end of books on gardening and lawn care all of whose covers had landscapes bursting with delightfully thick green grass and big, plump fluffy flowers. They sure had a lot to live up to with covers like that! I'd gather together a selection and drag them home in the hopes of figuring out what to do.

What I discovered is that there are two very distinctly different camps of folks. There are those who embrace the application of chemicals and those who don't. And a handful fell somewhere in the middle. By now I guess y'all have figured out on which side of the fence I was resting. Two books in particular stood out from the myriad of books that I perused in an effort to find one to help guide me.

I've probably checked out Front Yard Gardens: Growing More Than Grass by Liz Primeau and Andrew Layerle from the library so many times that my card's getting worn out. But I can't help it and I really need to just go on and buy myself a copy. Of all the books I read this one speaks to me more than any other.

Liz gives a brief, eye opening history of the North American lawn. She makes quite a convincing argument that a diverse front garden is much better for your soul as well as the environment. The sample gardens are many and varied from small to large, urban to suburban and are frankly a delight to explore. There are so many ideas here that I seem to find something new every time I read it.

This book gave me the long term goal I was looking for with my suburban lawn. I wanted more than grass to take care of. I wanted more than the chore of mowing. I wanted a place for birds and bees to gather and enjoy. I wanted more than a lawn.

So I've made up my mind that I really am going to expand existing beds as well as create new ones. I've finally started taking notes and figuring out which plants I want where. This is no easy feat because I'm bound and determined to implement xeriscaping techniques in order to avoid excessive watering. I'm excited about this new project and a whole lot less intimidated.

In the mean time before I get to the place where I can reduce the amount of lawn, I'm faced with an expanse of grass that needs caring for. That's when I found The Organic Lawn Care Manual by Paul Tukey. Paul set my mind at ease because he explains how to have grass without using chemicals. There is a lot of information in this book that can take awhile to 
absorb. But that's how it is with all new things, right? He speaks my language of wanting grass as a place for animals and activities. Plus, I've got to deal with the grass I've got now and decide just how much I want to have in the future. This book really gives the nuts and bolts on how to do that. Who the heck knew you could torch those weeds into oblivion?!

In addition to these two fabulous books I've also found an amazing amount of information on the GardenWeb Forums. These discussion boards cover plants and gardens with sections devoted to states and regions of the country. You don't even have to register to read the information so you can just lurk on there and find out all sorts of really groovy stuff. That's where I found out about my latest fun lawn gadget, the Weed Hound.

I am totally in love with this thing! It's a metal tool that allows you to rip those wretched dandelion weeds out of your yard roots and all. I swear y'all, yanking those suckers out is one of the most satisfying experiences I've had in a good long while. Once I got started I simply could not stop! If you're an organic gardener with a dandelion weed problem this thing 
will change your life.

Y'all are probably thinking I'm a little nuts. Nah, not really. I'm just so excited to finally feel like I know and understand something about this suburban lawn of mine. For so long I just felt lost and confused and immobile. It's so refreshing to finally know what to do and to not fear the results. So what if boiling water on the fire ant beds doesn't work right away? I'm going to keep trying it in the hopes that it will. Because a lot of precious animals are counting on me to make their space safe and fun. And it's nice to know that I'm figuring out my own way of creating it.

Comments

[niftyknits]

It's such fun to discover gardening - the best part of mine is my pond, watching all the little beasts tha now call it home. Come meet my tadpoles at my blog ;-)
http://niftyknits-somuchyarnsolittletime.blogspot.com/

[Jennifer Rose]

we finally have a lawn of our own to play with. when we first moved in the grass and weeds were up to my hips in some places. doesn't look too pretty at the moment because we are still planting and getting rid of things but we know it will take time to get it looking like a proper lawn. (already looks better after the grass has been cut and the hedges trimmed)

Hubby loves gardening, but has hay fever :p so takes all kinds of pills and drops so he can work on the garden (and for the moment he works at a garden centre). He wants to get rid of the grass eventually, it really makes him sneeze and keep some areas for garden beds and put paviers down on the rest, for a path between the beds.

those look like good books :D have to see if the library around here has them :)

[pam]

Okay, I'm totally getting a weed hound tomorrow! That things looks awesome. I bet its great therapy ripping those suckers out.

[Karen Young]

Hi Felicia, what a wonderful post and so full of great information. Becoming grassless (wonder if that's a word) is one of our goals too. I will have to check the library for that book and the garden centre for the weed hound.

Have a Happy Easter
Hugs Karen

[The Fuzzy Bunny]

I have some bunnies I can send your way. They'd LOVE to eat all of your dandelions for you.

[SpiderWomanKnits]

oh my, we are so not lawn care people and somehow end up living in places where we have at least an acre of lawn or more! this year we're contemplating getting a goat and just staking him around the yard ;) thankfully our neighbor takes pity on us and comes by with her tractor to help us since we actually don't even own a lawn mower! crazy!

good luck to you guys. that book looks really good. i'll have to check it out.

btw, we eat our dandelions! the flowers make excellent fritters and the greens make their way into our salads. my husbands grandparents (italians) used to make dandelion wine.

[Lucy]

Very interesting post...can't wait to see the future pics. I have always wanted to have a garden yard with only paths...at least in the backyard.

[the pleasures of homemaking]

I cringe every time I see the ChemLawn truck in my neighborhood!

I'll have to check out that weed hound. Dandelions have such deep roots they're so hard to yank out!

Manuela

[Suzie]

You've inspired me! I went to the library website and promptly ordered a hold for those two books. I wonder what dandelions taste like?

Aunt Suzie