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Off The Fence - Other alternatives to the perfect lawn in drought conditions
Susan Thompson
for Smoky River Express
A beautiful lawn is something many people obsess over.
It’s true there is something to be said for a pristine patch of green. Maybe it evokes our ancient past, when it was safer to be able to see predators and other threats coming. Or maybe it has more to do with our desire to keep up with the Joneses.
Whatever the reason, maintaining grass has been elevated to the level of an art and a science, as anyone who has ever maintained a golf green can tell you.
But there are costs to having that perfect lawn too.
We’re fortunate in northern Alberta to have abundant water sources, but the recent threat of drought should have us all thinking about whether that will always be true.
It takes a lot of water to maintain a lush green lawn, especially if you want to prevent it from going brown and dormant for a while in the heat of summer (a natural thing for grass to do).
That constant need for water as the world’s fresh water sources become scarce and polluted has some people turning to xeriscaping. Xeriscaping means planting drought-tolerant plants, often native plants, instead of lawn. The result can be both beautiful, since the effect is one of a large, often colourful garden, and practical, since plants need far less maintenance and water to thrive.
As another plus, xeriscaping also requires little to no lawn mowing. That means less work to be done and more time to spend in the sun actually enjoying your landscaping. As our family’s designated lawn mower, that sounds great to me.
Pesticides and herbicides are another thing to think about. Those pesky dandelions keep popping up, and certain bugs can make mincemeat our of lawns and gardens.
But applying chemicals is time consuming and expensive, and many of us can be guilty of applying too much for our small lawns (and gardens), potentially polluting local water sources. (Remember to always read labels and follow the directions!) Some people are convinced that the chemicals we use on our lawns may be health hazards to pets and even people, contributing to the prevalence of cancers.
As our bees disappear mysteriously, threatening all of the plants that rely on bees to pollinate, pesticides are being raised as one possible reason (out of many, it’s true). Whether or not pesticides are a factor in colony collapse disorder, they do certainly kill beneficial insects as well as harmful ones, sometimes contributing to the very problems they are meant to treat since beneficial insects can keep insect pests under control.
There are alternatives to heavy chemical applications. Native grasses are tougher and easier to grow. Clovers can provide a lovely groundcover that also fixes nitrogen in the soil. And simply cutting grass a little higher can shade out weeds, helping your grass outcompete them.
Removing dandelions individually, while more work, is also a much less chemical intensive way to deal with them. A little boiling water poured on weeds, or a good old shovel, can make short work of them.
But what’s so wrong with a few dandelions, anyway? I like to grab some tender young ones for salads now and then myself, since they are, after all, completely edible.
They also make a good wine. Sometimes it seems in the quest for beauty we forget that certain so-called weeds may actually have some uses.
As for pesky bugs, birds and beneficial insects can actually help take care of them. Having some trees around and putting out a little birdseed now and then can attract birds whose voracious appetites can help clear up bug problems.
But ultimately, while a perfect lawn can be beautiful, maybe it would be less stressful for us and a little better for the environment if we weren’t so obsessed with perfection in the first place.
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