It's Time: The Lawn

He continues ... "I include some areas of lawn in my design for functional reasons, as play areas for children or as a surface for outdoor entertainment spaces. But quite apart from the environmental costs of lawns--the unsustainable investments of fertilizers, pesticides, and water they require and the air and noise pollution caused by the constant mowing--I dislike lawn's status as the default landscape surface because it represents missed opportunities. Unless there is a genuine need for turf, ... a lawn reflects a missed opportunity for self-expression and for a more thoughtful, rewarding relationship to the natural riches all around us." Lawns, people, lawns!

It's time, y'all. Time to reduce that ecological dead zone that none of us use anyway! I've been meaning to deep dive into the lawn conversation (we started it briefly in a post last year), but now I'm going to put my money where my mouth is. I have hesitations like the rest of you do. Let's discuss. Do you need all of that lawn? Do you think you could make better use of that space? What's holding you back? Can you accept the idea of your property having a different look than the conformity of the rest of your neighborhood? Let's focus right now on aesthetics. What do you like about the lawn? Those of us with a touch of OCD very much enjoy straight mow lines and a crisp edge along the sidewalk. That uniform green color and texture for some reason feels so good in spring as well. Can you do with less? How much less? How much opportunity might you be wasting? Keep following this week for updates on an exciting new project at Soil + Ink headquarters.