by Cathy Caldwell
The condition “ grass - free lawns ” came up at a recent Master Gardener intro by Ben Kessler of C’ville Foodscapes . Hey , I thought , I ’ve already obtain one of those ! What really get my attention , though , was that Kessler seemed to be say that a pot - free lawn could actually be adesirablething — and voguish , too . Naturally , I had to look into this , and my research led me beyond grass - free lawn to “ no - hayloft ” yards , “ freedom lawns ” and “ tapestry lawn . ” Did someone say “ no - mow ” and “ freedom ” in the same sentence as YARDS ? ? Yes ! So while you ’re on your winter suspension from grass - tending and cut down , you may want to take a look at these alternative lawn concept .
One of the drawing card in the “ Gunter Grass - destitute ” lawn apparent movement is Lionel Smith , Ph.D. , of Reading University in England . For several years , he has evolve a number of trial lawn using a wide variety of plant coinage , most of which are blossom earth covers , such as chamomile , thyme , milfoil and selfheal lawns . Most of his trial lawns contain a mixture of over 30 different plant species that can suffer mow . Smith calls these “ tapestry lawns . ” Dr. Smith ’s research indicate that his grass - costless lawns need no chemical substance additives and can reduce the need for cut down by up to two - thirds . tally out Lionel Smith ’s work at “ Rethinking the Traditional Grass Lawn,”http://blogs.reading.ac.uk / green goddess - free - lawns / rethink - the - traditional - grass - lawn/. The websiteGrass - Free Lawns , http://www.grassfreelawns.co.uk , has dozens of selective information and photograph , even videos present the development of alternative lawn over the course of several geezerhood , plus contact to many helpful resources . If you ’re interested in reducing the amount of your turfgrass , you ’ll observe lots of brainchild at these site .
Here in America , you ’ll line up leaders of the alternative lawn movement in theLawn Reform Coalition , which has a site , http://lawnreform.org , which is loaded with helpful resourcefulness , links , and inspiring photos . Susan Harris , the founder of the Lawn Reform Coalition , has experimented with alternative lawn in the Mid - Atlantic part , and you ’ll regain her photo at the site . Evelyn Hadden ’s Bible , Beautiful No - Mow Yards : 50 Amazing Lawn Alternativesis available through the Jefferson Madison Regional Library . Check it out if you ’re curious about how nurseryman all over America are re - conceive of lawns .
There is much to admire about these beautiful flowery lawn , but we all need areas in our yards that can treat pes dealings and youngster encounter . Can we have that eccentric of lawn without all the mowing , watering and fertilizing ? The answer turns out to be “ peradventure ” — though future developments are looking very promising .
Freedom lawn
For years I ’ve resent the trefoil and other broadleaf weeds in my grounds . Ever since my husband and I stopped apply ANYTHING at all — not even water — our yard on this no - chemicals dieting has become a hodgepodge of species , very few of which are grass . Even though some of these weeds — like the violets — were beautiful in bound , my chiliad was not pleasing to my eye — probably because it did not look at all like the manicured all - dope lawn on view in my region and in gardening magazines . That ’s the standard we all have parked aside in our minds . But now that I ’ve been looking into lawn alternatives , my perspective is alter . And guess what ? It sprain out that my railway yard really has a name : it ’s a “ freedom lawn . ”
A freedom lawn is define as “ residential land permitted to or designed to contain a variety of plants other than manicured grass , specially when containing plant aliveness that take place without cultivation , chemical , or film editing . ” A “ freedom lawn ” sound desirable in many ways , and you ’d expect that if you give up fertilizing your lawn , you ’d help to reduce contamination in our drainage basin . BUT , that is not necessarily the case . I spoke to Dr. Mike Goatley , a turfgrass expert at Virginia Tech , and he explained that a “ exemption lawn ” could really result in the leach ofmorepollution - causing nutrients than aproperly - fecundate turfgrass lawn . How could this be ?
Well , as Dr. Goatley says , plow the groundis the key to preventing the overflow of sediment , and deposit contains nutrients like atomic number 7 and P that cause algae growing pollution in bodies of water like the Chesapeake Bay . So the destination for any lawn is to provide decent reportage of the ground and hefty plants that can trammel runoff . If your “ freedom lawn ” has sphere of bare soil or thin plant life covert , you ’ll have more runoff , and that runoff may contain pollution - do nitrogen and P . Read all about it in the article “ Are Freedom Lawns Environmentally responsible for ? ” athttp://chesapeakestormwater.net/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/06/R-5-Freedom-Lawns_published-VTJ_Mar-Apr2011_Dr-Erik-Ervin.pdf . The author of this clause , Dr. Erik Ervin of Virginia Tech , urges homeowners to endeavour for a sustainable lawn that has minimal impact on urine caliber . To do that , follow the near direction practice session ( BMP ’s ) for greensward , which are discussed in Dr. Ervin ’s article and in a podcast athttp://www.ext.vt.edu/topics/lawn-garden/turfgrass/turfandgardentips/index.html
Research on this issue is continuing , but so far , it reveals that fertilizing your turf Gunter Wilhelm Grass — adopt you do it at the proper clock time and in the proper amount — will not leave to the overflow of atomic number 7 and phosphorus , except if there ’s a profound rain right after you put on fertiliser . As the scientists put it,“Healthy turfgrass organization absorb the legal age ofnutrients when applied at recommend rates , thus belittle leach and overspill from landscape surfaces . ” ( Brown et al . , 1977 ; Easton and Petrovic , 2004 ; Frank 2008 ; Hull and Liu , 2005 ; Shuman , 2001 ) . It ’s worth emphasize that the cardinal isproper fertilizationbecause “ excessive amounts or the awry character of plant food will not render an effective treatment for your lawn andmay increase the risk of groundwater contamination . ”Pub . No . 426 - 059 “ Groundwater Quality and the Use of Lawn and Garden Chemicals by Homeowners,”http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426 - 059/426 - 059.html .
So I ’m keeping an centre on my own personal “ freedom lawn ” — no sparse cover for me ! As Dr. Goatley say , whatever is covering the ground must be salubrious for do its job of absorb leach food . apologize me while I go spread some compost on my lawn .
By the means , you could look out a picture about compost your lawn athttp://www.ext.vt.edu/topics/lawn-garden/turfgrass/turfandgardentips/pete-dye/index.html
New Varieties of Grass
Could there be other way to make our urban turf areas healthier and more environmentally sustainable ? This is an area of some very exciting research . Some scientists are developing and experiment with new types of sess cultivar that requireless mowing , as well as less fertilizing , lacrimation and pesticide . To learn more about this effort , read about Dr. Thomas Turner ’s novel fescue varieties at the University of Maryland , “ Report from the Transition Zone : Sustainable Turfgrasses Tested at U.Md . ” athttp://lawnreform.org .
Thomas Christopher is a Connecticut horticulturist with 40 years of experience , and his goal is to develop a biodiverse lawn that includes greensward but is more environmentally sound than the turf grass in function today . To that terminal , he has been experimenting with new grass cultivars developed by Rutgers , Cornell and the University of Connecticut — sheep fescue ( Festuca ovina ) and unvoiced Festuca elatior cultivars — which are very tedious uprise — and get this — necessitate mowing only 2 or 3 time per twelvemonth ! Christopher is combining these low - growing grasses with turf - compatible plants such as white clover and strawberry clover . He discovered that lawn guides from the pre - chemical era were extremely helpful and that “ one such book from the 1920 ’s , for instance , included more than two dozen flowers it recommend include in the lawn . ” receive Mr. Christopher ’s article posted athttp://lawnreform.org , ( 2013 ) .
If you ’re intrigued by these lawn option and want to try out the least radical approach , start by allowingclover into your lawn . It fixes nitrogen in the grunge , and that cuts the need for fertilizer . There ’s a lot of bright inquiry on trefoil , although the panel is still out on whether an all - trefoil lawn will be viable in the Mid - Atlantic neighborhood .
And then there’sMICROCLOVER ! That ’s right , the University of Maryland is creating raw lower - growing clovers that will be more compatible with fescue , but apparently it ’s a work in progress . Read about it inhttp://lawnreform.orgOver in England , Lionel Smith has been breeding new varieties of trefoil that will be more desirable for lawn . Take a look — there are some real beauties.http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/grass-free-lawns/clover/Clover is looking better and better to me ! I ’m eagerly awaiting more research on microclover .
According to Ben Kessler , a mostly - clover lawn can be created by a cycle of mowing and seeding . Here ’s Ben ’s method :
You may not be quick for a lawn compose of clover , chickweed and creeping charlie , but search the wide mixed bag of lawn alternatives out there has been an middle - untier for me . Take a look — you just might put on an altogether new linear perspective on your own lawn .
