The pressure to have a clean, green lawn in the suburbs is enormous – and for no reason at all. A new social push, called the no-mow movement, is asking home owners to reconsider their landscaping in favor of alternatives, depending on where they live. It’s estimated that we will really see this shift within a few decades, but there’s no harm in giving it some consideration now, as it saves you time and money. Most importantly, shifting your landscaping methods can help the environment by reducing your carbon footprint – making it something to think about.
There are many different ways that you can participate in the no-mow movement. The firsthand most obvious method is simply to not mow or touch your lawn at all. Leaving your lawn to grow the way nature meant it to allows the natural ecosystems to flourish. There’s also the option of turning your yard into a garden, where you reap the benefits of a harvest. You can also shift to a type of grass that doesn’t require much grooming, and much of your space can be covered by fescues. Finally, you can develop a naturalized lawn, which uses noninvasive and climate friendly plants instead of grass to continuously permit for ecosystem development.
It is important to note that you check your local permits and laws before making any large switches. If you’re not up for such a large change, there’s also many other options that you can use to help make a difference. Remain in control of your water usage and conserve what you can. Insure you are responsibly removing your yard waste (compost!) and not tossing it in a dumpster. Try and reduce your lawn mowing time as much as possible in order to decrease your fossil fuel usage, and use rechargeable tools whenever possible. Avoid pesticides in your yard in favor of hand weeding.
It’s not that difficult to introduce sustainable methods into your landscaping work. For more ideas and methods about what you can do, view the sites below.
William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening. Sustainability: Ways to Go Green in Your Lawn and Garden. Missouri Botanical Garden.
- Bill Sloey. So You Want a No-Mow Lawn. Wild Ones. PDF file.
- Starre Vartan. Why I’ll Never Have a Lawn Again. Mother Nature Network.
- Sarah Baker. My Town Calls My Lawn a Nuisance. But I Still Refuse to Mow It.” Chicago Tribune.
-J Louise
J Louise Hoggan 