Rethinking the Lawn!
A recent article published by Modern Farmer discussed the
trend in rethinking our “lawns.” In southern California, the trend has been a
push to convert monocrop grass stands to Native and drought tolerant, low water
plant pallets. Decomposed granite, rocks and gravel highlight many of these
pseudo-habitat installations. Although I love California’s native landscapes
and the diversity of plants that make it up, and believe many of these
installations are exceptionally beautiful, I think it is time to consider the
importance of grass in home landscapes from a Natural History and
Ecological-Agriculture perspective.
I can feel the faces of my Native Plant enthusiast friends
and water managers all over turning red and getting hotter than the boulders in
a new drought tolerant garden in August. But sit back and hear me out, please.
Grasslands in California are a critically endangered habitat. When the plow or
bulldozer isn’t turning them over, and fires are suppressed, scrub and
chaparral habitats often encroach onto fertile grasslands.
I have a front “lawn” that totals about 7000 square feet.
For years, I pleaded with my wife to let me convert it to flower and vegetable
production space. She has always stood her ground and protected her lawn.
However, I still have to care for and maintain it, so I have been approaching
it from a slightly different perspective. I view it not as lawn, but as pasture
and more accurately grassland. For the past 3 plus years, I have been
conducting some informal research on the natural history of my front lawn with
particular focus on biodiversity and forage capacity.
When we moved onto the property almost 12 years ago, the
entire 1-acre land mas had been scraped clean of any vegetation except for the
three century old Olive trees in the backyard, a gravel driveway and some tiny
privet bushes that were planted to someday form a hedge. But as soon as some
rain fell a few sprigs of Bermuda and foxtail began to appear.
We watered the area a couple times a week, as my wife began
to find therapeutic value in wielding a hose with her thumb over the end. We
also own and operate a floral business on the property and our leftover water
from storing flowers would be dumped onto the Lawn. It took about 5 years to
fill in the entire area with vegetative cover. And every week or two depending
on the season, I would mow the patches of green and gold. The collected cuttings
were either added to the compost pile or fed to the cattle we had at the time.
If I let the mower rest for a week or two longer than my
wife would like, I would begin to see other plants sprout. Erodium, also known
as Heron’s Bill, Bi-colored lupine, wild oats and other grass species would
appear, but always gave way to the mulching blades of my Honda mower. On
occasion, when the mower wouldn’t cooperate, I would take the weed whacker or
string trimmer to the taller plants and larger clumps of grass.
During one such season, I noticed something different about
the outcomes of using a weed whacker instead of a mower. The cut had less uniformity
over the spread of our lawn. In fact it dawned on me that using the string
trimmer to cut my lawn, had an outcome much more like that of a grazing animal
than that of a sharp even-bladed mower.
Over time more new species were discovered and the diversity
increased. Wild Brodea, Needle grasses, Silverleaf Nightshade and milkweeds
began to show up. In all, my lawn contains at least 13 species of grasses and
herbaceous plants. Some native and some not. Some are drought tolerant, others
grow only where the water is more prevalent.
Gophers have also increased over time, though i have a couple
barn cats, Western Screach Owls, Red-tailed hawks and other predators that keep
them mostly in check. With the addition of living plants, and a little water,
organic matter has increased and my soil has improved significantly over the
past 5 years. My “lawn” is now sequestering carbon and feeding a soil ecosystem
that further adds to the biodiversity of our little flower ranch.
So I agree with the idea that it is time to rethink our
lawns. But that doesn’t mean taking them out in favor of a few drought tolerant
perennials or succulents. Instead, lets turn our lawns into grasslands, meadows
and pastures. Lets turn our lawns into carbon sinks. We can increase biodiversity,
make hay and reverse climate change and save water. Yah! Lets rethink our
lawns.