Hot gardening news: The delawning movement

In my relentless mission to teach readers lower-maintenance, more nature- friendly gardening, I'm returning to the exciting topic of lawns. Seems they've fallen out of favor because of the large quantities of herbicides, insecticides and fertilizers people dump on them (so much of which ends up in our bay), plus all the water that's used to keep them green and the super-polluting mowers needed to keep them under control. And they're SO boring to look at.

Need more reasons? On slopes they're dangerous to mow and in the shade they're ratty-looking, at best. Ironically, this symbol of upper class leisure also requires intense labor on the part of the homeowner. Men in particular are often swept up in the spirit of competitive lawn care and devote insane hours to their care, so my message to you Torojockeys out there is: Get over it!

Possible replacements

• The Veggie Garden. Watch for news about Edible Estates, a national nonprofit that's creating regional prototypes in nine cities, including Baltimore. These front yard gardens, though sometimes a jolt to neighborhood aesthetics, harken back to earlier times when even front yards were put to good use. For information about the "fine art of radical gardening," see www.EdibleEstates.org.
• The Meadow. A popular recommendation for sunny spots, meadows usually contain drought-tolerant grasses and both annual and perennial flowers that are either native to this area or well-adapted to the site. Butterfly-attracting plants can be included, as well as spring-blooming bulbs. Just don't assume that meadows are easy or cheap, or waste your money on those "meadow-in-a-bag" products supposedly suitable for anywhere. (Although the Washington Post recently recommended Prairie Nursery and Vermont Wildflower Farm as reputable sources, both online.) Good soil preparation is required, as well as frequent watering and weeding in the first season or two, at least, because without mowing, meadows turn into scrubland and finally, forest. Once established, proponents claim that meadows need mowing only once a year and that eventually watering can be eliminated completely.
• Woodland Garden. If lower maintenance is your goal, a shade garden may be your best bet, since shade reduces both weeds and the need to water. For already-shady spots, just add shrubs and woodland plants that are native or drought-tolerant, like ferns, hostas, liriope, sedges, plus spring-blooming bulbs. In sunny spots, think long-term and start adding trees this fall. Suggestions about species selection and design are available at www.LessLawn.com.
• Hardscape. Lawn can be replaced with paving or simply gravel, especially over landscape fabric or another weed-reducing layer. While low-maintenance, this option is missing the plants we need to not only clean our air and water, but also to smell and enjoy. And clearly it wouldn't be the first choice of the local birds and bees.
• Astroturf? Don't you dare. Even the NFL players demanded it be declared hazardous.

Ways to reduce lawn

Photos: Julie Wiatt The author's own backyard attractively features the more-borders-less-lawn strategy to reduce lawn area.

• If you remove some turf in order to create beds around your existing trees, there are ancillary benefits to the trees, like protecting them from the ravages of your mower and keeping them away from the lime you're adding to your lawn.
• · You might remove your lawn's corners for planting areas, using curved lines to make mowing easier.
• · The lawn-reducing technique I recommend most often is to create a curved border around the perimeter of the yard and fill it with small trees, shrubs, and spring-blooming bulbs. Homeowners who enjoy caring for plants might also include perennials, annuals and groundcovers. And be sure to keep any bare soil well mulched.

Why keep a lawn at all?

Because nothing beats lawn for family recreation and just plain walking across. Designers point out that it rests the eye, which means it makes everything around it look better. It also absorbs water well, thus preventing erosion. Although reasonable people sometimes disagree with this assertion, I can report that turf has done a great job holding the soil on my hillside garden over the decades. Another provocative assertion comes from Ron Barnett of American Plant Food, who told me that turf produces more oxygen per square foot than "anything else" and that replacing it with a patio or a single tree would be a net loss to air quality. And there's the reminder from Judy Tiger of Garden Resources of Washington that research shows humans prefer open areas surrounded by larger plants because we're "savannah animals."

Keeping some lawn but going natural

As Sylvia Wright wrote in Washington Gardener Magazine, "The problem is not the lawn space itself but the overdose of everything from fertilizer and pesticides to water."

And though the Chesapeake Club in their terrific Baysafe Program cites our "improper and excessive fertilizing of lawns" as the biggest cause of nutrient runoff into the Bay, they still recommend an organic feeding in the fall because thick, healthy lawns hold more water than thin ones.

So do stop using pesticides, herbicides and synthetic, fast-acting fertilizers. And for more details about "Earth-Friendly Lawn Care Throughout the Year" see my April 2006 column.

To go even more natural, plant some clover and weed selectively. With a little attitude adjustment, some weeds don't look half bad. Mitch Baker of American Plant Food flies in the face of the American lawn-care addiction when he brags that his own lawn is more than half weeds.

What I do

If you're hoping to reduce maintenance requirements, think twice about removing your lawn because thenotion that lawns are more work than their alternatives is largely a myth. Just ask the owners of the many beautiful lawnless front yards in our area and they'll laugh at the notion that they're less work.

What works best for me and most of my clients is to use the lawn reduction technique mentioned above -- borders. Then, to fill them up, I choose plants that can do all these things in their new location: look healthy and beautiful; resist disease and destructive insects; require little or no supplemental watering, even in droughts; and stay up without being staked.

There are lots of terrific lawnless frontyards around here, especially in the 7200 block of Willow Avenue in Takoma Park where this house is located. The yard pictured before it (above and to the right) is from the corner of Walnut and Westmoreland, also in Takoma Park.

Not forgetting wildlife, I make sure to provide plenty of feeding, nesting and cover opportunities for the animals I want to encourage. Then I let my lawn morph into a lively biodiversity of plants that looks brown and scruffy by late summer but greens up again after an organic feeding in the fall.

And I'm happy to report that my lawn is now small enough to be mowed -- infrequently and imperfectly -- by a small but kinder and gentler electric mower. Lastly, I always suggest adding seating. If it's in a shaded spot with a nice view you might be surprised how much you use it - and how much it increases your enjoyment of the garden.

Master Gardener Susan Harris writes about gardening for UDC's Cooperative Extension Service and teaches gardening privately; see - thegardeningcoach.com. She also blogs at gardenrant.com and takomagardener.typepad.com.

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