The L word

I have mentioned before that in some circles, lawn is considered a dirty word. I completely understand this. The amount of resources expended on front lawns alone is staggering. Unnecessary use of fertilizer, insecticides, herbicides, the stink and noise of power mowers, the water used to keep it growing lushly all summer long--all of those are counter to the "green" movement that is sweeping the country. Did I say sweeping the country? I mean creeping into parts of the country. I understand the consternation about the waste of resources for a patch of green, that for most homeowners is just one more burdensome chore.

Summer of '08 our back lawn (which is large) was allowed to go mostly dormant (that's code for dead and full of weeds). There was talk of drought in the state and we cut back to only using the grey water from laundry to water. Clearly, that wasn't enough. Instead of coming back during the winter rains, it got muddy. Then by spring 09 it was mostly weeds. We didn't water much this summer either so the back lawn looks terrible. But we have a restoration plan using yarrow and red fescue and clover and we have the part of the back lawn closest to the house planted and getting established. (I'll post more on the success/progress of that project later.)

The front lawn suffered a similar fate. The construction project didn't allow for our huge sweeping sprinklers to be turned on often and the trenching and equipment storage on the front lawn didn't help either. So it died. Not just dormant but big patches of bare dirt. It is also a big lawn and there are plans to someday convert some of it to a formal garden landscape (emphasis on the word someday!). The house is very formal, has a history, and is prominently visible on a busy street. Despite my desire for a low impact life, I just can't feel good about a dead, ugly lawn. So this past weekend I dug out the worst of the St. Augustine grass in one shady corner, filled in a couple of large dents that are the ghosts of long gone trees, mowed the dead stuff as as short as I could and reseeded. I was on a mission to get it done in time for this rain storm and I succeeded!

I feel a little guilty, but we are on the way to having the front lawn back.