The lawn is a big priority in suburbia. It has never been a big deal for me. One year we played tackle football on my mother’s front yard and destroyed the grass. It did not grow back so I grew up looking at dirt patches and crab grass. This must have permanently seared my sense of aesthetics. Over time, the space around my mother’s house turned into a moss-lawn. I am not sure what the neighbors think, but I see it as a wonder of the natural world. The post I made about it in my last blog in 2011 was entitled, “ The Moss Lawn, a Suburban Solution to Global Warming.” I am still waiting for a major environmental prize for my contribution to stop climate change. Maybe I will reprint it next month to grease the skids.
Where we worked in Central Africa, people dug up every bit of grass around their houses so that snakes had no place to hide. I don’t think that this is an option for our house in North East TN. The lawn is a fine blend of grass and weeds. Crab grass would be ok, but it grows too fast. I want to go at least 2 weeks between mowings. In the Central African Republic there was a type of Bermuda Grass that never grew tall so it did not need cutting. I don’t think that it would grow here.
I was inspired by the slash and burn type of agriculture practiced in Central Africa. This practice has a bad reputation from environmentalists, but at the subsistence level it is essential for families making a living from agriculture. Here in TN we burned a brush-pile that got so hot it burned the grass and the grass roots. After the fire, the soil was ready for grass seed without any other preparation. The fire also burned the weed seeds so only what we planted grew. I am saving any brush we have around for burning weed and crab-grass infested spots in our lawn next spring. We are fortunate enough to live in an area that does not have any pesky rules about brush fires in the front lawn.
Adventures in Suburbia 