Why Lawns Don't Work

Article by Carole Rubin

Turf grass species used in conventional lawns in North America are a horticultural disaster waiting to happen on the Sunshine Coast. Why? Let me count the ways:

Kentucky Bluegrass isn't from Kentucky! Perennial Ryes, Kentucky Blues and the fescues that are used in lawn turf originated in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. So, botanically speaking, they do not like our climate, or soil.

• Turf grass species need a full eight inches of humus rich soil for adequate root development. Sound like your yard?
• Turf grasses do not do well in shady, damp climates. In fact, they are so stressed in these conditions that while they cling to life, viral, fungal, and bacterial diseases move in to predate on the weak plants, accompanied by turf eating insects.
• Turf grass is, practically speaking, a monoculture. Some people actually go ahead and maintain a three-species blend, but that is still not diverse enough to withstand predation.

All of the above mean stressed plants, which of course, bring diseases, insects, and weeds.

Then there are the polluting factors that go with turf grass monocultures:

• We use 60% of our drinking water on lawns to try and keep them green.
• Cutting a lawn with a 3-½ hp lawn mower pollutes the air with as much exhaust as a full size car driven 560 kilometers.
• The 50 million lawn mowers in the U.S.A. burn 1140 million litres of gasoline per year.
• 76 million litres of gas and oil are spilled each year just refilling lawn equipment! (More than the Exxon Valdez spilled in the Gulf of Alaska)
• 43 million kilograms of chemicals are applied to American lawns each year, evaporating and seeping into water, air, and soil.

And finally, some aesthetic considerations:

• Lawns are boring! Flat, green: you might as well put down indoor-outdoor carpeting.
• Lawns are sterile. No birds living in them, no butterflies flitting about.
• Lawns are uniforms. Could be Saskatoon, Sarnia, or Sechelt. Same, everywhere you go.

Now check out a native plan garden in your neighbourhood:

A diversity of drop-dead gorgeous ground covers, flowers, bulbs, shrubs, vines, and trees in all shapes, colour and sizes, growing in the soil and climate they have evolved in for centuries.

• Disease and pest resistant plants, naturally. No pesticides needed, ever. Safe for you, your children, your pets, all the time!
• Zero water needed after the first year.
• No fertilizers needed, ever.
• No mowing or mowers needed, ever. (Make a sculpture out of it: shrine to a dead lawn mower!)
• Your yard is unique to your neighbourhood, unique to you.
• Your yard is full of the cheeps and trills of native birds, the humming of native bees, and the colour of native butterflies, flitting from blossom to blossom.

Makes sense, yes? And we are so lucky: we have literally hundreds of plants that are native to this region to select from when designing our new, native yards. So Be Creative, Go Native! You won't miss that water-sucking, labour intensive, predator ridden, chemically saturated, boring green carpet one bit!

Carole Rubin lives at Mission Point in Sechelt, where she maintains a native plant garden. She is the author of How to Get Your Lawn Off Drugs and, most recently, How to Get Your Lawn Off Grass - A North American Guide to Turning Off the Water Tap and Going Native. Both are available from Harbour Publishing of Pender Harbour.