“Green” Yards

by Sarah (May 7, 2008)

Maintaining and caring for grass lawns is one of the most environmentally damaging aspects of everyday life in North America. Over 50% of residential water usage in the US goes to watering lawns, not to mention the chemicals that go into keeping the lawn green and the gasoline used to power lawn mowers or weed-whackers. Finding the time to do all the watering, cutting and trimming during busy summer months can also be a challenge.

Lots of alternatives are available to the standard grass lawn, and while they require some startup time and energy, in the long run, many of them are easier and cheaper to maintain than grass. “Groundcovers” are plants (or combinations of plants) other than grass that may be more suitable based on the weather or soil type in your region and that do not require the use of pesticides and herbicides - or, in most cases, cutting. If you live in a wet area, mosses are also good, since they don’t require chemicals or additional watering as they make use of moisture drawn from the air. You can also consider adding a rock garden, flower beds or even a small vegetable garden on some areas of your yard to reduce the amount of space taken up by grass.

The main advantage of traditional grass is that it makes a good surface for kids to play on and holds up well under a lot of foot traffic. Keep in mind that, as with everything else when it comes to “greening” your lifestyle, change doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. If there are some areas of the yard that are used less frequently anyway, consider switching from grass to another option in just those areas. If you’re sticking with grass (in whole or in part), try to use natural fertilizers and leave clippings after mowing (these act as a natural protection against weed growth).

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