Lawns have been a fixture of American life for so long that it’s hard to imagine a world without them. If you don’t know what you want to do with your yard space, you’ll probably end up with a lawn. Lawns have become the default, but they aren’t the only option and they certainly aren’t the best option. It’s past time to rethink how we look at our yards and what we expect from them.
Undoing Monoculture
Where you used to find trees, and fruit-bearing plants, and wildflowers, now you only find grass. This is called a monoculture, and it’s hard on the local animals, the health of the soil, and the planet as a whole. Look at tree planting New London CT, wildflower meadows, and native plant gardens are all options to break up your lawn with something more aesthetically and environmentally pleasing.
Rethinking Maintenance
You may be thinking that replacing a lawn with a garden means more maintenance for you, but that isn’t the case at all. Lawns take rather a lot of maintenance; they need to be mowed and weeded and protected. Lawn alternatives often don’t need more maintenance, they just need different maintenance. Sometimes, they need less maintenance than a traditional lawn.
Happy Habitats
This isn’t just about making a happy habitat for your local flora and fauna; it’s your yard too! What do you like to do in your outdoor spaces? Are you really making use of all that grass or would you prefer shade and a place to sit?
For too long, the mown lawn has been the norm, no matter the needs of the local environment or even the lawn’s owner. It’s time to reimagine what a yard is and what it can be. The possibilities are endless, and none of them should be considered the default.