Thanks to Urban Farm Magazine for their nice coverage of Lawn Reform – the Coalition and the concept. They quote me blaming lawn care, not lawn itself (at least in the East) and sadly, some other quotes that may just teach me to write out my answers before ever giving another interview. Seriously: “What this coalition is about is individuality. That’s where it’s happening.” WTF? And later I seem to be contrasting turfgrasses with plants, no matter that they ARE plants. Cringe.
But hey, at least I sounded stupid for a good cause, right? Check out the article and really, this whole magazine, which I raved about upon their launch last October and continue to be impressed with. Hope this publication makes it!
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I was thinking of you yesterday as I mowed my large “lawn”. It’s not really a lawn. It’s a weedy field I am keeping mowed until I starve out the roots of the Himalayan Blackberries. This “lawn” isn’t watered. It’s isn’t fertilized unless you count grass cycling and over seeding with clover. I do feel badly about the biodiversity I’m decreasing by mowing, but the alternative is to douse the field repeatedly with herbicide (Himalayan blackberries with enormous root systems don’t die easily). That would decrease the biodiversity even more. It would also kill the old bulbs planted by some long dead owner that reappeared when the blackberries were cut down. Mowing around them is a nuisance, but I can’t mow down blooming daffodils to save my life. Yes, I use a gas mower. I wish I could use a push mower, but the field is too large and the ground too rough.
The plan is to eventually turn this field into a woodland garden. I’ve begun planting baby trees already. Babies being all I can afford in the quantities I want. Eventually, when they cast some shade, I’ll start putting in understory plants. In the meantime, I’ll keep mowing my politically incorrect “lawn”.