By: Marikay Shellman, BPW Colorado Virtual Chair, NFBPWC Environment and Sustainable Development Committee (2022-2024) 

Simple Acts:  Lawn Culture vs Lawn Futures 

May is upon us and as the sound of lawn mowers echoes throughout the land (my neighbor starting mowing in early March), I wonder where the American obsession with the perfect lawn originated.   

A bit of lawn history:  From the Middle English word laude, the concept of the lawn originated in Europe, grasslands surrounding castles that were kept free of trees providing clear vision for guards.  These meadows were referred to as the village commons where villagers could graze their cattle and sheep, keeping the grass “mowed” and fertilized.  In the 16th Century, these meadows evolved into lawns, cultivated in France and England by the rich to display their wealth.  An important note, these lawns were often planted with chamomile and thyme rather than grass, a great alternative to modern grass.  In England in the 17^th Century, short trimmed grass lawns emerged as the symbol for rich landowners who could afford human labor to scythe and weed the grass.    

The American obsession with lawns didn’t exist until the late 18^th century.  Before then, front yards were a mix of flowers, vegetables, herbs, and chickens pecking at insects.  Suburbs began to grow after the Civil War bringing with them the lush, sprawling green lawn which became a mark of prosperity, the American Dream, and the trend of replicating grassy pastoralism of the Romantic era of landscape paintings. 

The first human-pushed lawn mower, the spiral-bladed mower, was designed in 1870.  By 1938, Toro had created a power mower that every American household could afford and would fit into a household garage, and most importantly, safe enough for teenagers to operate.  Now 54 million Americans mow their lawn every weekend spending about 70 hours per year on lawn care and emitting 5% of our total air pollution by burning 800 million gallons of gas.  Manicured turf grass lawns consume 3 trillion gallons of water a year.  

Approximately 20% of treated drinking water is used for outdoor lawns and landscaping.  Over 80% of Americans have lawns, covering 50 million acres of land.  Running a gas-powered lawn mower for 1 hour produces 11 times more emissions than the average new car in the same amount of time.   

The Lawn Future. 

It’s not necessary to remove every square inch of your lawn.  Lawns are nice.  However, think about spaces that you can replace lawn in your yard with ground covers or perennials or shrubs or with pollinator friendly flower gardens.   

Implement No Mow Spring or May.  Hold off mowing for as long as you can.  Mowing less equals less emissions which will decrease your carbon footprint while providing habitat for pollinators.  When you do mow, set your mower at the highest setting leaving your lawn at 3-4 inches in height.  You will use less water on your lawn and find that you need to mow less often.  I have experimented with this method the past 2 years and I have been amazed by how well this method works.   

Replace your gas-powered mower with a battery charged lawn mower.  Thanks to my daughter’s suggestion, I have used a battery powered mower the last 2 years.  These are very efficient, easy to use and little maintenance tools. 

Water deeply, only once per week, encouraging deeper more drought tolerant roots.  Use soaker or drip hoses which will deliver water to the root zone and prevent loss of water due to evaporation.  Where available, use rain barrels to collect water from downspouts rather than sending rainwater into drains and sewers. 

Do not use chemical fertilizers.   Not only are these pesticides killing our pollinators and polluting our waterways all the way to oceans, but chemical fertilizers cause grass lawns to burn in the heat thus needing watering more frequently.  By leaving the leaves in the Fall, as they decompose you have provided natural fertilizer-carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus- to your soil.  An additional light sprinkling of compost on your lawn in the Spring is all that is needed.  Plus, decomposed leaves add a layer of mulch to your grass, less weeds and lawns don’t dry out in the windy Spring weather. 

Las Vegas region offers us an inspiring approach.  Through voluntary action, education, pricing and enforcement, 170 million square feet of “non-functioning turf” has been removed from front yards, resorts, highway medians and golf courses.  This action has resulted in a 30% reduction in water consumption even though there has been an increase in population by half-million people.