Lawn Rant

Passed along from a friend this morning, this just makes my head spin.

I’ve made no secret about how much I abhor my lawn. When we bought the house, it was sickly. And as we we enter our sixth seventh growing season, the thing is just a lousy lump of weeds. I simply don’t have the resources—money, time, desire—to create and maintain grass. Grass! That which does nothing but suck nitrogen from the soil.

Which leads me to wonder, where did the lawn come from? And why are Americans in love with it?

Virginia Scott Jenkins has written The Lawn: A History of an American Obsession, and I’d really like to read it. Because the best way to combat your enemy is to understand it, right?

I want to redesign the lawn to create artful, productive beds. Something that’s beautiful to behold. But back to the issue of resources, money and time are what’s holding me back. I’m not a landscape designer, and I’ve already admitted to being a poor planner. How am I going to do this? And how am I going to find the guts to do it if this isn’t our forever house?