# Got rid of some lawn - now that feels good!



## webbie (Sep 13, 2007)

Took up about 5,000 square feet of the weeds that passed for our lawn - planted native and hardy trees (more to come) and spread a bunch of mulch.

Not only does it look good - but it will require less water and chemicals. Sometime, long after I pass away, folks will be appreciating the big trees which will protect us on the north side and also separate us from the neighbors property that way.....

Webwidow is interested in going organic on our lawns and gardens as much as possible and this will help a LOT. We went from about 18,000 sq feet of grass to perhaps about 12,000 now when all gardens and much are figured in. And - a lot of the grass is in the back where it is shaded partially and pretty much takes care of itself.


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## smirnov3 (Sep 17, 2007)

Webmaster said:
			
		

> Took up about 5,000 square feet of the weeds that passed for our lawn - planted native and hardy trees (more to come) and spread a bunch of mulch.
> 
> Not only does it look good - but it will require less water and chemicals. Sometime, long after I pass away, folks will be appreciating the big trees which will protect us on the north side and also separate us from the neighbors property that way.....



Nah. The next owner will chop all of them down to put a 2,000 sqft 'addition' on.

Ok, I'm cynical, but I am getting fed up with all the self absorbed people around where I live who don't care about anything except remodeling their home every other year. And they drive a hybred SUV & think that they are doing their part for the environment (all the while buying / consuming / throwing away three times as much as my family does)


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## Gibbonboy (Sep 17, 2007)

Way to go! I'm also weary of the mindset that I have to keep every spare inch of my lot in short green grass. I have a real problem with not only the chemicals, but the time and expense (mowers, fuel, etc.) involved. I have been reducing my yard area year by year, and should be "lawn-free" in another 3 years. I plant either native and/or compatible food-producing plants and trees. I may not harvest much, but perhaps someone will years from now. Of course, the next resident of my house could dig it all up and replant grass, but why buy my house if you want lawn? What really gets me is all of the housing developments that are nothing more than ugly huge boxes in the middle of open fields, golf courses are my next-biggest pet peeve- what an utter waste! Why is is absolutely necessary to play golf out in the open? Seems like more skill and chance would be involved in "forest golf".

I'm involved in our local Greenways project, we've made some major strides in communicating our purpose to local towns, developers, and residents. Everyone benefits from these types of things, except lawn-care companies, lawn equipment dealers, and lazy developers. 

Tear up the rest, Craig!


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## senorFrog (Sep 17, 2007)




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## webbie (Sep 17, 2007)

I was expecting Stalin to like lawns or something......

My last house was on one acre in the "pines" of southern NJ. No lawn, no topsoil and no sun. It was great living there for 26 years and not having to do anything except clear brush once in a while.

But when we moved further north we agreed that a house with a LOT of sun would be nice - what good is a "green" living if we are clinically depressed? So our lot is about 2/3 clear, including the house (we didn't clear it, but the builder sure did!)....now we have to plant trees.

A nice lawn and gardens are a good thing - martha just dumped 4 tons of composted cow chit on it - and she intends to use most compost and natural ways when possible from now on. We are also going to mix some clover in - that makes a nice cover.

As with everything else, it's about moderation. My neighbor chose the "nuclear" option - when he moved in he had the whole works - sod, irrigation, other trees, landscaping, etc. installed.....it looks pretty dang good, but too green for me. Heck, it was bright green in the middle of our august drought!

Gibbon - Martha is big time into the greenway (rail trail) stuff here in Southampton. Mass has quite a few extensive rail trails, including one that crosses the Ct. river near here.


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## senorFrog (Sep 17, 2007)

Just a little humor for the ban this, ban that brigade.


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## jpl1nh (Sep 17, 2007)

I'm kinda partial to lawns.  Just not acres and acres of lawn.  Nor am I a irrigate, irradiate with every chemical known to man type lawn guy.  But a small, nicely cared for piece of green is a nice accent to all the other beautiful things you can do in a landscape.


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## Bill (Sep 18, 2007)

Web down the road you sell the house and the next owner says wow looked the firewood.


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## njtomatoguy (Sep 18, 2007)

Boss, 
The less, The better!
I swear, once I have the wood stacked, my goal is to have NO grass in the backyard. I have a plan of 
-
Wood piles
Flowers
Veggies
Pond(maybe)

I will maintain the front yard grass for the dogs, but it is such a small area it only takes 10 mins to cut. I hate grass!

My new phrase- LOW Maintenaince- Gone Fishin'


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## colsmith (Sep 19, 2007)

> Of course, the next resident of my house could dig it all up and replant grass, but why buy my house if you want lawn?



Sadly, the people who bought our previous home did just that.   What made my house special was the yard and plantings, but they bought it and killed almost everything.  They took out the vegie gardens, the many flower gardens, the evergreen foundation shrubs, the prairie/wildflower area, all the raspberries, currants, gooseberries, rhubarb, and asparagus.  Although they didn't dig up the bulb gardens, they put sod over them to try to stop the daffodils, crocus, tulips, hyacinths, etc. from coming through.  They did dig out lilac, honeysuckle, and hardy hibiscus bushes.  They had equipment and dudes with hardhats in to cut down and remove all traces of 4 peach trees, two cherry, a plum, a pear, an apple, a basswood, 2 gorgeous flowering crabs, several pines, a few walnut trees, several ash, a few other large trees, a lovely multi-trunk river birch, and the 25+ foot tall maple tree I had planted for Earth Day many years earlier.  They gave no hint of their intentions, and put in the contract that I had to leave all the plantings!  They were just plain cruel, I figure it had to do with them being Republicans. ;-) 

We had been having less lawn every year there, now it is back to all lawn except for a few remaining trees.  About the only thing they kept that I had planted were two redbud trees and one pear tree.  Then they had marital problems, and sold the house to some old couple who had the remaining pear tree and a giant willow removed, the tallest tree in the yard.  Sigh.

I have 5 acres now, not much is mowed.  Most of our neighbors mow all their land, which is from 3 to 10 acres in size mostly, I think they are insane, they probably feel the same about us.  Half of our mowed area is in the paths that meander around the orchard/prairie which makes up most of the space.  We have a small bit of lawn around the house, and we mow a bit around the gardens.  Have never put any chemicals on lawns ever, so I don't really understand why it is hard to get away from them.  I admittedly don't care much what my lawn looks like, but it is fairly green and lawn looking, so what else do you need?  We have lots of clover and other things in the lawn.  I am somewhat lucky in that I bought the property from my mom, and my family had let the property be mostly wild for decades now.  From time to time they planted a tree or bush or flower someplace, or sowed some other wildflower seed around.  So our yard is quite lovely right now with wild and naturalized goldenrod, black-eyed susans, several colors of wild asters, phlox, mullein, purple coneflower, milkweed, etc.  Other times of year we have many other things blooming of course, I am especially fond of the false Solomon's seal and the waves of purple monarda.

We have lots of trees and bushes planted by birds.  So we don't have to try to create a natural, organic space, we already have that.  The only plants I poison are the poison ivy, and it is poisoning me back so I figure that is only fair.  We make a LOT of compost (bring in other people's bagged leaves, manure, old produce from a farm stand, etc. along with our own scraps) and that is our main fertilizer.  But compost never goes on the lawn except when we spill it.


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## keyman512us (Sep 19, 2007)

Webmaster said:
			
		

> So our lot is about 2/3 clear, including the house (we didn't clear it, but the builder sure did!)....now we have to plant trees.



That always gets me. People want to move out to the country to "be among the trees" yet they have none on their lot. Builders have a nasty tendancy to turn the house lots "Into a Walmart parking lot".



			
				Webmaster said:
			
		

> Gibbon - Martha is big time into the greenway (rail trail) stuff here in Southampton. Mass has quite a few extensive rail trails, including one that crosses the Ct. river near here.



(Clapping and cheering) ...Glad to hear the "Mrs." is into the 'rail trail' stuff. There are a lot of miles of 'abandoned' rail beds I would like to see "preserved" for trail use versus turned into building lots.

Here in my area (although it wouldn't be the easiest 'trek'...) you could bike all the way from G-Vegas to Brattleboro VT all on the old rail beds!

The first 3.5 miles of the local 'trail' is paved and the rest is 'cinder bed'.

 How many folks go biking on the rail trails out of curiousity??


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## Gibbonboy (Sep 19, 2007)

Our local bike club/shop sponsors the rail trail here. We ride all the time, I hike there alot too. From my house to my best friend's house is 10 miles on the rail-trail, and since it's a rail bed, it's pretty level along the way. Our section used to be a narrow-gauge line from the main to our town. Even the kids have a good time on it, there are alot of ATV's, they are very polite to others on the trail, though. Might have something to do with wearing the shoulder holster while I'm riding?

I'm having some success in convincing our local municipalities about the worth of establishing greenways. We also just got new river maps here from the local river corridor assoc./greenways group. I make maps for a living, so I try to help them in that way when I can. We added a lot of detail to the map, just from my trip notes and GPS files- weird stuff like where to get ice cream along the river. 

I might ride the bike twice a month, kayak 2-4 times and hike alot. I walk to work every day anyways, doing my part to make sure big oil doesn't get richer on my dime. So I probably walk a total of 2.5 miles a day, taking my son to school, then to work, then reversing the whole process in the afternoon. When people find out that I only live a couple blocks from work, I usually get "oh you're so lucky to live close to work". Luck has absolutely nothing to do with it, I intentionally bought a house as close as possible to my work. My wife drives a total of 11 miles a day to her school and back. I probably use more gas in my saws/splitter/snowblowers, etc. than I do in my car. Which is saying something, because I drive a full-size station wagon.


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## drizler (Sep 22, 2007)

Whats with Uncle Joe????    It kinda makes you wonder what they will leave for Uncle George.    I have visions of Homer simpson stumbling around in an Air Force flight suit trying to cast his vote into a soda machine.  Meanwhile we hear strains of the pink panther playing...............................................
  Anyways on the subject of grass George can't mow his because no one trusts him with sharp instruments.    Seriously I can't see why people dump all that junk on their yards.    All I ever have done is use a mulching mower deck to it and sometimes casting about a bit of grass seed.        If you have any kind of decent soil at all it grows just fine as long as it gets water.


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