A Greener Backyard Is Not About Grass

By Kendra Bobowick

How green is your grass? If the lawn is plush and emerald, it probably is not “green” at all.

Many lawns are treated with chemicals, a practice that Conservation Commission member Mary Gaudet-Wilson would love to see disappear. “It’s one of those things that’s nice to think about,” she said.

A green, or environmentally safe, approach to gardening and lawn care is more a concept, Ms Gaudet-Wilson said. “It’s a way of thinking about how you’re interacting with your environment and how to do things,” she said. Some people may compost, for example. “It could be a lot of things — your behavior.” Her commission “wants to get people thinking about behaviors.”

In a perfect world people “certainly would not” use chemicals, she said. Her vision of a backyard is “less lawn and more meadow. It gives the little creatures a place to live,” she said.

Mature goldenrod, grasses, native sunflowers, joe-pye weed, butterfly weed, bee balm, milkweed, and “hundreds of different native grasses” could potentially thrive in a backyard meadow, said Holmes Fine Gardens owner Dan Holmes.

Hummingbirds and nesting songbirds love meadow features. The flourishing native cluster is “so much better for the environment,” he said. In his own meadow he has goldfinches, but without it the birds “wouldn’t be there,” he noted.

Meadows are pretty to look at with more interesting things going on than turf, he said. They can withstand extended dry spells and heat waves. His own meadow “was blooming without a hitch” this year, he said.

Meadows are “there for us, but also for other wildlife,” said Mr Holmes. “It’s better to think outside ourselves. Better for the environment and better for the wildlife.”

Residents might choose a location in their yard and leave it alone to “see what comes up,” he suggested. “You’ll be surprised by the natives suppressed by the mower.”

The section will eventually need to be tilled and a mix fed in. Different mixes apply to different environments for wet, dry, sandy soils, etc.

Meadows can contain secret spots, Mr Holmes said. “Mow a path or pattern into it and tuck away a sculpture, a little bench,” he suggests.

“Focus on alternatives to lawn care,” said Land Use Deputy Director Rob Sibley, who is also a certified organic lawn care manager through the New England Organic Farmer’s Association. “Keep in mind that the fastest vanishing habitat, aside from the shoreline, is meadow — nonwoody habitat.”

“We have created little islands of monocultures,” Mr Sibley said. Meadowlands, if maintained as such, “create something in high demand,” he continued.

Approach yard work with one organic tenet in mind: do no harm.

“Get away from a culture of short grass,” he said; imagine only mowing once or twice a year. Start small. Maybe incrementally reduce the mowed areas, he suggested. “How much lawn do you really use?” he asked. Native plantings and encouraging meadows are two easy steps residents can take around their homes.

He also offers another principle: the right plant in the right place, which is based on a sustainable approach with the plant’s long-term health in mind, “which is something we can work on at home.”

As residents, town officials, gardeners including Mr Holmes, and farmers promote green efforts or organic standards, Mr Sibley said, “It’s interesting to watch the culture move toward what we believe we need; it’s nice to see us embrace [green] lawn care.”

One natural and highly visible meadowland in Newtown with fields of goldenrod and milkweed, among other natural growth, is along Wasserman Way, opposite Nunnawauk Road, adjacent to the Pootatuck Aquifer.

“It is replete with wonderful meadow larks, red wing blackbirds, and a lot of other things,” pointed out Mr Sibley.

Regarding the town’s open spaces, he said, “At first it looks like we’re just mowing, but when things begin to grow or bloom, people say, ‘Oh!’”

Newtown Forest Association President Bob Eckenrode also confirmed that all the association’s properties are green.

Ms Gaudet-Wilson provided a sheet about “going green in your backyard,” which takes an approach of “working with nature, not against it.” The sheet proposes “homeowners allow unrestricted growth of grasses, clover, wild daisies, chamomile, yarrow, rye, fescue, and other plants commonly regarded as weeds.” The growth can be mowed once a year and done in certain areas of the yard.

She also offered the Freedom Lawn concept for basic lawn care, including spreading a thin quarter-inch layer of compost or organic fertilizer on the lawn each fall. Mulch the top layer of leaves for healthy grass in the spring. Overseed in the fall and spring with hardy grass mixes. Mow on a high setting and leave clippings on the lawn. Water only when necessary and deeply at either dawn or dusk. Maintain soil pH of 6.8. Avoid high nitrogen chemical fertilizers as well as organic fertilizers that contain heavy metals and toxins.