Blue Planet Garden Blog

Lawn Reform Contest – The Winners are In!

And I am blown away by the creative, inspiring and heartfelt responses to the contest announcing the creation of the Lawn Reform Coalition. If you can’t wait to find out who the three lucky winners of John Greenlee’s The American Meadow Garden are, scroll down to the end.   Otherwise, here’s a recap of some of the amazing contest contributors.

I used to have a lawn, but now I have a wildlife refuge

Many of those who ripped out their lawn did so in recognition that a non-native monoculture does nothing to support pollinators and wildlife, native or otherwise. Bloggers were eloquent in describing the wonderful diversity of bees, birds and insects that thrive in their gardens, including David of Montana Wildlife Gardener,

whose announcement that he replaced

his lawn with an interpretive sign shows

how thoroughly committed he

is to creating life-sustaining diversity

in his garden.

Other gardeners who have created wildlife havens include Town Mouse from Town Mouse and Country Mouse, who marvels at the community of lizards that have arrived since she replaced her lawn with California natives

and Caroline from Inclined to Design, whose stunning photographs will blow you away.

Habitat gardens are not just about a commitment to the planet - a common thread was how engaged these gardeners are with their gardens and the pleasure they get from watching the birds, bees and other critters that now reside there.

I used to have a lawn, but now I have a sanctuary…and a community

Several gardeners spoke eloquently about the personal, peaceful spaces they were able to create after liberating themselves from the lawn. 

I was particularly inspired by Kat at The Kat's Garden who answered the question with the word freedom, and whose decision to replace her front lawn with a simple, low maintenance garden became a step on her journey to create a calmer, more mindful lifestyle overall.

In contrast, other bloggers explain that their decision to remove their lawn became the first step in creating a sense of community, such as the Germinatrix, whose exuberant, succulent filled Southern California front yard has given her the opportunity to get to know her neighbors.  Who says nobody walks in LA?

I used to have a lawn, but now I have dinner

was how Nadja at American Four-Square Renewal answered the question. I particularly enjoyed her post, as not only does it include before and afters (always near and dear to this designer's heart) but she planted her edible garden in the front yard!

  

As I read each post, one common theme emerged: Regardless of the style, each garden was a reflection of the gardener that transformed it from a traditional lawn into a space intended for living - whether that meant meditating, meeting neighbors, growing vegetables, or simply watching the world go by, surrounded by the satisfying hum of pollen-drunk bees.

And the(randomly drawn) winners are

David/Montana Wildlife Gardener

Catherine/A Garden in Progress

Nadja/American Four-Square Renewal

Congratulations to all! Don't forget, everyone is invited to drop by the Lawn Reform Coalition website and post your amazing photos on the Flickr page.

A final thank you to Timberpress, for their generosity in providing our prize.

Lawn Reform Blog Contest: I used to have a lawn but now I have...

That’s the question I’m hoping you will answer!

As part of my ongoing quest to replace the Great American Lawn with garden, I’ve teamed up with an amazing coalition of gardeners to create Lawn Reform, a new website that advocates for:

• Regionally Appropriate Lawn Species
• Eco-Friendly Care for all Lawns
• Design Ideas to Reduce or Replace Lawns

The Lawn Reform site has information about organic lawn care practices, design alternatives to lawns, and links to blogs, websites and other resources and organizations that support lawn reform.  One of my favorite parts is a Flickr link where you can add your own garden photos, not to mention find inspiration from what other gardeners are doing.

The Coalition is the brain child of Susan Harris of Sustainable Gardening Blog and Gardenrant, and includes fellow bloggers Shirley Bovshow of Eden Makers Blog, Tom Christopher, blogging at Green Perspectives on the New York Botanical Garden website, Billy Goodnick, whose Cool Green Gardens blog can be found at Fine Gardening Magazine online and Ginny Stibolt, blogging for the Jacksonville Times-Union . All nine team members are listed here.

To kick-start this new venture, we’re running a contest, and three lucky winners will receive a copy of John Greenlee’s new book, The American Meadow Garden, courtesy of Timber Press. 

To participate in the Lawn Reform Blog Contest, simply write a post on your blog that answers the question:

"I used to have a lawn, but now I have…”

• You can answer in words, pictures or both. It doesn’t need to be the whole lawn; liberating a small piece will do. If you’ve written about a lawn replacement project in the past, links to a previous post are also welcome.

• For those of you who dream of a future with less lawn and more garden, with ideas still in the planning stages, feel free to rewrite the question as “I still have a lawn, but one day I’ll have a…”

• Not a blogger?  Leave a comment instead.

• Once your post is up, sign up using the Mr. Linky widget below. On September 30, I’ll post the randomly drawn winners and share highlights from your blog posts. And don’t forget to visit the Lawn Reform website and download a badge for your blog!

To get us started, Laura from InterLeafings has already answered the question on her own blog post, I used to have a lawn, but now I have a sanctuary. That’s a picture of her lovely backyard retreat at the top of this post.

Just added: Very cool YouTube Video with photos and info on The American Meadow Garden.

UC Verde Grass is rocking the house!

Have you been waiting with bated breath for an update on the UC Verde grass alternative lawn I planted? I’ve now rounded the corner on week 8 and the grass looks great!

First, to recap, I planted more closely than would be desirable for a larger lawn – 6” apart vs. a more economical 12” to 18”.  As anyone who reads my blog regularly knows, I’m a pretty lazy gardener, thoroughly devoted to a survival-of-the-fittest style of gardening.  Other than mixing in a little compost, nothing special was done to prepare the soil for the plugs, although I have replanted this little patch of lawn several times over the past three years, so the soil is more pliable than typical clay would be.

For the first two weeks I watered the lawn 3 to 5 minutes, once or twice a day, then tapered off to letting it have the same amount the rest of the moderate water plants were getting. Not that I know how much that is as my magical ET controller makes those decisions for me.  One to three times a week I would turn the sprinklers on for an extra 3 minutes, but did not follow any specific schedule (see lazy gardener reference above).

 

Close up view - have yet to mow

I weeded for about twenty minutes at week 3 and again at week 7, but otherwise, the grass has been on its own.

And if you are wondering how effective sheet mulching has been at keeping the grass contained, the short answer is, not very:

UC Verde grass making a run for the border

I think the key to my success has been several weeks of really hot weather.  In fact, the day I planted was followed by a week of 100 degree plus temperatures.  One of my clients who wants a lawn to complement her newly installed California native and mediterranean garden primarily so that her dogs will have a place to romp, decided to try out a UC Verde lawn as well.  Here’s a picture of hers at week 4. 

As you can see, not as far along as mine was at week 2, most likely because the weather has been cooler than usual for much of the time.  

Close up of Pat's Orinda lawn at week 4.  Most of the stolon growth you see occurred in week 3 when we had another hot spell.

 

Susan's Concord lawn at week two, planted just prior to a heatwave.

A quick round up of other testers: Shirley at Eden Maker’s blog has also had disappointing results with her Southern California experiment, even though she planted earlier.  Meanwhile, Lazy Gardening blog (hmmm, a kindred spirit?) in Arizona reports steller results. My conclusions so far are that supplemental water for the first couple of weeks plus hot, hot weather are the keys to quick expansion.

Is this what winter has in store for me?

I figure I have about two months until the grass goes dormant.  I’m thinking of following Troy from GardenNative’s suggestion and interplanting with miniature crocus bulbs to create some winter interest.  Pat, my Orinda client is considering sowing wild flowers in hers.  And for those who just cannot stomach the idea of winter dormancy, here's an MSNBC video on the fine art of painting your lawn green.

 Me?  I draw the line at painting walls purple.

Crocus photograph courtesy of White Flower Farms

Before and After - Starring Purple, Orange and Black

Remember back in April when I bravely shared photos of some of the, ahem, less attractive areas in my garden?  If admitting you have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery, than this month I completed my journey. Here are the results of my garden renovation.

Before: I salvaged an old fountain and painted it blue to create a focal point at the end of my shady side garden. A nice idea, but the area was perpetually overgrown and weedy.

After:

After removing virtually all the plants plus two birch trees (thanks for the design advice InterLeafer!) Nick built this wall for me and attached it to the existing fence. A dry-laid mini-patio of Golden Splendor flagstone with Salmon Bay pebbles in the joints createsa floor for a new container garden.

UC Verde Grass – the lawn alternative I’ve been waiting for?

 
Photo courtesy of UC Verde Buffalo Grass

I’ve just started another chapter in my on-going quest to find lawn alternatives that look good, can handle foot traffic and are more environmentally sound than the fescue lawns that plaster California.  Remember my chamomile lawn that last year morphed into a Carex pansa lawn?  Well guess what?  It’s now home to 128 rapidly expanding UC Verde grass plugs.

When Tom Engelman from the GrassRoots Program, a non-profit website that promotes environmentally friendly lawn alternatives in California recently called me about UC Verde grass, I immediately volunteered my little front yard garden as a test spot. Florasource, the distributor for the grass, kindly provided me with a flat of plugs, and I got busy planting.

Some quick facts:

• UC Verde (Buchloe Dactyloides) is a bunch grass developed by the University of California. 
• It spreads via stolons, forming clumps that ultimately grow into a lawn.
• It requires 50 to 70% less water than traditional fescue lawns.
• Left unmowed, it grows into a meadow about 6” high – otherwise, mow every three to six weeks for a lawn effect.
• Low pollen count makes it better for allergy sufferers (my blogger friend VW has drilled the importance of this one into my head!)

I planted the plugs two weeks ago and I cannot believe how quickly they are growing. The stolons (the little side blades that are shooting out) are easily twice the length they were a week ago.