Green Grass Not So Green

Suburban Rock Garden

We all want to have the greenest grass on the block, but are we sacrificing being "green" for our vanity? I personally believe that we should surround ourselves in the natural beauty of nature. Wow that sounded cheesy. What I am trying to get at is that I don’t understand why we insist on having grass where grass doesn’t grow naturally. If you live in the desert, why would you insist on growing grass? The stuff doesn't belong there, and to keep it alive we have to dump tones of water on it, fertilize it and cut it with highly polluting lawnmowers. I feel exhausted just writing about this. In Canada we dump an average of 30% of our household water consumption on lawns. I hate to bring up the “children in Africa…” line but its true, in most third-world nations fresh water is as rare as gold, and just as hard to get. In North America we are fortunate to have a large supply of fresh clean water and we are using it to water our lawns.

Make the switch to a rock garden or use plants that are native to your area, I promise you they're not hideous to look at. If you insist on having grass be responsible and find a more efficient way of watering it. Here are some ideas to help make your grass “green”;

Water you grass in the evenings; the cool nights will give the grass plenty of time to absorb the water efficiently.
Grass only needs an inch of water a day; anything more than that is wasted.
Avoid watering the grass in the afternoon, the sun's heat will quickly dry it out and even burn your grass.
Use natural/organic fertilizers; there are many brands out there to choose from.
Water your grass by hand; that way you are sure to not have water wasted as runoff onto the pavement.
Cut your grass with the lawnmowers tall setting; the shorter the grass, the more water it needs.
Use an electric lawnmower; gas powered mowers are highly polluting.
Get barrels that can collect rain-water for use on you lawn; even garbage bins can work.

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Green Grass Not So Green

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