- Don't cut your grass too short.
          Short grass dries out more quickly and needs extra water to maintain. Longer grass can survive the hot days of July and August with only an occasional time under the sprinkler. With newer model lawn mowers, you can adjust the height of the blades (the 3rd or 4th notch is a good height for a "natural lawn").

- Leave the grass clippings on the lawn.
          This is called "lawn-mulching" or "grasscycling". Grass clippings are 75 to 80 percent water and will decompose rapidly, providing up to 25 percent of the fertilizer that your lawn needs. Grasscycling works best when the grass is dry (so the clippings don't clump) and with frequent cutting (before the grass gets too tall).

- Use natural fertilizer, rather than commercial "weed and feed" products.
         "Weed and feed" products contain strong weed killers (herbicides such as 2,4-D, MCPP and dicamba) that eventually leach their way back into our water supply. These chemicals are toxic to children and pets playing on the lawn. For natural lawn fertilizers, as well as a non-toxic "weed and feed", check out Gardens Alive.

With a natural lawn, you'll use less water, less time (bagging and maintaining), and no toxic chemicals!
         Celebrate lawn diversity! Enjoy the many different grasses, small wildflowers and interesting weeds that grow in our neighborhood lawns and yards. Some companies are now selling low-profile wildflower meadow seed mixes, including Prairie Nursery and Outside Pride. Some other alternatives are Native Grass lawns, Eco-Lawn Seed with a drought-tolerant grass-clover mix, and NoMow Flowering Lawn.

         When I lived in Collett Park, I had a wonderful wildflower, Spring-beauty, which grew in my lawn, and I would wait until it was finished blooming before cutting the lawn in the Spring. I had many other adventures with "uninvited guests" growing in my "natural" yard near Collett Park. One day, I noticed an interesting group of plants growing in my lawn, and I decided to mow around them. These "plants" grew into Fleabane, another wildflower, and I enjoyed watching a whole family of tiny bees attending these flowers. A Common Milkweed sprouted next to my front steps. The green leaves of this plant looked so nice next to the green trim of my house that I decided to let this "weed" grow too. To my delight, I saw a large Fritillary, an orange butterfly with brown spots, visit the milkweed while it was in bloom, as well as several Monarchs. Some light blue Smooth Asters established themselves along the side of my house, where the rain gutter would overflow. A lone Orange Hawkweed popped up between a crack in the concrete along the shady north side of the house. I collected its seeds and tried to propagate it in my flower garden, but it seemed to prefer the harsh condition of concrete and never germinated in rich soil. Then there was the Blue Lettuce by the garage, and the Common Plantain and Ironweed, which were quite happy growing in the mulched areas in front of my house, and the many "baby" Redbud and Oak trees, which are graceful and lovely even as 1- and 2-years old.
         When I moved to Farrington Grove, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of "wildness" in my yard. It seemed like the wildness had been beaten out of the land by 100 years of city life. Violets and Dandelions are my main "guests", with small groups of Creeping Bellflower and Pokeweed in the shadier portions of the yard. A Dame's Rocket has an established place in my front yard by the old Linden tree. In my mother's yard, we have been pleased to share the yard with wooly Mullein (picture below).

Mullein in a Terre Haute backyard

This page last modified 4/22/10