Even though I am not a fan of lawns, I am starting to see benefits of some mowing.
For many years, my father spent his summers mowing. He was not creating a manicured lawn, but cutting down most of the fields around our home a few times each summer.
This added up to almost daily mowing. My mother and I saw how exhausted he was, so we suggested he quit. It’ll also be better for the bees and other pollinators, we said. I imagined fields of wildflowers blooming all summer long.
So, my father stopped mowing. It’s been a few years … I think my father enjoys his summers more than he used to.
I, however, on my walks around the property, miss the few open fields he used to maintain. Now our fields are overgrown with autumn olives, honeysuckle, alders and wild roses. Blackberries are overtaking fields closer to the houses.
And so I’ve started taking over my father’s legacy. My goal is, without mowing all summer, to restore some order to our open areas and keep a network of often traversed paths cut low. Starting on this enterprise I’ve realized that my father (while in his 60s and 70s) had better stamina than I do in my 30s. After mowing just a small area near my house, I’m exhausted.
In addition to struggling with the physical challenges, I’m having to emotionally navigate my new perspective. I really do dislike lawns. My opinion is that lawns should be small and only for outdoor socializing and playing. Beyond that, areas should be left wild or planted with beneficial plants.
I am not a fan of lawns for several reasons. Lawns lack biodiversity, and offer little benefit to anything in the environment. Cutting grass short can harm insects — medium to long grass is an essential habitat for fireflies. Many beneficial insects move upward through the ground, and cutting grass short either kills these bugs during the process, or removes their habitat, thus killing them in the long-run.
Maintaining a lawn is noisy and smelly (with gas powered mowers). Herbicides used to keep weeds out of grassy areas cause a whole slew of problems in the ecosystem.
After all of that, lawns take more watering to maintain than natural areas need — to the tune of billions of gallons each year across the United States.
Space taken up with wide expanses of tightly mowed turf could be converted into native wildflower gardens, or with plants producing food for both people and wildlife.
For areas important to keep as a lawn, there are low-growing alternatives to grass. However, keeping grass out and letting other appropriate plants take over requires some work.
All that being said, I’m aiming toward a happy medium between a manicured lawn and letting everything turn to shrubs. Given that my family has more open land than an average lawn, finding that balance is going to take some effort.
My future likely holds a lot of manual shrub removal, before commencing with frequent mowing. Once I get the shrubs under control, I hope to only mow once per summer in most areas, while cutting walking paths more regularly.
Ideally, I hope to switch from using a large walk-along mower to scything once again. I prefer the scythe, but must improve my skills before I’ll be able to keep up with all the cutting I currently need to do.
I still have visions of large wildflower areas abloom all spring, summer and fall. But now that vision is tinged with the understanding that ceasing mowing won’t achieve it.
ALDONA BIRD is a journalist, exploring possibilities of local productivity and sustainable living in Preston County. Email columns@dominionpost.com.
