Way more to lawns than meets the eye
As most of us watch our lawns shrivel and die in this season of drought, we could take a moment to ponder the purpose of a lawn.
As a patch of green to walk or play on, a lawn plays an important role.
One neighbour I recall from childhood, a Mr Good, placed great importance on his lawn. Each day he could be seen tending every centimetre of it.
It was an immaculate stretch of grass-green velvet.
That lawn was a thing of pride, until the day Mr Good died and the new dwellers in his home paid far less attention to their green legacy. It was sad to watch it fall into disrepair.
Certainly lawns can make us feel good, just by the very nature of the colour green, which has long been considered a relaxing colour.
Even the smell of cut grass is said to be calming and restorative. Mowing the lawn is stressreducing, due to the scents produced as well as the act of taking nature in hand and making things tidy.
Pushing a mower back and forth can be calming and meditative. And it’s good physical exercise.
Apart from the health benefits of having a lawn, the aes- thetics have value. A lawn offers an oasis of calm uncluttered green in the midst of garden beds, unruly or otherwise.
It provides room to run about, play cricket or relax.
The simplicity of a lawn is like a minimalist art gallery – peaceful and calming, with space to think.
But do we really need them? Lawnmowers use a lot of fuel, they pollute with noise and fumes and don’t lawns take up valuable vegetable gardening space?
Lawns also need a lot of water to keep them green in summer and so maybe they are not such a ‘‘green’’ option.
There is no doubt a grassed area can absorb rainfall and help prevent flooding, unlike paving that forces water to run off and find somewhere to pool. It can also keep a house cooler than paving, which reflects heat. Grass absorbs carbons, gives off oxygen and protects the soil from drying out.
A lawn cut using a pushmower and maintained using organic weed-control methods really can’t be argued with in terms of its green footprint.
Vegetable gardens don’t need to compete with lawn space either, it is possible to have both, with a size according to your needs.