Brown is the New Green - The Quest for a Sustainable Lawn

This weeks topic in my Master Gardener class was turf. A subject that you wouldn't think was controversial. But many people have strong opinions about lawns in relation to the chemicals and water resources we use to keep it perfectly green.

My own front yard is approximately 625 square feet. If I watered it the recommended 1 inch it would use about 4,675 gallons a week. That's a lot of water to keep alive something that you can't eat or put into a vase. It will also require fertilizer to keep it going. And if I fertilize it, I'll need to mow it. Water, fertilizer (even if it is organic), and gasoline. Suddenly the word "sustainable" isn't springing to mind.

What is sustainable anyway? There are a lot of definitions. Environmentally speaking, some say it is anything that endures over time without artificial, or man-made input. Watering from a hose is not considered a sustainable act, while rain falling from the sky is. If you have to supplement plant growth in any form, that, to some, is not considered sustainable. The lines blur when you enter in the whole organic movement. Some say that as long as you use organic inputs, like cow manure or compost, you are being sustainable because those sources are renewable resources. So, if I go ahead and have a lawn, get rid of the mower and use a goat to graze and fertilize it, I'm being sustainable. To me the argument becomes ridiculous because having a patch of green grass that requires all this maintenance makes it artificial - and therefore not sustainable - to me.

Clearly, there must be room in the middle. There is something about the makeup of human beings that love to see a sea of green. Maybe it is our pastoral past where we associated green fields with good hunting. In any case, telling people to give up their lawn is just not going to fly. What we can do, instead, is help people make better choices. Instead of a thirsty lawn of St Augustine, consider instead the drought tolerant Bermuda Grass. Another idea is to make the lawn smaller and plant more ornamentals. Trees and shrubs don't require as much maintenance and are just as lovely. We also must change. It should be perfectly fine to plant Buffalo Grass and let it go brown and dormant in the summer - thus eliminating the need to water at all.

My own lawn is history. I killed all my St Augustine grass and am in the process of planting sedges (Carex texensis) instead. My goal is to have a grassy area that is drought tolerant, doesn't need to be "fed", colonizes well, and is still pleasing to the eye. Once my sedge is established, I can even mow it, except that I don't own a lawn mower. I'm also shrinking the size of the lawn by expanding the peripheral ornamental beds. I'm planting natives there too, so I don't have to spray or baby them through the growing season. An added benefit is that many of them provide food and habitat for our native birds.

I'm not an environmental nut, really. But I think that we can all behave a little more responsibly and be more sensitive to our growing population and shrinking resources. Drought or not, water is going to be at a premium, and we all need to work together to make sure we conserve and aren't polluting with chemicals that run off our landscapes. Having a brown lawn should be a badge of pride - brown should be the new green!