But I do have mixed feelings as I'm trundling along with the mower and the crickets, grasshoppers and moths are fleeing ahead of me. So I trundle slowly.
And it's the bees I especially worry about. There's the forager bee back at the entrance to the hive dancing her dance of the clover patch and off sets the rest of the hive in eager anticipation to find that the patch is now a short stubble of barren green spikes. So I tend to skirt round the clover - which rather negates the look of a "nice lawn".
I can't help feeling that it was a man who invented lawns. "What we need dear is a nice green sward to set off your potager. I'll let the sheep roam over it. It'll look a treat." And thus was born the industry of scarifying, top-dressing, raking, spreading of noxious substances and, of course, frequent mowing, strimming and edging with acres of DIY and garden centres devoted to large green, noisy, smelly machines. Testosterone paradise.
Another thing. . . Whoever thought it was a good idea to eat an artichoke heart, rather than let it become a wonderful thistle head and bee paradise?
We used to mow round the orchids in spring....and suffer from the aoutats in the summer.
ReplyDeleteDry, straw coloured, scrub with weeds of green. That's our 'lawn', dog's exercise area more like.
ReplyDeleteGood thing is that the balls bounce as if on concrete!
Well, you don't have to eat all of them...or retain all of them to look at...moderation in all things, and all appetites catered for.
ReplyDeleteI tend to use the word 'lawn' only in the most general way, and only from a distance. Once anybody gets close, it has to be described instead as just heterogenous 'green stuff'. In fact, I'm thinking of replacing it instead with mowable, drought-resistant groundcover - something like Lippia, for instance, which would do a great job, and flowers prettily as well.
Hello Fly, know just what you mean - I'm scratching my ankles from them this evening - I made the mistake of mowing in my sandals rather than wellies! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lesley, sounds very sensible to me. We're heading that way with our two plus dog-sitting another one - the "lawn" is littered with toys!
ReplyDeleteHello Pomiane, I see from your blog that you have a sprinkler system - just brilliant! I certainly think you are entitled to call it a lawn. I like the idea of your Lippia. (Had to look it up) :)
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