This Pearl's premium grass looks awesome: mow only once per month; extremely drought tolerant (seldom or never water); thrives without chemicals. It's the polar opposite of life-support grass, that's the gold standard in today's yards.
Maybe, once our yard is in really bad shape, I'll try this seed, mixed with clover. I want our yard to have zero environmental cost, zero carbon footprint. We currently have just that: we haven't watered our lawn in 2 years; no fertilizer, pesticides; no dethatching, mechanical aeration; very rarely raked, mowed; etc., except, it's slowly dying, and weeds are moving in, because we inherited prior life-support grass.
I'd also like near-zero effort on our part (we don't want to hire a lawn care service because we feel that sets a bad example for our kids), and of course to have decent curb appeal. Surely this is not too much to expect?
I wish there were more companies/people developing environmentally free/friendly alternatives to the standard life-support grass. I'd do a bake-off with these alternatives on different spots in our challenging yard!
I know it may seem like having a lawn care company provide service is increasing your carbon footprint. But here's a few things to consider. Grasses that grow quickly and require cutting frequently are consuming WAY more Carbon Dioxide and providing WAY more Oxygen, than does a lawn that isn't growing very quickly. For instance, a typical 2500 sq. ft. lawn with regular grass growing at the regular rate provides enough Oxygen for a family of 4 to live on. I bet you didn't know that!
ReplyDeleteSource: http://www.projectevergreen.com/why-green-matters/environmental-benefits/"
Just something to think about.....
Regardless, I am curious about this variety of lawn you installed. I went to the company's website and they are information on what species of grass they are selling is suspiciously absent on that site. Is it tall fescue? Is it some variety of ryegrass? I'm curious what variety / species of turfgrass that is. Most sellers of seed or sod proudly say what variety they are selling. This place doesn't not appear to want that information out, which seems odd and suspicious to me.
Indeed I did not know that! So, perhaps we should be planting the
ReplyDeletegrasses that grow most aggressively, and then mow them frequently, and
net/net we come out ahead, converting carbon dioxide into oxygen at a
faster rate? (Well, really sequestering carbon in the resulting
mulch).
Is that really enough to offset energy burned to do all the lawn care?
These diesel trucks that drive the mowing equipment from yard to yard
consume a lot of fuel...
And if we let trees grow, instead, would that have sequestered at an
even faster rate with less intervention?
Also, I'm not sure on the exact grass variety this company provides,
and I have not in fact planted it (yet!), but I am still curious.
I still have hope that it's possible to have a nice enough looking
yard with near-zero intervention.