Lawns are pointless unless you actively use them. Most functions that they provide are not much different from that of carpet. If you want soft ground outdoors for people to play on, for immune-suppressed animals to run on, or a place for you to lie down, a lawn can offer those things. But so can dirt with groundcovers such as Native Violet and these often require far less maintenance than a lawn. Even more ironically, the MORE you use a space with lots of groundcover, the LESS you need to mow the area.
A lawn requires maintenance precisely because it is not natural and because it is rarely ever used. Natural spaces thrive on biodiversity and the maintenance of a lawn is the epitome of humans trying to control nature for pointless gain. Tell me this, how many lawns do you see actually being used? Oh but do you suddenly require an outdoor space to play on unobstructed? We already invented that, it's called PUBLIC OVALS.
If you don't believe me, don't mow your lawn, and instead use that time to get out a picnic blanket and observe the insects, birds, and lizards on your lawn. Now do it again 2-4 weeks later. Besides the fact that relaxing outdoors is great for your health, you should notice a larger amount of biodiversity than last time you were on the lawn. Still not convinced? Go mow it for the last time and lie down outdoors again. You'll realise how much destruction you caused by how quiet it is. All this mowing, simply to try uphold an old flex carried over from Medieval aristocrats who were trying to show off how much empty land they had.
So what is truly the aim of a lawn? Aesthetics? If that is the case, I believe we hold unrealistic and frankly unhealthy beauty standards against grasses.
Page last edited on 5 May 2024.