Like, this is a thing actually happening right now on tumblr? Are we for real? This is hilarious only because otherwise it would be horrifying.
When I first saw signs of the discourse on the nice green plant covering most of our yards I thought for sure it was a joke. We had already done this before and the results were not great *coughcough-as-the-increase-in-astroturf-in-cough-southern-United-States-would-show-cough*, we couldn’t possibly be doing this again, right? I was apparently very wrong as I saw more and more posts about it.
Grass and lawn owners were being called out, but why? People were left with many many questions I am sure; and as a Horticulture graduate in North America with a course of Turf Care under their belt, I’m hoping to make some clarifications for a few people.
The grass in most well-kept lawns on your average residential street today originated in Europe. Livestock grazing caused the grass there to begin to grow naturally shorter. This, in turn, became used as a defensive strategy for walled cities as the shorter grass surrounding them gave them a better line of site to approaching enemies. In the 17th century recreational grass came into use as formal open turf areas gained popularity with the rich for garden parties and polo matches. In the 18th century open space between gardens would be filled with turf in estates and parks, but still be grazed. That is until in 1830 when Edwin Budding invented the lawnmower.
Soon, turf grass came to the Americas during colonization and grew in popularity as cities established and then even more so when suburbia did after WWII.
This is where our issues begin.
Under Anti-Grass or Anti-Lawn (or whatever the hell you want to call them) belief, today the modern lawn is an introduced species, therefore not entirely suited to our climates, therefore requiring more care. This seems especially true when they begin to discuss grass as a monoculture. Monocultures are mass plantings of a singular species as we see with many of our crops today and monocultures are notoriously known to struggle with pests and disease.
This seems to make a lot of sense to people who see grass as one singular species of which it is not. Many yards today are polystands. Meaning they consist of two or more species and often different cultivars of said species. You can go from one section of the yard to another and often find different species from one patch to the next. Polystands generally require less maintenance and are more resistant to pests and disease.
So why is there a belief that yards are monocultures? Three reasons: Sports, Sod, and People just not knowing any better.
Many sports fields are monocultures particularly golf courses as different grasses on your greens can impact the speed and movement of the ball. The golden child of sports grass is Agrostis stolonifera (Creeping Bentgrass) and in warmer climates, you’ll find Bermudagrass is the favourite. This is because Bentgrass is extremely aesthetically pleasing in both colour and texture. It also repairs itself quite well. Golf greens were considered the epitome of grass and therefore the desire of many a homeowner to the point where Creeping Bent was an extremely popular monoculture choice for residential yards at one time. That all changed when homeowners began to see how unrealistic the maintenance of these yards would be.
Agrostis stolonifera is the most high maintenance of the cold season grasses in North America. It is not drought tolerant and requires syringing or misting on hot summer days. Active growing season means it can be cut almost daily and non-active seasons mean at least three times a week. It grows in so thick and is the highest thatch producer that it needs regular aeration and dethatching. This same thickness makes it very prone to disease which in turn would mean the use of pesticides. Creeping Bent is also a huge glutton with one of the highest fertilizer demands at 12-16 pounds of nitrogen per 1000ft per year with applications every 2-4 weeks.
Soon Bentgrass fell out of favour with residential owners but was replaced with Poa pratensis (Kentucky Bluegrass). The thing about Kentucky Blue was that it and its cultivars made up almost 100% of sod. Sod is a huge convenience, it gives you a yard instantly, but it is highly labour intensive to install, usually pretty expensive, and again it is mostly a monoculture.
So how are these residential monoculture plantings polystands today? We overseeded the crap out of our yards. See, those with sod often have a hard time caring for it and end up having to overseed any thin areas and those with Bentgrass yards knew it would be easier to throw more seed into the yard than to just tear it up. This works because most seed unless otherwise specified is sold in polystand mixtures. This is also extremely useful if you struggle with yard weeds. If you can, remove the weeds and as much of the root systems as possible by hand, then overseed. If you can get the grass to grow thick enough it will force out and prevent yard weeds.
Fun Fact: your yard and a lot of its weeds are both introduced species, but weeds like dandelions, clover, Henbit, and Creeping Charlie often provide the first food source for our pollinators.
Continuing with our anti-grassers vs. Introduced species, it seems that because our lawns are introduced that automatically makes them bad whether they’re polystands or not. Granted our modern turf grass is not the most environmentally friendly option when you compare it to our native perennial grasslands; with root structures many feet below the surface and ample food and habitat for pollinators and other wildlife, but our modern lawns are not the worst thing to have either *coughcough-astroturf-coughcough-concretejungles-cough*.
Our turf grass today does not require much maintenance after establishment, still produces large amounts of oxygen and increases air quality, still provides security via line of sight, still sequesters carbon dioxide, it still filters runoff and rainwater and recharges groundwater, it breaks down some pollutants, still reduces noise pollution, turf still provides food and habitat for insects and pollinators, it dissipates heat, and probably most effective is humans like it. Humans often experience biophilia, we have a tendency to like other living things, nature, and green things in general. Our need for our own plot of grass is theorized to come from encoded memories of African savannas. It seems strange until you realize that green is a calming colour for humans and reduces tension and specifically walking on grass barefoot releases an increase in endorphins and can lower stress up to 62%. Our modern day turf grass makes walking barefoot extremely practical. It is often softer, denser, and shorter to see obstacles.
Overall, our turf grass isn’t a problem. Until it’s grown in areas where it shouldn’t be. Make sure you have the right species for your area, for your soil, for your yard’s amount of sunlight, and are planting it at the correct time (SPRING IS NOT THE SAME PLANTING TIME FOR EVERYTHING!). Remember that grass can go dormant and know when for your area so you don’t have to waste water on it.
Also, know that mosses are NOT options even if they’re native as they often are even more high maintenance than our European turf grasses. Yards turned into edible gardens are not always practical, any less maintenance, and depending on the crop choice can actually be damaging to the soil. Invasive ground-covers and garden plants should be a no-brainer, as in FUCK NO!
Those in arid regions should not have turf grass beyond their natural grasses. The water consumption of turf grass in these areas is absolutely out of control and people who live in these drought areas and insist on maintaining them are indeed selfish. You do not need and should not have grass. Xeriscaping removes the need for supplemental watering, is easy as hell, uses species native to your area, still looks fantastic, fulfills that human need for green life, is fairly inexpensive, and unlike astroturf and grass paint (yeah that’s a thing); that hold in heat, the native plants reduce heat in the surrounding area like grass would.
In Conclusion:
Don’t hate on turf grass or people who have turf grass. Instead, educate about the benefits of more naturalistic landscapes consisting of native species, offer hardier lower maintenance turf grass options for people and more effective polystands based on zones and the environment. Grass is not bad, people just don’t fully understand it or its requirements. It’s such a common thing that it is seen as something that must be of less value and less effort when instead it should be the opposite.
Commercial lawns, especially in high-traffic areas, face issues of compaction, patchiness, and moisture imbalance. The choice of turf grass is vital, as dense and hardy types, suitable for Australian climates, can withstand pressure. Proper soil conditions, including pH levels, grading, and organic enrichment, promote root growth and water percolation.
Proper irrigation management is also vital, with deep and scheduled watering. Regular monitoring, including checking the areas of wear and tear and signs of lawn stress, is essential.
