Grass Wastes Water and Energy

It's Blog Action Day! Locally, many are concentrating on water conservation, because we are enduring a drought in North Carolina and many areas are under water restrictions. I wasn't sure that I would participate, but then I realized that this was the perfect excuse to rant about grass. I, personally, am against it. No, I'm not talking about smoking it, I'm talking about growing it, watering it, reseeding it and using gas or electricity to mow it. So much water, time, and energy is wasted taking care of lawns when there are alternative ground covers. When I moved into my house, I had the area mulched and tried to eradicate the grass. Unfortunately, it does fight back. Grass is useful for fighting erosion, but it prevents erosion if it's dead, too. Appreciate its dead beauty. Use all your water resources to keep your trees and plants alive instead. Keeping a large tree happy will do a lot more for saving energy by shading your home than any patch of grass ever will.


Here's an example of how I have been incensed by grass. Look above at how gorgeous this one area on Duke's campus used to be.


Over the late spring and summer, they added added an extensive irrigation system and put in sod and liriope. The perennials didn't require an irrigation system and they didn't require mowing. They weren't boring and they shouldn't have been ripped up and thrown away.