OffThePost.org

So I've hated lawns for a long time. They take a lot of fertilizer, herbicdes and water to keep healthy and contribute nothing to the local environment. Useless for the local insects and birds. In the last 3 or 4 years there is starting to be a small but growing trend for people to rewild their yard or at least think about it. Put in native grass, flowers and tree species to give the local bees, butterfly's etc a chance. I'm a big fan of this trend. Although your law loving neighbours are liable to see your yard as nothing but a mess that pollutes their yards with what they perceive as weeds blowing seeds into their yard.

Came across this link that in the states allows you to look at what plant species are native in your zip code, and what butterflies they will support. Its pretty cool and for me I'm close enough to Blaine WA that I can use their zip code.

https://getpocket.com/collections/a-gui ... ving-space


and this is a guide to rewilding if anyone is feeling adventurous https://getpocket.com/collections/a-gui ... ving-space

Even if you don't care about the environment you can consider it because it is less work, less cost and if you dislike your neighbours you can spite them.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

I hate lawns. Part of my new job initiatives that I like, is rewilding lawns at our corporate facilities. I gave a presentation on it the other day. Did you know that lawns were originally a way for rich people to brag? It was basically like "hey everyone, look at this huge section of mowed grass in front of my house! I'm so rich I don't use it to feed animals, I'm not farming any veggies or anything at all. It's just fucking GRASS, so look on that with jealousy, you peasants." Weird flex, but okay, as my kids would say.

We've got some very bald areas in my "lawn". I refuse to fertilize, and there's a ton of shade from the trees I refuse to cut down/back. So I was actually looking the other day at wildflower seed mixes appropriate for my plant zone. At a conference this week, I spoke to a seed supplier who said he's seeing more home owners do this, so he's got some mixes ready to go.

So yeah, I'll be ordering some wildflower seeds, which should attract more pollinators, including butterflies. We see quite a few monarchs here in summer, despite their numbers being way down from 20 years ago.

Glad to see some others looking into this!

As part of my presentation I pointed out how much time people spend mowing their lawns, weeding/feeding, and also how wildly inefficient gas powered mowers are. I would use over 1 gallon to mow about 1 acre, which is nowhere near a mile of back and forth. So less than 1 MPG. Fuck that.

New York has some sizeable wildflower areas as highway medians, instead of mowing all of it. It's nice, but we need more. Keep the dudes employed. Just have them do more beneficial stuff than mowing grass every day.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

I did not know this but I am not at all surprised. Tanning has a similar history. Tan lines were associated with outdoor labour work. Culture's world wide preferred lighter colour skin as it indicated wealth and status. Until the 1920's that is. Then the wealthiest with the most leisure time would spend time outside golfing, tennis, sailing, croquet. A tan then became an indicator of so much wealth you had large amounts of leisure time. Then tan's became a positive status indicator in North American culture until we figured out the risk of melanoma in the 80's.

So lawns as a status symbol of having so much wealth you could do impractical, costly things with your yard makes in a bizarre sort of way, just as much as to tan or not tan did.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

I feel kinda guilty because, yeah, lawns are nothing more than a water-guzzling, environmentally unsound, vanity accessory for your house.

On the other hand, I savor the hour or so I can tune out the world, don the wireless earphones, start a podcast, and fire up the ol' Cub Cadet self-propelled pusher. It's my form of meditation. Along with my garden it's some of the best "me" time I can get in the spring and summer months. I don't get the same level of zen with a snowblower. In addition, using my high-powered weed-whacker for edging work is also extremely satisfying, though not quite as relaxing as there are random bits of earth and debris smacking me in the face at high speed.

I'm probably going to order 2 lbs of this for my yard: https://www.ernstseed.com/product/butterfly-hummingbird-garden-mix/

I deal with this company at work and they're really good.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

That looks great but is it specific for your area? The problem I'm finding is first identify what plants are for my area, then ensure they are not hybrids grown from original variety but propagated to enhance some aesthetic but not as good for feeding the butterflies and bees. Needs to be original native species.

And Poke, I find weeding very meditative. I have to identify whether it is a seedling I want to keep or not. Is it too small to pick now with my big fingers and I should leave it a bit longer, or risk letting it grow more where its roots entangle with a plant I want to keep and risk damaging the good one. Its not hard mental work, but it is focused and the whole damn world goes away when I'm in that zone.

Although I think if you're listening to podcasts while mowing, you and I have a completely different idea of what meditation is..........lol

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

These are all native species, but yeah, native to the northeastern US. You could check the species list and cross reference to see if they're native to your area. And would grow there. Probably a lot easier to find a similar supplier more local to you.

I'm kind of bummed, as they only sell seeds. I was hoping to get plugs of path rush (Juncus tenuis). It can be run over hundreds of times and pops right back up, so it's great for paths. I was hoping to make paths in our yard with it. The seeds are practically microscopic so spreading them is a pain.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Poke, regarding your marigolds. Too much fertilizer can be a bad thing. I know with my marigolds they can be a bit vulnerable when they are small, like under 3 inches but once they're established they are pretty resilient. If you hit them with too much fertilizer you might have set them back.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Ah, that would be it then. Thank you for letting me know.

So when covid hit and I had little to do so I cleaned up a memorial garden for a former teacher at a local elementary school. Rhododendron's too closely spaced, a lot of grass and clover taken over in a box about 15'x15'. Cleaned up all the weeds, separated the rhodo's so they would have room to grow and also acquired about 300 daffodil bulb.

I have a small piece of dirt between the sidewalk and the street beside my place. It's about 12" wide, on a slope. It gets hot and dry in the summer, and just grew weeds. I wondered if I could do anything with it, what might survive as the dirt would get very hot with all that cement around it and no shade at all. Anyways I decided to give it a go. I'd given half the daffodil bulbs away, and planted the other 150 or so in that strip. I also pick up a coffee for my wife once or twice a week at her favourite coffee shop. While doing this I noticed workers from Home Depot dumpling plants in a large bin, on the side of the building. A whole lot of plants being tossed out, so I turned into a dumpster diver (I don't get in, just scavenge from the side) and have added plants to that strip and school. It turns out quite a bit will grow there including daff's if given regular water. I'm right across from the hospital and lots of foot traffic and the flowers get quite a few people noticing and smiling. Good stuff.

Having said that, now that I know plants will grow there I'm considering pulling them all out and go with all native species. Still have to work out what in our wet climate will thrive in that heat. One of the plants I'm considering is the Camas Lily. Lovely blue flower. It was a major food stable for tribes in the Pacific Northwest but they were forced to change their farming with European domination. I've never eaten one, even though the bulbs are supposed to be super nutritious and are a local food. I actually know no one who has tried them. Only problem is it takes 3 years to grow them from seed to flower, and harvest the bulb. Still brainstorming the idea.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

That's all good stuff Fogg!

I haven't spread my wildflower seeds yet. Too busy doing other shit and one of the areas I want to spread them around is next to the fence I'm working on, and I have no idea who did this, but there's a pile of dirt filled with broken up blacktop. I've been using the dirt as fill for fence posts, so I'll keep digging away at it, and tromping through the area, but I also don't want to spread seed where there's a bunch of blacktop. I need to rake that crap out. But it's also June tomorrow so I guess I'd better spread this seed soon.

Looking into some native shrubs to put along the back border where our new neighbors tore out all the vegetation between us. Spicebush looks like a good choice, but it requires more water than it will get naturally back there. It's a wetland border plant, and that area of my yard is pretty damn dry. I don't want to be watering plants all the time. Ug.

And Poke- my dogs each sniffed the foxglove once and walked away. Most critters smell something that's toxic and move along. If I had a puppy or young kid I'd be concerned. Smart move on your part not to get it with a toddler.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.