The Organic Lawn
Just like the rest of my gardens, the lawn here at Chiot’s Run is organic. It doesn’t require much care, mowing a few times a month and a top dressing of chicken manure twice a season. Other than that, it’s left to fend for itself. I’d describe the lawn as “a mixed herbal lawn”. Whatever grows is allowed to stay.
The lawn area has shrunk by at least half since we moved in. It was replaced with food and seed producing plants. We’ll never be without a little spot of lawn though, I really love the look and I think if you allow mixed herbs and wildflowers to grow it does add a beneficial habitat to your garden.
As a result, I can count about 15-20 different species of plants; different grasses, white Dutch clover, plantain (both tall and short), creeping charlie, wild violets, and a few other various species of “herbs”. The lawn is also full of insects of all shapes and sizes, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, ants, spiders, moths, and many other things that creep, crawl, hop, burrow, and slither.
To some of my neighbors, this would be a travesty. They’d douse their lawns with chemicals to get rid of weeds, kill bugs, and to make the remaining finely bladed grass lush and green. Organic lawns really are healthier, the mix of plants provides an ecosystem all it’s own. My lawn is teeming with life, even after this summer’s drought. My neighbor’s perfectly sprayed carpet of green on the other hand, is mostly dead. This was their lawn last week:
This was my lawn last week:
So what can you do to help your lawn and go organic?
- overseed with some white dutch clover
- allow herbs and other plants to grow
- add rock dusts according to your soil type, like gypsum, etc.
- use natural fertilizers like chicken manure, bone meal and blood meal
- top dress with compost or other organic matter
The proof is in the pudding when it comes to tough summers like this one. My lawn was lush and green most of the summer. A few varieties of grass and other plants went dormant, but other ones kept going strong. Because I don’t add chemicals, the soil gets better each year and thus the lawn looks better and better each and every year, even when there’s a drought.
Do you have any area of the garden dedicated to a lawn?
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Quote of the Day: Walt Disney
We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
Walt Disney (found at Brainy Quote)
Moving forward, that’s what will be happening this week. On Wednesday we’ll be headed east, down a new path to our new home.
I’ve had so many people asking if I’m going to miss this place. Maybe I will, but probably not. I grew up accustomed to moving and leaving things behind. As a result, I find myself more often excited about the possibilities ahead rather than bemoaning what lay behind. I find change to be rather exciting and exhilarating.
I’ve always said that change is good because it keeps us from getting stagnant.
Do you like/enjoy change?
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Garden Tour: The Front Foundation Garden
The front foundation garden was the first area I started to tackle when we moved here 10 years ago. It was planted with things that wouldn’t have survived in that bed. The rhododendrons in that bed were given to my parents and I replaced them with a few plants, most of which are long since gone.
I started by adding lots of chicken manure, leaf mold and compost for several years. Then I dig out all the big rocks and added more humus. After a few years, I decided it was time to plant a few things. This garden has evolved over time, just like my skills as a gardener. If I was starting this bed from scratch I’d do things a little differently.
Overall, I really like this flowerbed, it contains a mix of things that bloom throughout the seasons. Lots of spring flowering bulbs from February through April. It’s filled with peonies, hollyhocks, hydrangeas, catmint and other flowering beauties during the summer. In the fall there’s a beautiful ‘Pinky Winky’ hydrangea and a few balloon flowers that hang on for a last showing of color. It could use an evergreen shrub or two (like a boxwood) to give it a little more structure in the winter.
There are also lots of edibles; chives, fennel, asparagus, kale, blueberries, tomatoes, squash, cabbage and whatever other edibles I can tuck into empty spots.
My favorite time to view this flowerbed is in lat June when the ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea is at it’s best. There’s just something so wonderful about this original garden. It’s the first garden I started working on 10 years ago and it shows.
How old is your oldest garden?
Chiot’s Run Garden Tour
The Middle Garden
The Side Garden
The Front Hillside Garden
Mr Chiot’s Mailbox Garden
Garden Tour: The Front Garden
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Friday Favorite: These Cats
I’m not much of a collector. You won’t find my house overflowing with collectibles, figurines, or much else for that matter. I even try to keep my book collection to a minimum. There are however a few things around that I love, like these wooden cats.
They were purchased here and there a long time ago. In fact, I can’t remember a time when they weren’t sitting on top of my dresser. One of them I even repainted to look like our old cat Jeffrey. There hasn’t been a new one in many, many years and I don’t actively seek out more.
I don’t quite know what it is I love about these little wooden cats, they’re kind of quirky and cute. No doubt, they’ll remain on my dresser for years to come! Does it count as a “collection” if you only have four?
Do you have any collections?
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Making a Statement
Yesterday, at noon, I found myself standing on the corner of a major intersection in our area with a sign:
I’m not much of one to do these kinds of things, but one of my good friend is very involved in the fight against fracking and wastewater disposal here in our community. She helped coordinate a state wide rally that took place in communities all around the state yesterday.
The hope was to raise awareness of the fact that Ohio is a dumping ground for many other state’s fracking water and the dangers that come along with this.
Since she’s a good friend of mine, I went to support her and to take some photos to publicize the rally. We stood on a main intersection in town around lunch time waving our signs. Thankfully, we got a lot of people honking and giving us the thumbs up (a few other fingers too, but we won’t go there). Some folks that actually stopped to chat, thank us in person and to get some information to pass along.
This kind of involvement is really not my thing. I much prefer to work in the background. I’ll cook, support, make signs and just about anything but be out in the middle of things. Standing on the corner holding a sign is WAY out of my comfort zone. Sometimes, it’s all about supporting those you love and a cause you believe in above staying in your comfort zone. I’m thankful for those that are fighting to keep our water and air clean for future generations!
Have you ever taken part in an environmental/political rally?
