Why did my grandmother and aunts sweep the yard and scrape away all of the grass growing there under the huge oak tree? Was it because they were afraid of snakes biting the children or chickens? Was it a form of pest control? Was it to prevent fires? According to southern lore, this was a practice that goes back to the African people, and later passed onto other white farmers. We played and had picnics in the front yard and under that giant beautiful tree for years as children and didn’t think anything of it.
And, then came the invention of the riding lawnmower. My father and mother became the Forrest Gump look-alikes, mowing those expansive lawns and fields with their personal lawn mowers. It became a sea of green surrounding our house. They didn’t have to water like we do. My mother became obsessed with lawns, while my father was still the gardener with his flowers and vegetable gardens. Mowing was never a fun job for us kids (push mowers, later gasoline driven, but not automatic, and not riding mowers like my mother had). So, I became more enamored of the gardens.
Why do we fixate on lush green lawns with no weeds? Is a perfectly manicured lawn a reflection of who we are in society and in the universe? Are we trying to compete and/or become royalty? If you don’t love to get your hands in the dirt, and you can’t afford to hire anyone, like the privileged few, the solution is to take a few minutes each day after work, and work on a little piece of your land. Break up your yard in sections, and plant beautiful bushes and flowers. Mulch like crazy and enjoy your labor. I have divided up my yard into sections and each day during the growing season, I take one section a week. It doesn’t have to be an amazing English Garden like you see on the East coast, or in the old kids’ books. We don’t have the climate for that out in the southwest. Plant what works out here. Then, sit with it on your back patio, and enjoy the fruits of your labor. I can be in my happy peaceful place, and sip on a cool drink when the work is done. I know people don’t enjoy outside work as much as I do, but it is such an accomplishment to see living things grow and thrive in our harsh climate.
It is well-known that pesticides aren’t good for people or the environment so I have taken the higher road and not used them. And, yes, the dandelions and thistle bloom like crazy and look hideous in some peoples’ eyes, but I pull out the ones that are in my mulched gardens and don’t worry as much about the lawn. Green is green where green will grow out here.
When the forsythia and lilacs bloom each spring, I think of my father and his amazing green thumb. I don’t have expansive green lawns (and the water to support them) but my plants survive and burst in color each year, I think of him every spring. I was able to enjoy their beauty for a little while this spring before the snow and wind blew off the flowers. And though I hate the crab apples, for a little while, they are beautiful each spring so I won’t cut them down.
So don’t worry about what the other neighbors’ yards look like and don’t try to spray away the weeds and have a perfect lawn. Enjoy the imperfections in your yard as you would in life. Enjoy each other as individuals and don’t compete with something that is not real.
I love you all equally with all of your imperfections. Have an awesome weekend!
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