It's not enough to touch grass

aesthetically pleasing

???

56

Putting green lawns are boring.

51
- So... there's now a trend, at least in the city... of people putting out astroturf or.... even cheaper... forms of fake grass. like. EWW.
  
  47
Sure, if you care about propagating the local fauna in an urban area you have many beautiful visitors. Rats and the native insects on their back. The feral street cat is next to populate this urban green space, oh and lets not forget the cockroach. Native to all densely populated towns, they can be placed on full display for the urbanites to appreciate the aesthetic that their host provides.

6

"wasteland" is a bit strong. Non-native grass is not ideal, but we could do far worse. Good on you for improving your land. Let's not force everyone to be perfect, as many will just give up.

I think the focus on perfection leads to poor mental models and outcomes.

35

You're correct, but the north American concept of a "well kept yard" being two random trees and a bunch of freshly trimmed grass is absolutely horrendous. Beats an actual wasteland, but when most of your neighborhoods have rules that enforce this way of doing things it's a lot of wasted potential and does bring ecological consequences.

Again, while not ideal, actually living backyards with several native species could act as a local metapopulation model, with sources and sinks across the different houses.

This is something that people could and should take seriously and make active efforts to change. You already have the space, you're just not using it correctly.

39
- How do you mean sources and sinks?
  
  3
Focus on perfection? It's harder to maintain an ugly cut grass lawn than to just let it go wild and plant some native grasses/plants to overtake it.

22
- I really hard to play ball or have other activities on a non grass surface and many people particularly enjoy the look of a nice cut lawn. Both can coexist.
  
  7
- In my area, ticks and rodents would move in. Not great for the things I do in my yard.
  
  Native Grass are great, in general and in some areas of my yard, but not everywhere.
  
  -2
Wow what a horrible comment to be at the top. There honestly isn't much worse than an invasive plant monoculture. Like yah maybe it's better than an asphalt park? But does the bar need to be on the floor? Thanks for detracting from the already difficult work of convincing people that invasive plants are detrimental.

11
- Relevant username
  
  7
- It's comments like yours that push me away from ever switching my lawn over. Your shitty attitude turns off more people that it convinces, and you've helped insure my lawn stays grass. Maybe think about your presentation if you want people to change rather than piss on someone making a reasonable statement.
  
  -13
Clover tends to be a good substitute in non-desert regions, they benefit from rock gardens.

9
Interesting thought, what makes you say perfection creates a bad mental model?

3
- It is great to have goals and want to improve. Being accepting of incomplete change and process is better. Personally, I like the photos that provide inspiration and some written direction for easily improving a situation that could be similar to mine.
  
  Only accepting perfection tends to drain motivation. It also presumes a lot about ability, uses, values, and resources. It also drives wedges between people.
  
  "I hate ugly monoculture yards" is not an helpful for changing minds as "i love native grass yards. Even a few accent areas are great." I fail at this all of the time. It is important that I get it right some of the time.
  
  As for perfectionism creating poor mental models, the results tend to be fragile. If one must be perfect and able all of the time, it will fail. The models tend to not allow for different abilities, resources, or desires.
  
  I hope this was clear. Cheers
  
  4
Some internet group just up and took issue with agriculture. I mean yeah we gotta improve our future and society, but I always go back to a simple sentiment. It's only a relavant issue if it can show up in a video game. So basically the character mechanics we're looking for is a -12 Agility score combined with a religous zeal for unteathering from technology while on life support.

2

I planted a bunch of native prairie on my property just yesterday ☺️ feels good!

27

Is there a way to have more native plants growing without increasing ticks? I just bought a house and have a couple areas it would be great to not have to maintain, but I have dogs and don't wanna have to worry about ticks.

15

You'll have to decide which plants are native to your area, but there are certainly plants that ticks don't like.

https://www.gardeningchannel.com/plants-that-repel-ticks/

21
While ticks are not insects, the whole point is to make the area more liveable for many local animals. I don't think you can exclude ticks from that.

Maybe you can lightly fence off some areas so the dogs don't go there.

-5
- Watch me
  
  7
- Good thing I didn't call them insects then. Unfortunately fences won't stop ticks as they jump and ticks won't respect the boundary.
  
  4
- So you put up a fence to keep dogs out? Or to keep mother nature in?
  
  1
Get more native plants. Take rid of dogs. Get chickens.

-5

I live in a small unit that had dusty ultra-compacted dirt around the house that was called a lawn. I broke the soil with a hoe, threw a few bags of soil mix down and planted some moss I harvested growing wild down the laneway. 2 years later the ground is mostly covered in a spongey moss. Give it a few more years it'll be completely covered and thick.

It requires virtually no mowing and needs little water. Apparently growing moss is even good for air and ground water purification. Not sure how much purifying it's doing but it's good to know I'm doing my little part.

If you have a small yard, grow moss.

11

That's cool!

3

I'm seeding an empty lot with native perennials but it's pretty clear that two or three invasive species are beating them out.

9

Please, don't forget about the local native grasses. Not every grass is evil grass!

6

This issue of wild growth lawns really has to dissolve down two points. Geography being one. Arid grassland terrain where, (guess what) grass grows would make ideal space for this experiment; but, the nightmarish undergrowth that natively springs forth from swampy or forested climes would need to be cultivated out anyways or else you would create blight. Vines can be rustic and cute, but they will swallow a house where I'm at whole. And my second point is the area that these people would seed with natural grass would need to be very large and spaced away from neighboring grass. Herb next door in your cul-de-sac doesn't appreciate the encroachment on his turf.

4

But... Grass IS native?

-4

Not unless you're European. Bluegrass (despite having a species named after Kentucky), fescue, bermudagrass (which is an invasive species in Bermuda, BTW), etc. all come from Europe.

20
- Kentucky was named the Bluegrass State because it was so invasive that when settlers came into the area, they found the whole state carpeted in it.
  
  18
- I'm European. Grass is everywhere and it just grows on its own.
  
  8
- So there is no grass in natural environments in America? Then what grows on the ground there?
  
  3
There are native grasses, obviously, but I suspect this meme is talking about extremely invasive annual grasses.

14
Grass is a type of plant. Bamboo is a grass, you wouldn't say it's native to the US or to Europe

5
- Actually some bamboo is native to the Americas.
  
  2
- But grass IS native! That's the point. Be it bamboo or whatever.
  
  -12