Faster moving water flowing over paved and hard surfaces picks up larger amounts of silt, dissolved nutrients, pesticides and other pollutants including pet wastes which enter storm water drains and waterways. The movement of water is also faster and more destructive. A small patch of grass will also cool a hot area especially a small courtyard.
In terms of maintenance, cracks between pavers tend to open up over time, pots spill their potting mix and encourage weeds. One of my clients has an enormous paved area which extends from the driveway to the entire backyard. Every three weeks I use my petrol two stroke brush cutter to knock down the weeds then follow up with a herbicide (another source of run-off). Her lawn is a lot easier to look after.
Old mowers are terrible polluters but I use a push mower when possible (no emissions) and there are many new rechargeable electric mowers on the market. Some homeowners have been using these mowers for the last five years! Victa mowers produced an electric mower about 10 years ago but stopped production for some reason. Now they produce a machine for around $500-600 which is well out of range of the average lawn mower budget of $400. If I had a small patch of lawn, I’d use a little rotary push mower with the brush cutter if needed.
Couch lawns are terrible, needing constant care and are still brown in December in Sydney. Buffalo lawns grow faster but can be kept longer, are green all year round and need nothing special to keep them green.
Lawns and pastures could have a big impact on carbon reduction in the future. There is some research that indicates that lawns and grasses can take on more carbon dioxide then trees. That might have some impact on land management programs and global warming in the future as the research becomes more established.
Basically to avoid the known issues associated with lawns which have lead to the bad name:
- Avoid fertilisers with high phosphorus content and super phosphate
- Clean up spilled potting mix/soil
- Install silt traps between your property and storm water drains
- Keep lawn aerated, increase water absorption rate.
- Don't use fertilisers on lawns, use a mulcher mower instead which drops clippings back onto the lawn
- Avoid fertilising or using chemicals if rain is expected
- Use natural remedies to control pests and diseases, biologicals, Natrasoap. If you need a help, go to a nursery, find an expert who can recommend safe products. Only use chemicals as a last resort. Dipel (biological control) is safer than Confidor (chemical control) but if you ask at Bunnings or Mitre 10 for something to control caterpillars they are most likely to recommend Confidor.
- Grasses have a dormancy period, either late summer (cool season grasses) or winter (warm season grasses) and are not meant to look good all year
- Know which grass you are growing, its cut height changes with the seasons
- Don't dump grass clippings/garden prunings in bushland, its too valuable in your own garden. Start a compost bin
- Be wary of 'green washing' do your own research, top versus side loading washing machines is a great example along with 'green' laundry detergents.
- Plan your house/garden from the beginning to have a minimal impact on the environment.
