忘掉那些精心修剪的草坪吧,只有短短的绿草。大胆地拥抱生物多样性,把贫瘠的草坪变成不同比例的迷你草地或野花草坪!地球会感谢你,尽管你的邻居可能会感到惊讶。让他们。
There is no better feeling in the world than enjoying a steaming mug of herbal tea or hot coffee with your bare feet in the dewy wildness of it all, and thebees beginning to buzzaround you. Meadows are pollen-rich havens for insects (and wonderful for your emotional well-being) as you get to spend more time outside directly involved in nature.
Related Post:Plants That Will Help Save The Bees
Allowing beneficial herbal “weeds” to grow means that you get tokeep your dandelionstoo. Did you know that the entire dandelion plant is useful from root toblossom?
它不仅仅是有一个院子来招待蜜蜂和普通的蒲公英。你也将开始吸引其他游客,包括刺猬和鸟类,罂粟,缬草和knapweed。当然,有不止一种方法可以把你的绿色草坪变成一个健康的草地。让我们来看看两个例子来开始心态交换。
How to Turn Your Lawn Into a Meadow
If you’re still on the fence about taking the plunge into tall grass, you can ease into this process by lifting the blades on your mower to the highest setting and see what happens. Instead of mowing weekly, shoot for monthly instead, and allow plants to pop up naturally. You could also overseed your lawn with a wildflower mix.
Related Post:Why You Should Keep Your Dandelions
If you are full-out convinced that you should remove your lawn, then go ahead and scythe twice a season — not more — as if you were harvesting hay from the land. You can then use the excess green matter to mulch yourno-dig garden, no matter what the time of year.
Why You Should Consider Removing Your Lawn
Traditional lawns take a lot of time and money to maintain, yet their benefits to the environment are limited. There are multiple ways to green your lawn by focusing on low-maintenance tactics such asusing push mowers(以他们自己的方式很难),拒绝使用吹叶机,或把剪下来的草留在草坪上。That being said, work is still work.
在效率方面,大自然确实知道什么是最好的。土地需要被覆盖是有原因的:防止侵蚀和水流失。把种植留给专家(在这种情况下,自然母亲),你的野花草坪将很快惠及昆虫种群。
Studies show that40% of insect species are in decline, and this situation must be halted if we love our gardens and orchards. With diverse fruits and vegetables comes a diversity of flowers to feed insects. We live in series of interconnected webs, and we must honor them all. Removing your lawn to favor biodiversity gets us one step closer to a sustainable future.
The Benefits of Removing Your Lawn
Patience is your friend as you wait for wildflowers to take their place in a newly created ecosystem. Your patience is rewarded with a bounty of blossoms, vibrant colors, and the sweet songs of birds. Some of us remove our lawns in order togrow gardens that produce foodfor us to eat, others will remove their lawns in order to cut back on physical work.
No matter what reason you choose, you can reap the benefits of foraging your own yard forplantain,nettle,chickweed, and red clover as medicinal plants tomake your own tinctures.与此同时,你将创造一个独特的栖息地,吸引蝴蝶和其他爬行动物。
Related Post:Pollinators
你可以一年保养两三次,顺其自然。清除草坪会让每个人、每件事都受益,还能提高你脚下土壤的保水能力。
Why Grass and Traditional Lawns Aren’t Ideal for Pollinators
传统的草坪是绿色的沙漠,不欢迎昆虫和鸟类。除此之外,完美的草坪经常被喷洒除草剂和杀虫剂,作为一种维护程序,试图保持它们的原始状态。“尝试”是这里的关键词;草坪渴望野性,如果我们退后观察,它们就能再次野性起来。
In order toattract pollinators to our backyards, we need to rethink what a beautiful lawn means to us. Short grass isn’t going to cut it in terms of providing much-needed pollen, so when you are tired of plain green, let other native plants move in to make a stunning difference. Depending on your location, your wildflower lawn may include:
- Violets
- Wild geraniums
- Bluets
- Speedwells
- Wild strawberries
- Spring beauties
- Wood sorrels
- Cinquefoils
- Asters
- Chickweed
- Cowslip
- Knapweed
- Lady’s bedstraw
- Plantain
- Selfheal
- Yarrow
多物种的草坪怎么样?还有很多野花可以被扔到混合,尽管它们可能需要一些时间来站稳。
Related Post:32,000 Years and Counting: Re-Seeding the World’s Oldest Plant
Lawn Alternatives That Are Pollinator-Friendly
The invention of the lawnmower in the 1830s brought about a grass revolution. Up until then, meadows were managed either by scythe orgrazing goats.拥有这样一片短草曾经是一种奢侈,但现在,“另一边的草真的更绿”,野花丛生的草坪成为人们追捧的后院景观。
对传粉者友好的草坪将重点从靠风传粉的草坪草转移到需要昆虫传粉的植物上,如三叶草、匍匐百里香、三叶草、lamium和ajuga。为了帮助有益的传粉者,你必须舒适地穿过更高的绿色空间。
Why You Should Turn Your Lawn Into a Meadow
Attract Wildlife
随着城市的扩张和蔓延,草坪侵占了本应留给野生动物的空间。当我们用野花草地取代全部或部分草坪,为我们提供食物和覆盖物时,我们能够吸引各种各样的野生动物。
By seeding a mix of annuals and perennials, you may beproviding nectar for hummingbirds, as well as larval food sources for butterflies. Seeds can be eaten by songbirds, and the tall plants will provide shelter for insects.
Increase Biodiversity
Your wildflower lawn will not be as neat and clean as a traditional lawn, yet we need to break some traditions in order to progress. Meadows can contain up to 100 species of flowering plants!
野生草坪不仅仅是植物,它还会吸引各种各样的昆虫和小型哺乳动物,每个季节都在增加生物多样性。
A Wildflower Lawn is Beautiful!
Perhaps we have forgotten just how much wildflowers bring us calm and peace. Imagine as you go outside, take a deep breath, and stare in awe at the nature that surrounds you …
“If all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wildflowers.” — Thérèse of Lisieux
Easy to Maintain
Rather than mowing your lawn every week, now you get toscythetwice a year. Yes, the work is physical, but it is also a wonderful exercise that keeps you fit just as gardening does. A wildflower lawn is low-maintenance, requires little water input, and does not require a green thumb to keep it appealing all year long.
Return Land to Nature
草原和草地是多种动物(尤其是昆虫)和植物的栖息地。2022欧洲杯葡萄牙vs德国可悲的是,在过去的半个世纪里,它们的数量一直在下降。拖拉机和割草机都是罪魁祸首,就像我们与任由事物生长的野性所作的美学斗争一样。
And yet, meadows can easily be brought back into the spotlight. Whether you are converting an existing lawn, starting a wildflower lawn from bare soil, or overseeding an old meadow, know that you are creating a beneficial living landscape. Read more about the return of the meadow at theWild Seed Project.
Are you ready to turn your lawn into a meadow? Tell us all about your wildflower lawn in the comments below!
Resources:
- Dandelion – A Backyard Herb With Many Benefits, Wellness Mama
- Wildflower Lawn Seed Mix, Wild Flower Lawns and Meadows
- Growing a Wildflower Lawn or Mini Meadow, Flowerpotman
Megiddosays
I live in a city in northern Indiana, USA and am dancing with our Codes office very carefully. They were giving us the stink eye about our lawn at first but are warming to it as we’re now offering homes to tree frogs and lots of pollinators. Adding in a meadow area was crucial and it’s ablaze with wildflowers (we simply scatter-sowed a premixed assortment of perennials. Our neighbors think we’re daft but we’re not the ones out there mowing twice per week
Wren Everettsays
Have you heard of getting your yard certified as a wildlife habitat? (National Wildlife Federation link here–>https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/gardens/animals-and-wildlife/how-to-create-a-certified-wildlife-habitatand another link for Audubon certification here–>http://www.aswp.org/pages/backyard-habitat-program). You get an official-looking sign, and maybe it would turn away some of the ignorant stink-eyes!
Cheryl Magyarsays
It is so wonderful to hear more and more stories like this! You are doing an incredibly wonderful thing for wildlife, allowing it to thrive in your backyard. Nature is not ours to conquer, it is a common place to share. Thank you!
Wren Everettsays
Yes Yes YES!! I’ve been hating on “modern” lawns for years, those sterile, barren wastelands of imported grasses that offer absolutely nothing to anyone except runoff. The history of where lawns originated is fascinating, and depressing, as you probably are familiar–just a elite status symbol that worked its awful way, inexorably, into the modern culture.
Our Ozark homestead is so far outside of city limits that we’re not even technically in a city, and we love that. No stupid homeowner’s association breathing down our necks to “mow the lawn!” Instead, we have an abundance of glade and prairie wildflowers–and the diversity of them increases by the year. It’s like a wonderful treasure hunt. My treasures this year included yarrow, various echinaceas, spiderwort, strawberry, blueberry, beardtongue, alumroot, violets, rose verbena, daisies, baptista, and a whole lot more native flowers that I’m just learning about. Your article is beautiful–and I totally agree. I hope more people read it!! Finding tea from your land is so satisfying (we call it our “old field tea”), medicinals are literally growing out of every corner, and the butterflies are nearly as abundant as the flowers.
And, as a final note, scything is just such a satisfying, beautiful art. We love making hay and straw the old, quiet way.
I always appreciate your thoughtful and experience-based articles. Thanks for sharing!
Cheryl Magyarsays
It seems that it does indeed take moving out to the countryside to find more diversity in nature! I loved reading your list of treasures this season and am thrilled that you know many of them by name, I am still learning new ones all the time. At the moment the grass in our hay field is 4 to 5 feet tall in places, yet the under layers are so fascinating with little splashes of color, and the comfrey in the field is alive with buzzing bees. The bats are happy with their insect harvest, just as the barn swallows are feasting. When we share our space, there is enough for every living creature.
And yes, scything is not only great exercise, but carbon-friendly too! Thank you for sharing a bit of your homestead story.
NancyPsays
I would love to let my lawn go to meadow but I live in tick-laden central New York. Won’t that increase their habitat, their numbers and my family’s risk of contracting Lyme disease? Thanks!
Cheryl Magyarsays
If your yard receives plenty of sun, then you may be alright with a meadow for a lawn. Ticks are at risk of drying out in daylight and need sufficient moisture for survival. If your lawn is large enough, you could always mow pathways to make it easier (and tick-free as they love to climb!) to navigate. Increasing biodiversity with native plants always has challenges, in this case, you may increase the ticks habitat, at the same time you may also create the ideal habitat for tick eaters. Opossums may just move in and keep the population down!
Here are a couple of resources to better help you decide:
https://wildseedproject.net/
https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/opossum-natural-low-cost-way-reduce-ticks-prevent-lyme-disease
erinsays
Love this! I refuse to have a “lawn” someday when I own my own place. Plus most of the grasses that cause allergies are those that are not native which we decided to plant. So a natural field is also better for your health!
Cheryl Magyarsays
而且有这么多的野生食物隐藏在它的密度!别说蝴蝶的吸引力,刺猬的栖息地和野生动物一般。草地绝对对我们所有人的健康更好!
Dansays
https://www.flickr.com/gp/23264388@N07/xEicz6
A year ago we bought a 1 acre field on the Olympic Peninsula to start our retirement farm. Our goal has always been to help the pollinators, allow the deer to roam, build a small hoop house to grow some food, and enjoy the outdoors of the Olympic Peninsula. So far, the land is completely undisturbed while we button up our city wildlife sanctuary. Our plan is to keep a minimal footprint, while enjoying nature.
Knowing that I’m not alone in my views will be helpful when the neighbors come with their mowers…
Cheryl Magyarsays
Imagine that you too can be of inspiration to your neighbors! When they hear and see the diversity of wildlife that you are attracting, they will consider following suite.
Sallysays
我学会了一个很好的技巧,特别是如果住在“社区”,那就是在你的野花地周围种一圈整齐的篱笆。这可以是典型的常绿树篱或厚条纹韭菜,迷迭香等。只要保持它的修剪和整洁,任何在这个边界内将更容易被你的邻居接受。Our problem is the briars and vines that show up when we quit mowing…
Kimsays
Oh, THANK YOU, Wren Everett! My city and (one) neighbor have had a hissy fit about leaving things natural for the wildlife…the city wants nothing over 6”, yes, six inches, in the front yard, no way! Everyone would have to take our trees and shrubs. They’ve argued about what is grass vs weeds. Some people have 10’ tall decorative grass, others get flak for just as decorative grass. The city claims it is all about who complains about whom (so we get childish vendettas).
This came about when one of my next-door neighbors decided he wanted to tell me how to landscape my yard for his viewing pleasure, and of course I told him what he could do with that idea. He is the only one on the block who poisons his yard for every possible weed or bug, and has it always mowed to a precise length…no one else does that. I was on the block first, so too bad for him.
I let my evergreen ivy on the house grow very bushy on most of 3 sides (it provides great protection year ‘round), because I have all kinds of birds living in there year ‘round, they’ve come for winter, rather than leaving for winter (it’s 35° F as I write), and there are also butterflies and praying mantises and all sorts of critters that live in there. The bees come by the thousands (I counted the average per square foot one year, about 10-12 per square foot, easily a few hundred + square feet of ivy, loaded with honey bees).
我在远处留下了一个高高的“杂草”区域,因为蝴蝶要求我这样做(这是它们夏天的公寓!)我甚至不会因为和树木或任何动物说话而道歉,我认为不跟它们说话、不听、不看的人是疯了。他们确实会和任何愿意陪他们的人互动和交流。(你应该看看乌鸦对邻居的看法,这很有趣。每次他一走出家门,他们就大发脾气。我从他们的反应就知道他去了那里。)
Birds, bees, butterflies, cats, dogs, all sorts of visitors follow me around the yard while I’m out there. I love it! And now, you’ve given me ammo to fight back, and a sign to encourage others to get rid of their rockslides and mulch dumps they call “environmental” and actually plant a habitat. It doesn’t take much water, even in a desert, just grow what wants to grow, and nurture the few extras a little by hand!
我已经具备了栖息地认证的所有要求。是啊!
It’s easy to get a few 1/2 gallon to 1 gallon sized heated water dishes and put them around the yard, (and just not plug them in for summer), and take one of them and put it up high with a landing spot, fill it full of river rocks and even a few sticks, so the birds can easily and safely land to get a drink. Much cheaper than an official bird bath ($50-70), they get as low as $15 on sale and they’re very good, they’ve lasted 3-4 seasons already, and there’re plenty of rocks and sticks around.
I thank you ever, ever so much! For every tree the neighbor cuts, I plant 2-3, and let the wild ones grow (he shouldn’t have been so snoopy and creepy, I might have trimmed those back, but they became necessary for privacy). I hope to get the meadow in full swing this year (2nd year for some of those flowers that take 2 years to establish).
A few well-positioned tree branches, acquired from being downed in various storms have made a great happy playground for squirrels, and for the community cats who keep our neighborhood free of mice and rats (and I’ve also watched them forage in my garden for beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, and even slugs after a rain… and that silly neighbor actually thinks that they are eating his produce in his garden (no, silly man, they do not like produce, they are performing pest control, slugs and bugs are a delicacy for them!). I think he should be looking towards the raccoons and the bunny rabbits for that “offense”…he isn’t very bright.
I just plant enough for all the critters to also have some, and not worry about it. It’s not just my yard, it’s theirs, too! We share, it’s our outdoor living room. So much more delightful! And now, I can protect it all, thanks to your links!
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Candace Haydonsays
我喜欢,喜欢,喜欢你的评论!我也有同感。我正在慢慢地但坚定地把我的后院变成一片开着野花的草地,草越来越少,为我那爱管闲事的、令人毛骨悚然的邻居修建一堵又高又密、长得很快的篱笆。我还把花园里的蔬菜和水果装在后院。一旦后院建好了,我计划开始建造前院。那就是和HOA的战斗开始的时候!我要给它们留一两片绿草但剩下的是野花和草地。其他一些邻居也想做同样的事情,他们等着看我的改变对我们的HOA有什么影响!我准备好战斗了。自然母亲必须永远获胜。