When I was 9, we moved from West Otago to Milton and I was absolutely thrilled to find daisies in the lawn, something we had not had in Heriot.
I simply could not understand why my parents did not share my enthusiasm.
My attitude to daisies now mirrors theirs, because no matter how closely I cut, daisies just grow shorter stems and keep flowering, making the lawn look overdue for mowing.
A perfect lawn may be a gardener's dream, but achieving and maintaining it can be a nightmare.
It usually requires chemicals to kill persistent weeds and grass grub, copious amounts of water in dry summers and huge amounts of fossil fuel.
One American writer has estimated 2.4 billion litres of petrol are used annually in motor mowers and tens of thousands of tonnes of chemicals tipped on to lawns to kill weeds and promote grass growth.
To keep our lawns green, we hose on drinking-quality water, most of which runs away.
Yet water is becoming a more expensive commodity, and Dunedin residents will inevitably have to pay a separate water charge within the foreseeable future.
Chemical use is increasingly restricted.
Only last week, The New Zealand Herald reported that the Government was being asked to ban in urban areas a common weedkiller, clopyralid, sold under such trade names as Versatill, Kiwicare No Lawn Weeds and McGregor's Turf Weed Control.
The problem, said a spokesman for Auckland compost-maker Living Earth, was that traces as low as five parts per billion of clopyralid in composted grass clippings were enough to cause deformities in tomato plants and kill potatoes, as the very persistent chemical does not break down in compost, even when the heap gets warm.
Perhaps the romantic vision of a smooth green lawn has had its day.
If so, we will be saying goodbye to a fairly recent gardening trend that came about largely because of an English engineer, Edwin Beard Budding (1795-1846).
When Budding was born, formal lawns with short grass were still quite novel, having taken root in France earlier in the 18th century.
Before that, grass tended to be cut with a sickle or scythe, or sheep were used to keep the turf neat.
Perhaps the young Edwin had been made to spend his leisure time slashing long grass: whatever the reason, in August 1830, he was granted a patent for a machine for mowing lawns, etc.
Budding's machine may not have been first, as it appears a Scot, Alexander Shanks (1801-1845), had earlier devised an unpatented mower.
While Budding's factory in Stroud was a huge success, others were not slow to develop the idea, although it was not until 1868 that the first United States patent for a reel lawn mower was granted.
In the 140 years since, motors were added, first steam-powered, then petrol, and finally the electric mower.
If the environmental price of a lawn becomes too high, perhaps the mowers we trudge behind each summer will become as antique as Budding's, with only the turf of sports grounds and golf courses to remind us of gardeners' love affair with lawns.
Alternatives to grass
- Make a vegetable garden. A raised bed needs no digging - just put old woollen carpet or newspapers on the bottom, then top up with soil and compost.
- Grow a wildflower patch. Rotary-hoe the lawn, rake and sprinkle wildflower mix over the area. In autumn, leave flowers to drop seeds for next season.
- Try a camomile lawn. Only suitable for areas with light traffic, camomile has a delicious perfume. Roman camomile is easy to grow from seed.
- Thyme makes a lovely perfumed lawn and most varieties of creeping thyme are covered with pink, white or magenta flowers in late spring or early summer. Thyme suppresses some weeds but not all, so the patch will need periodic weeding.
- Go no-mow with a native. Mercury Bay weed (Dichondra repens) is a native groundcover that grows to about 1cm tall. A plant will grow about 1m across and is happy in sun or part-shade. Acaena (bidibidi) may not be everyone's favourite but it grows in most types of soil and spreads rapidly. A. inermis Purpurea has no barbs on the spines of seedheads.
Here's how
Lawn-care tips for summer
- Set the mower blades higher.
- Grass should look green, even after mowing.
- Scalping the grass damages its roots and encourages weeds.
- In hot, dry weather, leave off the catcher, so clippings mulch the lawn.
- Keep mower blades sharp.
- If you must water, save grey water from baths, showers or the washing machine.
- Install a rainwater tank or water butt in anticipation of increased water charges.
- Wait until autumn before sowing new grass.
