Blog Action Day

Although I am not nearly as environmentally conscientious as many other bloggers I know, especially my Garden Rant colleagues, who water far less and plant far more native plants or organically-grown vegetables than I do, there is one area where I think I'm doing the right thing.

I don't grow any grass. I have nothing against it as a plant—it is beautiful in its way—but most of the lawns I see are clearly doused regularly with chemicals—to fertilize, to eradicate weeds, and to kill pests. Then, too, in order to keep them green, most require a ton of water. Then there is the mowing—and they all require this—often with polluting gasoline-powered mowers. These have no catalytic converters and can do a lot more damage than most cars, if used regularly. (One hour of power mowing may cause as much pollution as driving a car 1300 miles. Some say it’s more like 3200 miles.)

Recently, I helped defend a friend (scroll this whole category to see all the posts on Jean's garden) who maintains a shrub and perennial insect-friendly, bird-friendly front garden with no chemicals and hardly any watering. Next Blog Action Day, I hope many more of my friends and neighbors will be hosting such spaces.

See ranter Susan Harris's great BAD post here. Find out more about BAD here. BTW, where are the Buffalo blogs? I don't see any local BAD posts. (And now I will refrain from the obvious puns.)