Post by whollygoats on Mar 13, 2018 21:49:46 GMT
I haz a lawn.
My lawn is a tightly circumscribed 32 square feet.
I know this because I built the timber frame that held the wire fencing in place so that the chickens could reach it, but not completely destroy the sod in which it grew. Two frames, each four feet by four feet, built of 2" x 4", with rabbit fencing cut to size and stapled on to the sides.
The frames are now gone. What I have now is two ratty patches of grass, probably a mix of fescues and ryes. It certainly has 'weeds'.
This is all that remains of what was once the pitch of the infamous Ravenswood Invitational Half-Court Croquet Tournement, which took place on a vast lawn which covered the greater portion of the back yard (approx 47' x 35'). There were border beds, but none were more than three or four feet from whatever wall or boundary they decorated. There was the concrete pad and the back jungle, but it was mostly grass. It was a 'lawn' that demanded a mower, and I married in to the small electric mower that served just fine (it was my 'mower-in-law'). There was also a 'front lawn' which was a paltry strip of grass trying to survive in the narrow band of sunlight between the house shadow and a large spreading Japanese maple.
The first to go was the 'front lawn'. It was more of a pest than a lawn. Ground covers were brought in and paths around cultivated beds were put in place. Grass was successfully stomped out.
The rose bed against the back house was expanded. The Tournement went on.
The brick patio and the grape arbor went in on the western expanses. The Tournement went on, but it was too cramped.
The balcony went in and the Tournement died.
So the 'Mater bed went in and the iris beds on the eastern margins vastly expanded.
I has spent twenty years proposing and carrying out an extermination of grass on our lot.
When the chickens arrived, it was obvious that the 'lawn' would not last without protection. But they chickens needed grass for pasture. It was elemental in the production of decent eggs. Then, after workmen installing the heat pump almost turned that 'lawn' into a complete quagmire, I had to build the frames to protect the now fragile grass for the chickens.
Ten years later, the chickens are gone.
The garden around the 32 square feet of grass lawn is experiencing a resurrection. It is finally freed from the trampling of the hens.
Now I face the question....Should I keep 'the lawn', or obliterate it for some new, centrally located garden bed?
I have no mower, but 32 square feet can be hand clipped. But, is there reason for it? I have doctor's orders to try to stay out of the direct sun, so a patch of grass upon which to lay out a beach towel or small blanket to sunbathe is entirely unnecessary. For me. I can't say as I've seen Swimmer lay about in the sun, either. She's as pasty as I.
My lawn is a tightly circumscribed 32 square feet.
I know this because I built the timber frame that held the wire fencing in place so that the chickens could reach it, but not completely destroy the sod in which it grew. Two frames, each four feet by four feet, built of 2" x 4", with rabbit fencing cut to size and stapled on to the sides.
The frames are now gone. What I have now is two ratty patches of grass, probably a mix of fescues and ryes. It certainly has 'weeds'.
This is all that remains of what was once the pitch of the infamous Ravenswood Invitational Half-Court Croquet Tournement, which took place on a vast lawn which covered the greater portion of the back yard (approx 47' x 35'). There were border beds, but none were more than three or four feet from whatever wall or boundary they decorated. There was the concrete pad and the back jungle, but it was mostly grass. It was a 'lawn' that demanded a mower, and I married in to the small electric mower that served just fine (it was my 'mower-in-law'). There was also a 'front lawn' which was a paltry strip of grass trying to survive in the narrow band of sunlight between the house shadow and a large spreading Japanese maple.
The first to go was the 'front lawn'. It was more of a pest than a lawn. Ground covers were brought in and paths around cultivated beds were put in place. Grass was successfully stomped out.
The rose bed against the back house was expanded. The Tournement went on.
The brick patio and the grape arbor went in on the western expanses. The Tournement went on, but it was too cramped.
The balcony went in and the Tournement died.
So the 'Mater bed went in and the iris beds on the eastern margins vastly expanded.
I has spent twenty years proposing and carrying out an extermination of grass on our lot.
When the chickens arrived, it was obvious that the 'lawn' would not last without protection. But they chickens needed grass for pasture. It was elemental in the production of decent eggs. Then, after workmen installing the heat pump almost turned that 'lawn' into a complete quagmire, I had to build the frames to protect the now fragile grass for the chickens.
Ten years later, the chickens are gone.
The garden around the 32 square feet of grass lawn is experiencing a resurrection. It is finally freed from the trampling of the hens.
Now I face the question....Should I keep 'the lawn', or obliterate it for some new, centrally located garden bed?
I have no mower, but 32 square feet can be hand clipped. But, is there reason for it? I have doctor's orders to try to stay out of the direct sun, so a patch of grass upon which to lay out a beach towel or small blanket to sunbathe is entirely unnecessary. For me. I can't say as I've seen Swimmer lay about in the sun, either. She's as pasty as I.