Rewilding your grass lawn could help save the planet and someone you love

Happy rewilding to those of us born to be a wild thing because, we are the changemakers who won’t buy what colonizing capitalists are selling!

Rewilded garden Credit: Doreen Nicoll

April is that time of year when the weather plays havoc with us and our gardens. One day it’s hot enough to be summer, the next it’s cold as winter and sometimes it even snows.

By mid-April, many folks with excessively noisy gas lawnmowers, trimmers and leaf blowers, can’t wait to cut their grass, trim the edges, blow the trimmings onto the street and start fertilizing and applying pesticides. That intentional application of petrochemical based fertilizers and pesticides is now commonly referred to as integrated pest management (IPM) an over used word salad justifying the application of repurposed chemicals of war.

Most bees and wasps create small nests beneath the soil and inside dead plant stems – think sunflowers, hollyhock and Echinacea. Butterflies, wasps, moths, fireflies, lady bugs and ground beetles overwinter in leaf letter and brush piles in order to avoid predators and the harsh winter elements. All of these insects are necessary for life as we know it.

Rabbits are known to nest in areas that are quite dangerous like three inch deep lawn divots where kits, baby rabbits, are in danger of being run over by lawn mowers.

That’s why it’s best to avoid mowing too early in the spring and to leave garden debris in place until daytime temperatures consistently reach 10 Celsius/50 Fahrenheit for ten consecutive days.

So, imagine my surprise when I heard a multitude of gas-powered lawn mowers around my neighbourhood in early April. Then, April 20^th I saw something I never thought I’d see, my neighbour in a toque and winter jacket mowing the lawn while it was snowing!

Early May brought my neighbours out in droves applying pesticides to dandelions, cracks in the sidewalk and over river rocks that have replaced grass.

Others were generously spraying their grass lawns with weed and feed, a two-in-one product that fertilizes while killing weeds. The “weed” portion of weed and feed is a herbicide that targets broadleaf plants like dandelions, plantain, chickweed, and dollar weed. The weed killer is usually 2,4-D — an ingredient in Agent Orange used as a defoliant in Vietnam — Dicamba, or MCPP. 

It’s been well documented that exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange can cause cancer, congenital birth defects and life-threatening health complications. Agent Orange is also an ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup.

Here is ecofeminist Vandana Shiva’s take on Roundup.

The list of precautions for weed-and-feed application should be an indicator of the potential for human and environmental damage. Those precautions include keeping the product off of other landscape plants, cleaning your hands and shoes after application to avoid tracking it into your home and keeping kids and pets out of the yard for at least 48 hours due to a heightened risk of certain cancers.

Having not had grass anywhere on my property for the past couple of decades, this seems like a completely bizarre and irrational way of dealing with ‘weeds’ or invasive plants that are often edible and easily removed by hand.

Having looked into the best time to do the initial cut of the season, I discovered that it’s best to wait until the grass has grown to a height of three to four inches before mowing in the spring.

That ensures the grass is strong enough to avoid being damaged by the mowing process. The soil should be thawed and dried out to prevent damaging wet or muddy grass.

I also found out that while frequent mowing is recommended, it’s best to mow as high as possible to encourage deep root systems and avoid removing more than one-third of the grass blade each time you mow.

Mow when the grass is dry and leave clippings on the lawn because they break down rapidly contributing nutrients that improve soil health. So, using a leaf blower to blow clippings into the street or down the sewer is counterintuitive as is bagging clippings and putting them to the curb for collection.

Be sure to use a well-balanced fertilizer program that contains nitrogen to encourage a healthy green colour and turf density, phosphorus to support root development, and potassium to ensure drought tolerance and winter hardiness. Yet, the question remains, how are these nutrients being sourced and at what environmental and human costs?

Nitrogen is best sourced from grass clippings, composted manure and corn gluten which also prevents broadleaf plants.

Most soils are rich in phosphorous so it’s not generally needed and excess amounts play havoc with water systems by increasing aquatic plant growth and leading to blue green algae bloom.

Postassium can be sourced from green sand, potash or kelp meal.

Find more information here.

Proper lawn maintenance including overseeding in the spring and early fall, aerating, mowing, fertilizing, irrigation and thatch control will help ensure a dense, healthy lawn throughout the growing season.

Sounds great, but for any ground cover to be effective in mitigating climate change it needs to sequester carbon, manage the watershed, support native pollinators and support plants that make up the base of the food web. Unfortunately, grass does none of this well.

Instead, more water and fertilizers are used on lawns in Canada and the US than on corn and wheat fields combined.

In Canada, half to three-quarters of all municipally treated water during the summer months is used to water lawns. A fact that is startling considering the droughts being experienced across Canada and around the world. This is particularly troubling when you add in the massive amounts of water being extracted in areas like Aberfoyle, Ontario for bottling by corporations like Blue Triton which exacerbate water shortages in communities like Guelph.

Pesticide and herbicide use contaminates soil, water, turf and other plants including those we harvest to eat. Pesticides and herbicides also run off into sewers travelling to streams, rivers and larger bodies of water where their toxicity affects insects, birds, fish, and other wildlife.

More emissions are produced by lawn mowers each year in North America than all of the cars sold in Canada in 2022.

The average person spends 150 hours taking care of their grass lawn every year.

That’s why David Suzuki Foundation (DSF) launched LawnShare, a groundbreaking campaign that is helping Canadians rethink the negative environmental and climate impacts of traditional lawns while offering a sustainable solution with insect, wildlife and street appeal.

“Rooted in colonial history, these barren, thirsty, high-maintenance landscapes have become ingrained in our culture and communities,” Jode Roberts of the David Suzuki Foundation’s Rewilding Communities program shared with Small Change.

“Yet, the vast tapestry of yards, fields and roadsides represents a landscape of great opportunity for cultivating healthier environments for wildlife and humans,” Roberts added.

LawnShare’s research team has developed innovative methods for mapping lawns in Canadian cities, laying the groundwork for local conservation efforts while identifying opportunities for habitat restoration.

Toronto alone has 80 square kilometers (almost 20,000 acres) of lawns which is 50 times larger than High Park, while Montreal has 97 square kilometers (almost 24,000 acres) of lawns an area 34 times bigger than Mount-Royal Park.

Lawns tend to dominate suburban landscapes rather than city cores, so LawnShare provides an avenue for change, empowering individuals, companies and communities to adopt sustainable lawn-care practices.

Participants receive a comprehensive toolkit, maintenance tips, habitat creation guidance, regional plant lists and access to educational webinars.

DSF is promoting alternatives to create a healthier environment that will help mitigate climate change through reduced mowing as well as embracing alternative native seed mixes.

Native plant gardening is gaining acceptance and growing thanks to the adaptive qualities of these plants that not only provide aesthetics but essential food and shelter for wild bees, butterflies and birds.

If you are situated in a lawn-friendly suburb, perhaps the best place to start is by replacing part of your lawn with native plants and then expanding that space over a couple of years until all of the grass is gone.

Tell your neighbours that the ‘messiness’ of your garden is intentional and a political statement against the classic white middle class, racist and misogynist nature of lawns as well as your anti-war actionism because the chemicals of war should never have become the mainstay for keeping grass lawns green, lush and ‘weed’ free.

When neighbours comment that your rewilded garden must be a lot of work, tell them that the time spent in your garden pulling invasive species like garlic mustard and crab grass is a labour of love that is meditative, life affirming and far less time consuming than spending your free time mowing, trimming and poisoning a grass lawn.

You could mention, that in order for insects and small animals to survive, and eventually thrive, there needs to be an accumulation of pollinator friendly flowers, seed heads, decaying leaves, dead plant stalks and yes, bare soil. However, there is no way around the so-called ‘mess’ and you will not ‘fit in’ until the non-violent, biodiverse fields of meadow flowers gardens becomes mainstream in the suburbs.

The biodiversity crisis began with colonialism — the practice of exerting political control over another country and populating it with settlers all while exploiting the land for financial gain.

That same practice dictated the styles of landscaping that are acceptable and which plants are promoted and sold at garden nurseries. Colonizers replaced native species with non-native varieties that reminded them of home and encouraged the sale of exotics that are often invasive, as well as, hybridized and genetically modified plants making it impossible to save and share seeds. Again, all for economic gain.

And, remember, most garden centers source their plants from growers who use pesticides so that lovely native bee balm, aster or cardinal flower may not be pollinator friendly because it is harbouring pesticides — including neonicotinoids — that have been banned in Ontario. So, find native plant growers and suppliers who avoid using chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Overcoming the biodiversity crisis goes hand-in-hand with addressing the climate crisis because both have been caused by the overuse of fossil fuels and the drive to create markets in the name of profits. Really, there’s no time like the present to decolonize, de-capitalize and go wild because time is literally running out!

Find out more about rewilding your lawn here.

Learn about the basics and essentials of growing native wildflower meadows here.

Kayanase Greenhouse is an Indigenous-owned and operated native plant nursery on Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and well worth the drive to 993 Highway #54, Ohsweken.

Find additional information, books and articles by cultivation activist Lorraine Johnson here.

For inspiration to move towards more environmentally ethical and regenerative gardening practices and an entertaining look at what it’s like to be a wild Irish gardener, as well as the youngest woman to win a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show, check out the film Dare to Be Wild – and then, dare to rewild your front garden and yourself!

Happy rewilding to those of us born to be a wild thing because, we are the changemakers who won’t buy what colonizing capitalists are selling!

Pollinator habitat information provided in Guelph, Ontario city park.

Credit: Doreen Nicoll

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Thank you for making the time to read today’s article. With your continued support, a little Nicoll can make a lot of change!