Reflections From a Country Girl

I have to admit I am not a gardener.  My backyard squirrels constantly ate the live flowers I planted each of the first four years so I went with silk flowers and I am a happy camper.  

For you professional gardeners and lawn manicurists, I suspect you are horrified to hear that someone actually goes to the craft store and buys silk flowers to put in her yard planters. Yes, I have silk flowers I change four times a year to match the season…

The squirrels are not happy, but I am.  They are colorful, stay in “bloom” all season, and take no water at all.  

One of the other things I have in my yard are the most beautiful oak trees.  They cover my acre nicely, along with a few cedars and a holly.  Therefore, I have little sunshine on my yard.  

Being in the location I am also presents it’s horticulture challenges in other ways.  I am cradled by homes on the hill above me and to either side of me.  Therefore, I get lots of runoff water through my yard.  The topsoil washed years ago. 

To my neighbor’s dismay (they have been very kind, really) I gave up trying to keep grass there and just let mother nature take it’s course.  Within the last few years, something wonderful has occurred.  

My yard has turned into a moss covered area.  

Ok, so all my other neighbors have well manicured grass yards.  They also do not have all the wonderful trees that I love dearly.  

This time of year, the moss is a beautiful green.  I love to look and it and can not wait till it covers the yard thoroughly.  With this in mind, I decided to research moss covered yards and found some interesting information worth sharing.

Many of the sites explain how to get rid of moss in a yard so it doesn’t kill the grass.  There are a few other sites that tell me that a moss covered yard is an easy and carefree cover, eco friendly, and fairly easy to grow and maintain.

I think it’s only hard to grow if you try.  I certainly do not fall into that category, and am doing just fine with mother nature.  

I sent an e-mail with pictures of my lawn to a man who has nurtured his own moss covered lawn for over 40 years.  He is a pro at it and has many, many different kinds of moss on his property.  He even sells moss, has written a book about it, and has “accessories” for the moss lawn grower … www.mossacres.com for those of you interested.  

He called me last night and we talked for almost an hour.  He and his family live near a friend of mine in Pennsylvania.  He invited me to come visit when I could and said they would take me on a tour of their place.  

I will do that one day.  

I am excited to know that my lawn is heading in the right direction … not by some standards, but by mine.  I am also happy to say that I will have to do little to nurture it…that it can withstand a drought for up to 10 years, that there will be little manicuring to do except to pull the few pieces of grass that will pop up here and there, and that it will continue to thrive on my neighbor’s water runoff.  

Now that’s MY kind of lawn.  

My wish for you today is that you embrace nature whenever you can – especially when it comes to your yard.  For some of us, that beautiful grass lawn is a pleasure…for others, it is letting mother nature take her course.  

~ Joellen

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 10th, 2009 at 6:43:am and is filed under Humor, Life & Events, Living Life to the Fullest, Nature Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.