So here we are entering another summer of drought - fires in the West, the East still low on water reserves, and everyone needing to conserve water when possible.
Enter the Scotts Co., purveyor of fertilizers, herbicides and lawn care products with their innovative idea - summer fertilizer! Yep, the boys in marketing, unsatisfied with the idea of madly feeding your water-slurping lawn only in spring and fall, have come up with ads urging folks to slather fertilizer on their lawns in summertime, the period when heat and drought tend to be at their peak.
In my township, water restrictions have already been announced (despite a wet spring) after only a week and a half of hot dry weather. The reason? Enormous usage by lawn drenchers, who apparently can’t bear the thought of anything less than an emerald green, lush lawn throughout the season.
Never mind that lawns routinely used to go brown and dormant years ago, and came back fine with the return of rain. Nope, now we’ve gotta have actively growing lawns, no matter what the cost. Low pressure? Can’t wash your car or windows? No water for the vegetable or flower gardens (which use a tiny fraction of the water lawns do, but get lumped in with lawns for the purposes of water restriction)? You have the Scotts Co. and their disciples to thank.
Well, although watering the lawn might be morally indefensible during a period of drought, there are certainly areas of the country where water is not generally a scarce resource. So unless you can convincingly argue that my conserving water in coastal New England will somehow decrease the fire risk in Arizona, I will continue to use the sprinkler on that patch of lawn that got killed in last year’s drought because I didn’t water it.
I won’t, however, fertilize, because I’m not a big fan of mowing the lawn every other damned day.
Ya know, it seems to me that if a municipality is having problems with water consumption due to lawn watering, said municipality might consider cropdusting with a grass killing herbicide.
Finagle, I don’t know where you live, but parts of coastal New England (for instance coastal Maine) have had severe droughts in recent years. I hope this summer is different for you.
Put another way: how much are we willing to pay in higher water rates and taxes for excess capacity made necessary by the owners of thirsty mega-lawns?
Well, let’s see. In my little township, I pay about $20.00 every six months for water. (The town has amply supplied wells and everyone is on septic systems, so there’s no overhead for sewage treatment.) The town has not indicated to me that we are in any situation requiring water conservation measures. While we are still under a general water deficit in New England, the extremely rainy, cool spring has meant that they have lowered the alert status to only one step above normal.
My point is that the OP indicated that watering lawns is a morally deficient act, disregarding geography, local conditions, and local climate and using loaded words such as “water guzzling” so as to make the act of using a sprinkler even more heinous.
Except for drought years, New England is one of the wetter areas on the planet, and I am reluctant to add watering the lawn to the list of things I must feel guilty about.
Finagle, I think you may have read another version of my post in some sort of parallel universe.
About the only generalized statement I made that you could have interpreted as applying to you was “everyone needing to conserve water when possible.” I think your township officials would agree with that.
I don’t recognize the phrase “water guzzling” in my post. I did refer to “lawn drenchers” in my area who I’m told are largely responsible for the near tripling in water usage compared to wintertime. The township here is contemplating building a new plant and/or increasing capacity in the existing one, and I question whether such expensive projects are necessary when so much of the water we use now runs onto and off lawns (into storm sewers).
I did not intend to inflict guilt upon you. I’m sure you have plenty to feel guilty about as it is.
I do not water the lawn. I do not fertilize it. Hell, it’s about 60% broadleaf weeds. I do not do these things because I refuse to spend money and time on making something that I have to cut every two weeks grow even faster. The only reason I cut the damn stuff every two weeks is so the neighbors won’t call the municipal authority and fine me for harboring noxious weeds.
I bought a town house last fall. The previous owners were an elderly couple who obviously didn’t do anything for the lawn. It was all brown with a lot of bare patches. Looked like a bad case of the mange. Now, I’m not a “yard guy” or anything, but this looked really bad.
So, about a month ago, I decided what the heck and put some Scotts seed and fertilizer on it and MY GOD! I’ve got a lush thick green carpet. I was truly amazed. Even had to go out and buy one of those push mower thingies.
Do I water? Sure. The Scott’s bag said to water. Sometimes God waters for me (lots of afternoon thunderstorms around here this time of year) so I don’t have to. Of course, my “yard” is the size of a postage stamp. In fact, I can just stand on the front porch with the hoze and water the entire yard with the spray nozzle.
