So Long, Traditional Lawn. Conventional grass is costly, high-maintenance | Hacker News Reader

So Long, Traditional Lawn. Conventional grass is costly, high-maintenance

wsj.com

28 pointshourislate11 comments

My favorite is the golf courses in the middle of a desert. Boggles the mind, especially when one realizes that we haven't even managed to provide clean drinking water to all the people on this planet yet, but we'll pump it in to the middle of Arizona for a golf course for rich pricks.

I don't know anything about it, but in some other HN thread, someone claimed that this is kind of a myth, that they use grey water for that stuff.

Sorta naive question: So couldn't they invest the same (or less) amount of grey water to maintain a public park?

I don't know much about golf course lawn care, but it seems to be laborious and "beauty first".

Just imagine how many frisbee throwing or picnicking fields you could have on the area of one hole.

Maybe there are more egalitarian ways to use green spaces than some particular golf courses.

On the other hand, municipal golf courses open to everyone seem to be a thing? I don't know firsthand, I'm not a golfer.

In any case, I don't think the merits of parks vs. golf courses are relevant to people dying of thirst.

Clean water (and food) is never a problem of quantity but of logistics.

I'd search for an archive link but I'm lazy. Which is why I also hate grass.

From what I could read of the article they're basically talking about killing their grass and putting down something else. I'd sooner have a ground covered with mint than with grass. So here's how you do it:

1) cover your lawn with cardboard,

2) put some soil on the cardboard,

3) sprinkle the seeds of what you want to grow on the soil.

Fun fact, dandelions are not native to north america and were brought from Europe as a food crop.

Lawns are a waste of water, but on the other hand, I wonder what would summer be without the smell of freshly cut grass.

"Lilacs on a bush are better than orchids. And dandelions and devil grass are better! Why? Because they bend you over and turn you away from all the people in the town for a little while and sweat you and get you down where you remember you got a nose again. And when you’re all to yourself that way, you’re really proud of yourself for a little while; you get to thinking things through, alone. Gardening is the handiest excuse for being a philosopher." - Ray Bradbury, "Dandelion Wine"

I have recently been converting my lawn to clover. It out-competes the weeds that were taking over, and requires less watering and mowing than grass. I would definitely recommend.

Archive link:

https://archive.ph/88Ygw

Grass lawns were supposed to be expensive and wasteful. Their origin was as a status symbol.

Paywall, didn't read, just going off the headline.

I have a nice little slice of turf, love it. only downside, it heats up under direct sun.

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