Lawn care

Various factors affect sustainability in lawn care:

Height of the grass: Don't cut too short! Let it grow a little longer to reduce evaporation. it also reduces how often you need to mow.
Choice of mower affects energy use as well as pollution (water pollution, air pollution and noise pollution). The best choice for all of these concerns is a reel mower, pushed by human effort.
Let the clippings remain on the grass - they will settle down to the soil surface and add organic matter to the soil. Alternatively you can compost it, but never discard it.
Consider alternative water sources:
- Greywater reuse (with appropriate greywater treatment, depending on the source and pollutants). Consider directing it into a channel filled with gravel, so it absorbs into the soil, and not directed onto the surface, to avoid people coming in contact with it.
- Rainwater - either storing in a tank, or groundwater recharge through proper soil management (to increase absorption) and contouring (as in swales to allow rainwater to sit and absorb into the soil).
If you want grass (feeling it beneath your toes, sitting or playing on it) then make use of a shared lawn (i.e. public park, or lawn within a community e.g. cohousing). Open and usable public space will get more use for a smaller amount of lawn, and yards can grow something useful and edible instead.

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