Everybody loves a lawn I wrote in a previous post some time ago. Including myself stating that I could not see myself not having at least a small section of a garden covered in grass. Lawns come in handy in a number of ways. But perhaps they are not, after all, always required? Actually what about no grass at all? This thought came to me when recently in London. There has been no rain there for ages. Add to that super hot temperatures. What used to be lawns now look like sterile deserts. What used to be green is now beige. Not a good look.
I recently read a book about Swedish garden designer Ulla Molin. She wrote a book about her own private garden and the efforts involved in creating an earthly green paradise from scratch. Obviously a lawn was required. Or so she thought. After having tried and tried and failed to get her lawn thriving (no where near in fact, soil conditions were too poor) she abandoned the project all together and went for gravel instead. Interspersed with small islands of greenery. This garden is now listed and open for gardeners with design inspiration on their minds.
A rough estimate is to water your lawn twice a week if you want to keep it green. Even if there is no water for a long time, lawns are resilient and tend to bounce back. However, we live in an environmentally aware time. Perhaps that water can be used better elsewhere? I reckon that a garden without a lawn could be worth considering.
