@amerika @AmpBenzScientist @thor lawns are dumb. No food in lawns. Selected grasses are shit. Most are slathered in toxins. Grow a meadow or something.

I agree houses should have room around them, but lawns are not helping wildlife.

@thatguyoverthere @thor @AmpBenzScientist

In my usage, "lawn" includes the gardens.

I sort of agree, since maintaining grasses is a pain in the ass, but they are also good places for people to interact outside.

I tend to like to rim them with raised gardens, which has the added benefit of nutrition flow into the lawn.

@amerika @thor @AmpBenzScientist I use yard myself. I have a flagstone patio area, porches, and an as of yet unfinished picnic area out by the annual garden. The property was covered in lawn grass a decade ago. What I found was very poor soil health with almost no top soil (less than 2 inches) before hitting clay. Now I have several inches in many places of dark rich soil that can grow just about anything.

I get the need to have a place to hang out but does it have to come at a cost to the life below the surface?

@thatguyoverthere @thor @AmpBenzScientist

Soil health for lawns is rarely done well, often because of low-cost yard crews who blow away all the good dirt.

Most lawns start out as sod applied to the underlying clay or sandy dirt.

If you dump composted manure, mulch, and peat onto a lawn each year and rake it in, the natural growth of the grass creates a thicker layer of dark rich topsoil.

I also rake in coffee grounds when I can. Might as well bulk it up a bit.

@amerika @thor @AmpBenzScientist hell even just mulching the clippings in place instead of raking them up and removing them is better than how most people keep yard grasses. Same with tree leaves. If people just mulched up the leaves that fall from the trees in their yard that would help.

That said you really need good tap roots to help the nutrients move deeper in the soil. Breaking up "yard" with raised beds and trees definitely helps. 1 acre of nothing but low cut grass with minimal nutritional value is just a waste though.

@thatguyoverthere @thor @AmpBenzScientist

Very few people aerate or dig up their lawns either.

If a patch starts dying, one quick fix is to dig it up, mix real topsoil in the useless dirt, and then place the clods of grass back on top.

I agree on mulching and leaves; for me, the best approach is to have a compost dump where I stick all the faeces, sawdust, mulch, and lawn clippings. After a couple years you have good dirt.

@amerika @thor @AmpBenzScientist yeah there is a tool I have yet to find that is particularly useful with aeration. It's a giant fork you can stand on and rock. I forget the name, but I've only seen them in videos never found one for sale.

If you add a few chickens you can really cut down on the return time for usable compost too. I leave my compost in their area and after a few months of regular breakdown I open it up to them, and they shred it up looking through it for bugs. From there I just pile it back up every time they knock it down for a few months (this is good exercise too), and then let it sit for a few more months untouched to kill off any seed and let their feces break down, maybe another manual turning just to be sure along the way.

@thatguyoverthere @thor @AmpBenzScientist

I am pretty lazy with composting. Pile all the organic stuff in a corner, water it, and flip it around every now and then.

@amerika @thor @AmpBenzScientist yeah I am too except for once I give it to the chickens because they knock it down and it needs to be stood back up or it will be lost to the yard forever. It's like a little play area for them. You get better eggs because they can find more bugs and little sprouts that pop up from latent seed in the compost. In the winter it's a source of heat for them too, and the bedding in the coop is adds material so you get even more compost than you would without chickens. I use hemp bedding. One day I'd really like to grow my own.

@thatguyoverthere @thor @AmpBenzScientist

This is sort of gross, but lawns were healthier when we let dogs defecate on them. The faeces breaks down over time and adds to the nutrient layer.

@amerika @thor @AmpBenzScientist also when there are a few weeds mixed in. A lot of people spray or pull weeds which generally have more complex root structures than the lawn grasses do.

@amerika @thatguyoverthere @thor @AmpBenzScientist why stop at dogs though? human feces has lots of soil nutrients. let's make yard defecation a thing

@locus @thor @AmpBenzScientist @thatguyoverthere

^^^ this user has a point

@amerika @thor @AmpBenzScientist @thatguyoverthere human bonding through group defecation

@locus @thor @AmpBenzScientist @thatguyoverthere

A good excuse to get Taco Bell and beer on a Friday night.

"I'm saving nature, man!"

@amerika @locus @thor @AmpBenzScientist humanure is a thing, but it carries a lot of bacteria that can get humans sick so it should be given extra time to break down. They make composting toilets for this purpose.

@thatguyoverthere @locus @amerika @AmpBenzScientist please do not crap on your lawn. it frightens the neighbours.

@thor @locus @amerika @AmpBenzScientist no I crap in their yard

@thatguyoverthere @locus @amerika @AmpBenzScientist i hate to tell you this but i'm afraid that isn't helping

@thor @locus @amerika @AmpBenzScientist Maybe I should just leave it on the porch?

@thatguyoverthere @thor @locus @AmpBenzScientist

In a bag on fire?

@amerika @thor @locus @AmpBenzScientist gotta sterilize it first

@thatguyoverthere @thor @locus @AmpBenzScientist

Mix it in with the other compost, give it a couple years.

Or wait until it's about to rain and let fly on the side yard.

@locus @thor @amerika @AmpBenzScientist I missed the neighbor's birthday so I made up for it by shitting in his yard