The lawn is growing. And growing. And thickening. I'm sure if I stood on it for 24 hours I'd find myself 5cm taller.
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Our lawn isn't supposed to need mowing. We have wombats to do that - eat the grass, that is, not push the lawn mower. And wallabies, roos, bower birds, chooks, though not geese. We used to have them - a flock of four geese seemed to eat as much grass as a cow, were excellent burglar deterrents, and a goose egg either made a delicious omelette for three or the most delicate but structurally integrated sponge cake in the universe. Goose droppings however do attract flies, and goose "Intruder!!!!!! Intruder!!!!!! Intruder!!!!!!" honks at 5am aren't appreciated by neighbours. Or husbands.
So we turn to ground covers - not artificial turf, as it's an environmental disaster to make, dispose of and for the soil below. It also smells of plastic. If you must instal a non-living lawn alternative, why not lay a floral carpet instead and throw out the myth that whatever covers the ground must be green and shaggy?
My favourite ground cover is native dichondra; flat, green, hardy enough for reasonable backyard use like barbeques, soccer, or throwing a frisbee for the dog. Dichondra tolerates full sun and dappled shade, but does need frequent, deep watering ie water falling on it for at least five minutes at least twice a week in drought or heatwaves to penetrate and moisten the roots.
Dichondra can be grown by "borrowing" cuttings from a friend, or by sowing the seed at any non-frosty time of year, including now, if you have time and are going grass crazy.
My fantasy ground cover is Corsican mint, bright green, soft tiny leaves that always feel cool when you roll on them and smell marvellously minty, and so will you. Sadly a Corsican mint lawn needs even more water than dichondra, and heavy boots or even regular bouncing by a large dog will wear the leaves away.
If you are either wealthy, a fanatic royalist or have a very tiny garden, lawn thyme is a delight, with soft fragrant leaves, and a King Charles-type thyme lawn is a carpet of flowers in mid-summer.
Lawn thyme refers to the use, not the species - you just need enough of a low-growing, soft-leafed type to cover the area. Lawn thyme - like all thyme bushes - does need "top dressing" ie sprinkling with about 5cm of soil or sieved compost and watered in each spring, or the stems become woody and patches die off and it looks a mess, not an invitation to a garden party.
MORE JACKIE FRENCH:
Our most practical ground cover is lamium, which comes in a rare plain green leaf, or yellow and white variegated leaf, with not at all spectacular spires of yellow flowers for a few weeks each year. Its drawbacks are that it needs shade or dappled shade, and while it won't grow more than ankle height if left alone with no feeding water, or care of any kind, it only looks flat and lawn like if mown on a "high mow" every few weeks, something I've only done accidentally a few times.
Zoysia is the grass for the non-mower who doesn't get home till after dark most days and doesn't look out the window much in daylight hours. It's a gorgeous green grass that only grows to 10cm ... but not all grows to 10cm, so its untended effect is politely referred to as "undulating". You won't be living in a wilderness, but neither will you have the regulation short back and sides of the classic Aussie garden. It's drought tolerant, lovely to lie on, and grows thickly enough to supress weeds, especially if you keep it watered. If you do decide to mow it, it grows very slowly, especially in cool weather, so you may be able to get away with two mowings a year - even with wombats.
This week I am:
- Trying to convince a small boy that tiny fresh picked zucchini taste better in the cheese sauce he loves than thin slices of the war club size monster he picked last week. As far as he is concerned texture is optional - bigger is always best, and yes, he may actually be eating the currently largest zucchini being served on any Australian dinner table, able to feed an entire family for a week;
- Seeing the seasons suddenly change as the crepe myrtle and ginger lilies begin to bloom. Gardens have far more than four seasons;
- Hunting for packets or punnets of English spinach - both the packet and the punnet "spinach" I put in this year turned out to be silver beet. We already have silver beet. English spinach is more tender, succulent and has a different though similar range of nutrients and I WANT SOME SPINACH this autumn, winter and spring, blast it. The punnet's seedlings looked spinach like, even to me, cunning rascals, and the packet had "English Spinach" in most professional seed company type.
- Discovering that finger limes taste sweeter in hot weather, and are too sour to munch unadorned by the average eater when the weather has been cloudy and raining for the six weeks of their growth - finger limes flower then fruit and ripen fast.
- Possibly planting carrots, corn, beans, heat hardy lettuce, but probably not;
- Enjoying the lovely bare ground where someone else has weeded.