Good for you svarga...

I too let my lawn grow uncontrolled in the back yard. However I do remove invasive weeds like garlic mustard and noxious weeds like rag weed.

I do mow the front yard though, out of consideration for my neighbors.

I am slowly converting the front yard from lawn to woodland understory plants (as I have a very shady yard with several mature oak trees). I have large mulched ares that are being slowly filled in with plugs of wild plants. Each years the mulch area gets a bit bigger and the plants will hopefully start to fill in better too.

And you don't have to get zoning changed to let your lawn grow. (You may have to get HOA covenants changed.) But government laws can only regulate vegetation based on invasiveness or noxious weeds. The courts have ruled that laws regulating vegetation strictly on basis of height are a violation of constitutional property rights.

Grow it, Don't mow it.

Towns in our area regulate vegetation by hight under fire safety regulations. The usual is dry vegetation over 1' in height has to be cut. My suggestion for someone wanting to have a nature retreat in their lawn is to read Hart's "How to Make a Forest Garden". Tom

Well, i think my wife and the Borough would have me confined to "The Booby Hatch" if i did that!
Rusty

Thanks for being so considerate to those of us with dislexia while you typed, Oh wait, you were to lazy to make your text bold or a larger font size to give it more "Umf" and chose instead to use all caps next time try moving your left pinky that 7/16th of an inch long marathon from the "A" key to the "Caps Lock" key, I don't ask you to write perfectly, I certainly don't myself, I do however ask that you show atleast a modicum of consideration to the 10% or so of people who really have to struggle to read words that aren't all the same size.

Well, I live in the topsy-turvy world of the rural wilds (mountain valley in western Canada). Here on our place we regularly have squirrels, songbirds, ravens, and deer - and occasionally black bears, coyotes, eagles, herons, showshoe hares, or skunks.

Our "lawn" is an extensive green patch of orchard grass, plantain, barn grass, dandelions, daisies, and quack grass that was growing here when I bought this old homestead. I mow it so I can add the clippings to my compost bins - very valuable, because usually it heats up a pile within 24 hours after being dumped on.

Frankly, wildlife constantly defies our fencing. We can't keep the critters out no matter what we do with our "lawn". For the most part, though, with the exception of the deer and skunks, we actually like having them on our place.

There are always exceptions to every bit of good advice.

We'll continue to mow...

Joel

Svarga,

Echoing another poster, it really is much harder to read posts that are all in capitals (and in netiquette it is considered yelling). It is perfectly acceptable to type in all lowercase if you have difficulty capitalizing while typing.

You are asserting universals without considering that your advice is potentially very dangerous for those in much of the country (like almost everyone in the continental U.S. west of the 100'th meridian). If you mean to simply assert that there is no need to have the perfect American lawn because something a little more unkempt might be preferred by wildlife, I'm sure you're speaking to the choir. If you want a challenge, post that on the lawn forum :-).

Ryan

I think the idea is less that you should not mow your lawn, but that you should not have a lawn at all, or at least not so large a one.

If you live in an area of low rainfall, or experience extreme drought conditions for a large portion of the year, grass is a poor use of the water you do get. And if you're watering your lawn to keep it alive through these dry times, you might better switch to something that can live in your climate without constant help.

I agree that "all caps" is offensive and needless. Make your point with eloquence and reason, not with shouting.