Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 10 · column 6 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
Sarah, Bethesda, MD
Grass lawns first appeared in Europe in medieval times, status symbols for the rich that had to be kept trimmed by fairly labor-intensive methods, often by grazing livestock and certainly not by polluting lawn mowers and poisonous weed killers. Lawns actually did not become popular in North America until the middle of the 20th century, but are now as common as the middle class suburban homes they surround.
Besides hogging public water supplies-over 50 percent of U.S. residential water usage goes to irrigating lawns-a 2002 Harris Survey found that American households spend $1,200 per year on residential lawn care. Indeed, the booming lawn care industry is more than eager to convince us that our grass can be greener-and then sell us all the synthetic fertilizers, toxic pesticides and leaky lawnmowers to make it so.
According to Eartheasy. com, which offers online insights on a host of environmental issues alongside books and green products for sale, there are many alternatives to a carpet of monochromatic grass for one’s property. They recommend groundcover plants and clover, which spread out and grow horizontally and require no cutting. Some varieties of groundcover are Alyssum, Bishops Weed and Juniper. Common clovers include Yellow Blossom, Red Clover and Dutch White, the best suited of the three for lawn use. Groundcover plants and clovers naturally fight weeds, act as mulch and add beneficial nitrogen to the soil.
Eartheasy also recommends flower and shrub beds, which can be “strategically located to add color and interest while expanding the low maintenance areas of your yard,” and planting ornamental grasses. Ornamental grasses, many which
90.1%