Weeds or Chemicals—Not an Easy Choice

I’ve been reading two books about the history and business of the lawn the United States—Ted Steinberg’s American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn and F Herbert Bormann et. al.’s Redesigning the American Lawn. Both books talk about the industrialization of lawn care, starting in the mid 1950’s, as part of the quest for a “perfect” weed-free lawn. The perfect lawn is a common target of native plant enthusiasts, such as Neil Diboll, who gives talks on the “State of the Lawn.”

Reading text about the toxic effects of lawn chemicals left me with a fit of guilt over TrueGreen ChemLawn’s visits to my yard. To their credit, they are very good at controlling the ground ivy and garlic mustard that would otherwise invade my perennial beds, but there’s something about those little “keep off the grass” signs that makes me uneasy.

Lawns have, for a long time, been an important fixture in the American landscape. With the expansion of the suburbs in the 1950’s, a weed-free lawn that blended with the neighbors’ became a mark of good citizenship. According to Ted Steinberg, Abe Levitt told Levittown residents in a weekly newsletter that “A fine carpet of green grass stamps the inhabitants as good neighbors, as desirable citizens.” Today, this is still the case in my neighborhood, and I want to be a good neighbor.

Having a nice lawn was not always a measure of good citizenship; in fact, the lawn as we know it was uncommon until relatively recently. Before the push mower was invented in the mid-1800’s, a lawn was strictly a luxury item and status symbol for private estates, kept short by grazing animals or teams of men wielding scythes. The push mower made the lawn accessible to ordinary homeowners, and a beautification campaign in the first few decades of the 1900’s encouraged people to plant lawns around their homes. In this spirit, the suburb of Riverside, IL, was planned as a community of houses surrounded by lawn.

When Levittown was developed in the 1950’s, lawn was planted as an inexpensive form of landscaping that would make the houses more saleable, and homeowners were required to mow their lawns once a week between April and November. The invention and popularization of the mass-produced, gas-powered mower made this possible.

For lawn care companies, such as Scotts and TrueGreen ChemLawn, the modern ideal of the perfect lawn is good for business. To keep the lawn as a deep green, weed-free carpet of grass, lawn care firms now apply or sell to homeowners pre-emergent herbicides, grub prevention treatments, post-emergent herbicides, and generous quantities of fertilizer (Scotts has recently reduced the amount of phosphorus in its fertilizers). Although the EPA just announced it would require testing of pesticides, it for many decades did not require detailed studies to evaluate the health risks of lawn chemicals. In his book, Steinberg describes the lawn as “like a nationwide chemical experiment with the homeowners as guinea pigs.” Lawn care companies typically say their products are safe when used as directed, or instruct people to read and follow the directions.

The lawn’s origins as a status symbol, its importance in suburban landscaping, and its usefulness as an outdoor play space make complicate the issue of whether or how to maintain one. A conventionally maintained lawn is a major user of water and petroleum, and keeping one weed-free requires more chemicals per acre than are used in agriculture. But doing away with a lawn entirely, or growing a weed-infested lawn, marks one as a “bad citizen” in suburbia.

As an aside, some plants now considered to be weeds, particularly clover, co-evolved with grass (fixing nitrogen for it) and were viewed as desirable in lawns as late as the 1950’s. Scotts at one time sold clover seed to homeowners who wanted it in their lawns.

In the end, I decided to try organic lawn care. On the recommendation of a friend, I called Fertilizer King, a Chicago-area company. They promised applications of slow-release organic fertilizer and weed control for a little less than what we've been paying TrueGreen Chemlawn. I was sold on this, and I’m hoping it’ll be good enough to keep the most troublesome weeds at bay. But I may also have to give up having a lawn that looks like a golf course—which is, but the way, one of the most intensively managed types of lawns, heavily watered and treated with chemicals to keep it looking perfect.

Canceling TrueGreen ChemLawn for the summer was surprisingly easy. The very polite and friendly customer service rep on the other end of the phone said she was sorry to be losing our business, made a note of it in the system, and said we should feel free to call them back if we changed our minds.

I’ll probably miss the golf-course look, but it’ll be nice to do without the keep-off-the-grass signs.