Garden Designers Roundtable: Ditching the Lawn
Of all the picture-perfect lawns I've seen, some of the most puzzling are located in ditches.
Yes, some folks are spending time, energy, and resources to keep their ditch bottoms covered with short green carpets of turfgrass. Are they doing it for the rest of us?
I don't know about you, but when
I see a person riding their lawnmower into their ditch, rather than thinking,
"What a good citizen and neighbor,"
I generally imagine the fabulous garden that could be growing in that ditch.
Or sometimes I just think, "Ooh, I hope they won't tip over."
If you get no pleasure from maintaining the lawn in your ditch, here's a suggestion: convert it to a beautiful low-maintenance garden that will benefit you and your local environment too.
The Benefits, In a Nutshell
Swale Gardens (also called Bioswales) are added to landscapes to help channel stormwater runoff.
Like their popular Rain Garden cousins, they collect rainwater from nearby roofs, pavement, and/or lawns and absorb that water into plants and soil. Unlike Rain Gardens, they also direct the flow of the excess water.
A well-planted ditch makes an ideal Swale Garden, which will benefit you and your local environment by:
- absorbing runoff,
- preventing erosion,
- improving water quality,
- capturing atmospheric carbon,
- helping to control populations of pest insects,
- adding biodiversity,
- beautifying your landscape, and perhaps even
- making it more comfortable and healthy for you, while
- reducing your weekly yardwork.
