Gardening – Telling the lawn to sod off

We’ve certainly had a taste of the tropics over the past few weeks, which has been wonderful for my tropical plants. I’ve never had my tropical cordylines, frangipani, bananas and bromeliads looking so good, with lots of warmth, enough sun and regular rain. I’m not complaining, although I was relieved when some cooler conditions came through and made the night temperatures more tolerable.

Tropical conditions do bring a swathe of issues with them for plants that originate in less balmy climes, though. In particular, many lawns in the area seem to be suffering from a fungal disease that appears as semi-circular or circular dead areas, similar to the damage from a mower set too low. This is typical of the fungus Magnaporthiopsis poae commonly known as Summer Patch. Aside from high humidity and high temperature, the disease is promoted by poor drainage, poor aeration of the soil and excessive nitrogen fertiliser use. There are fungicides (toxic and expensive) that can be used to control it, but really, it’s just a case of waiting till the weather changes and it will sort itself out.

Or, you can do what I’m doing – getting rid of my lawn. Several years ago, I had enough lawn to warrant a ride-on lawnmower (well, okay, maybe I just like having a ride-on), but this area has been gradually whittled away – some was lost to a new garage, a bit more to a new driveway, some more to a gravel parking area (I prefer gravel parking over concrete as it reduces water run-off). But mostly, the lawn has been taken over by new plantings of productive fruit and vegetable gardens.

It is very easy to reclaim gardens from lawn, I simply lay out cardboard (the big boxes that whiteware and similar are packed in are ideal) sprinkle with fertiliser and cover with mulch. The grass dies through lack of sunlight, and the worms make short work of the dead grass and eventually the cardboard. Don’t use cardboard that has the glossy finish and remove any plastic tape, as neither of these will break down readily.

If you are impatient to use an area, just cut a cross in the cardboard and plant into this. I’ve planted melons and tomatoes this way with great success, just make sure there are lots of nutrients available, as lawns are often deficient. Otherwise, once you are sure that the grass has died off, you can plant as normal.

My most recent reclamation includes roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) for the flower calyxes, which I use for jam and colouring my gin, sugarcane to produce sugarcane juice for my rum and useful ‘chop and drop’ mulch, Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia diversifolia), also for mulch, plus the glorious flowers to feed the butterflies, watermelons as both a ground cover and for the fruit, of course, and two clumps of bananas, Misi Luki and Blue Java, which should both be producing two to three bunches each of at least 100 bananas a bunch by next summer.

In the current conditions, the growth rates of all of these tropical plants has been phenomenal and not only will this area be immeasurably more productive than a barren lawn, it’s also much better for the environment, and a hell of a lot more enjoyable than mowing the lawn at this time of year!