Could Your Grass Be Greener?

Americans invest more than $40 million a year (and some 80 percent of their water) in their 20 million acres of lawn. Most of those dollars are spent for gasoline: 800 million gallons go to run power mowers each year, and with fuel prices rising, homeowners and lawn-care companies are beginning to feel the pinch.

Is there a better way? Ted Steinberg, author of "American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn," notes in this article in The Contra Costa Times, that healthy, attractive lawns don't have to be Wimbledon-ready swards. Nor do they have to be "environmental" lawns that leave bare patches and use only organic additives, though Steinberg says these lawns are growing in popularity. (We have a stat for that, too: an acre of grass is dosed with 10 times as much pesticide as any acre of farm.) A relaxed approach--avoiding chemical fertilizers and keeping grass long enough to inhibit weeds by depriving them of sunlight--produces a lawn that is natural and durable.

If even relaxed sounds like too much work, there is always synthetic turf. AstroTurf, the Monsanto product that made indoor sports possible is an antique in the world of fake grass. For about $5 a square foot, J.M. Synthetic Grass, a two-year-old New Jersey company, can cover your freehold with a plastic, shown above, that has the look, and, according to owner Jeff Mitnick, the feel of real grass. You can find a host of faux turf providers on Synthetic Grass Blog, a site that looks suspiciously like a sales gimmick. But even S.G.B. admits that "if you are the kind of person that likes to play in your grass with your bare feet so you can feel the tingle of the blades between your toes, then don¹t bother with synthetic grass!!"