Updated on 9/12/2010

The look of home lawns and gardens may be changing. There are at least 2 trends, and 2 problems that may reshape, and redefine the way we view and use our backyards.

More Garden, Less Lawn?

“Micro farming” is growing in popularity. This small farm, or large garden trend has reached proportions large enough that it has now sprouted it’s own industry of information products, tools, and supplies. Many back lawns are giving way to vegetable gardens, and traditional landscape beds becoming herb gardens. Such gardens, may offer answers to some of the more difficult problems facing the homeowner. Traditional lawns require a lot of resources like extra water, fertilizer and pesticides to keep them looking the way we have become accustomed to seeing them.

Backyard habitats are also growing in popularity and are replacing the traditional Bermuda grass and Saint Augustine lawns in greater numbers than you might imagine. The percentage is small, but growing.

In the past year or so our area has seen sufficient rainfall to avoid serious water restrictions, but this probably won’t last forever. Projections  for the future appear to show that water restrictions for some non essential elements of life could one day be a reality.

Certain fertilizers, particularly phosphorus are always under scrutiny. Fertilizer restrictions for a variety of reasons including water quality have been creeping slowly toward us, and will one day arrive. They have not happened yet simply because legislators and the EPA simply haven’t gotten around to it yet

Good landscape planning using native trees, shrubs and ground covers can produce efficient water usage and fertility usage results. Perhaps backyard wildlife habitats or large gardens will become the backyards of the future as we head toward days of more water and fertilizer use restrictions for lawns.