vs. the HOA

[kirinn]

So as some of you who read akiko's journal or twitter may have heard, we recently got a letter from a representative of our HOA saying that they took issue with the state of our lawn. Specifically, the fact that it's pretty much half clover at this point. They suggest a wide-spectrum herbicide followed by re-seeding

Comments

[akiko]

Try the NC State extension service: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/ http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/ appears to be their lawn section. Of course, they class clover as a weed, so they might be biased. (Though it gives a good list of the poisonous crap they want us to spread on the yard, which you can fairly easily find info on hazmat-type stuff (MSDS, for example.))

I think we ought to add more concrete to the left side of the driveway (flatten out the curve a bit) then put in railroad ties, flagstones, and ground cover. We could possibly enlarge the no-grass area under the cherry tree and eradicate some of the weeds that way (then plant more ground cover like phlox). Bushes next to the giant mulch pit.

[pmb]

So you are required by various places to have a grass lawn? Or is it more mealy-mouthed about making sure your lawn is in keeping with the character of the neighborhood?

[akiko]

http://www.beckettsridge.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=10&sid=b08198094ac7a02d0d57ca1e2db567d9 are the only docs I can find online, and I don't think any of them are about lawns.

[kirinn]

I think the letter (which is at home) claimed to cite a passage from some document which actually said something about uniform grass. I'll have to look. If they haven't got everything online, hopefully I can find the original hard-copy of the HOA agreement somewhere.

There are one or two houses that replaced their entire lawns with landscaping during a severe drought several years back.

[donaithnen]

That should be your answer. If they keep giving you crap about it just raze the entire thing and replace it with sand. And add some rocks, you could make it a zen garden :)

[biodoc]

There was some really good research done just a couple of years ago that showed that the supposedly "non-toxic" herbicides (specifically round-up) are far more toxic to animal life than previously shown. It turns out the LD50 tests done in the lab don't reveal all sorts of effects on embryo development, behavior, neurological damage, etc. So! herbicides could be killing off a hell of a lot more than just the weeds. Think increased levels of mosquitoes due to killing/stunting dragonfly babies. And a strong possibility of cumulative exposure through drinking water being very bad for you. I don't remember the exact reference, but it did generate a lawsuit, as Dow tried to bury the guy's work.

[akiko]

And our cute little lizards! We have three species living in our yard (blue-tailed skinks, a smooth broad one, and a rough-looking broad one.) They eat bugs. We like our lizards. We've also got some huge snails, but I'm not sure whether they belong in good or bad.

And maybe bees? Poisoning bees sounds like a bad idea. Bees like clover! They also like my flowering plants, so.