The Lawn

I have always had the following philosophy about the lawn: If it's green and I can mow it, it's lawn. That means that I don't use chemicals on my lawn and I am not too concerned about the grass vs. weed ratio as long as it's green and mowable (but I will dig up prickly weeds because I like to go barefoot). My lawn is made up of lots of clover, lamb's ears, creeping charlie, moss, hawkweed, dandylions, and a host of other unidentified green stuff. Oh, it also includes quite a bit of grass. I never understood why people would risk their children, pets, and drinking water by dumping chemicals on their lawns. Not to mention the time and expense! Last week I saw my neighbor across the road using a broadcast spreader to put something on the lawn. I am hoping that the aquifer feeding my well doesn't flow from her property toward mine. I don't know how to convince someone who is hung up on a golf-course-like expanse of grass that they can live with a few weeds easier than we can clean up the ground water or bring back bird species that have been poisoned. Frankly, when it is neatly mowed, my lawn (from a distance) looks nearly as good as my neighbor's. When you get up close, it's another story, but so what? You would be so busy looking at my colorful gardens that you wouldn't notice the lawn anyway. I'm gradually replacing lawn with gardens. My new plan is to put a garden in anywhere I don't like to mow!
I have to admit that I recently did think of a disadvantage to my weedy lawn. With dismay over the rising gas prices and my concern about global warming uppermost in my mind, I considered whether a reel-type mower would work for me. I couldn't use it exclusively, because there's just too much to mow -- by the time I finished it would be time to start all over again. But having used an old (antique, but with sharpened blades) reel mower, I can say that it did NOT do a good job with weeds, quack grass that grows sideways, wet grass, or grass that was a bit too long. It also didn't handle uneven terrain very well. If anyone has had experience with a more modern reel mower under my jungle-like conditions (my lawn is rarely completely dry, for one thing), please let me know. I'd be interested in one that really did the job well. In the meantime, I'll continue to advocate for a chemical-free lawn, and I won't have to worry about poisoning the local wildlife.