I was surprised at the author's assertion that parts of the Northeast were the only place an uncoddled lawn would survive. I am not sure what type of grass my lawn is - we just started mowing the perimeter of our house as we were building it to keep the weeds down. It was mostly nettles and thistles to begin with, but we now have a pretty dense mix of grass, clover, and dandelion. I don't fertilize or irrigate, no herbicides, and use a mulching mower. It's by no means a manicured golf course look, but suits me. I am almost always barefoot outside. Likewise, our outer fields were pasture for years, but we no longer keep either cows or horses and now just let the pasture grasses grow, mowing 2-3 times per season with a brush hog. That seems to keep the thistles at bay and I really like the meadow look. I've tried introducing wild flower seed, but so far no takers.
