Lawns in the UK are yellow and dead. If the heat goes on for long enough, the grass won't survive to reboot. Lawns that are not all grass are doing slightly better, as are areas of grass that haven't been kept desperately short. Grass under trees is having a far better time of it, thanks to both the shade and the way trees redistribute water.
The UK loves its tidy lawns. Except right now they don't look tidy, they look awful. They are awful. They're also far too easy to set fire to, which is not an attractive quality.
Lawns are awful. The shorter and neater they are, the more awful they are. Nothing lives in them. The more you do to treat and control them, the more harmful they become. We urgently need to get over lawns, they do no good at all. It is my hope that the current death of lawns will encourage people to rethink them and replace them with something that can both survive and support other kinds of life.
Partly what makes a lawn attractive is that they are expensive and hard work to maintain - all that cutting and tending and poisoning doesn't come for free! So having a big green lawn with only grass in it is just the sort of thing to show off what an affluent member of the landed gentry you are, as you pay a few peasants to do all the hard labour for you! Except now we do it to ourselves, voluntarily, for reasons. It's amazing what it's possible to persuade people is good, desirable and an appropriate use of their time and money.
Meanwhile the astro turf is probably melting. However unpleasantly the grass might burn, I'm prepared to bet that astro turf going up is going to be considerably worse.
The people who did not mow and the people who grow trees have much more hope of a pleasant garden this summer, as their reward for having done less. I just hope it catches on.
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