After raising their children, Mike and Sue Sirvinskas of Park Ridge moved to a smaller house on a smaller lot and decided to “go sustainable,” as Mike puts it. That includes a no mow lawn.
“We started with native plants around the edges,” Sirvinskas said, whose home was featured in Go Green Park Ridge’s first-ever Sustainable Yard Walk on Sunday.
“We decided it was a waste to have a lawn. We found we could do a no-mow lawn. We sheet-mulched our entire property.”
The Sirvinskases, 541 Parkwood Ave., covered their grass with cardboard and then piled wood chips and dirt on top of the cardboard, he said. They used seed to plant the no-mow grass in the dirt and wood chips, Sirvinskas said.
“We mow twice a year. There’s no watering. There’s no fertilizer,” he said. “The idea of cutting a lawn is ridiculous and bad for the environment.”
The Sirvinskases were one of six homes featured in the inaugural yard walk. Despite rain earlier that morning, by 12:15 p.m. Andrew Dordek of Go Green Park Ridge declared the event a success.
More than 60 people had already visited Sirvinskas’ house, Dordek said.
“The ultimate goal is to bring awareness to these type of properties, where people are living more sustainably,” he said. “These are practices we should all be focusing on in the future. For decades we adhered to incorrect systemic ways of dealing with yards. We have to learn to live more harmoniously with the land.”
Bob Kohlndorfer of Park Ridge visited the Sirvinskas home to learn more about how to continue to convert his own yard into more sustainable land.
“I’m interested in doing this kind of stuff,” Kohlndorfer said. “I put native plants in my garden. I want to see how other people are doing it.”
The Sirvinskases practice sustainability in as many aspects of their lives as possible.
“All the materials are either from Craigslist or garbage picked,” Mike Sirvinskas said. “We try to be very sustainable. We went all in at once. Many people leg into it. We decided to go big or go home.”
Sirvinskas said their yard looks better every year. After three years, some of the plants have grown tremendously.
“People say in the first year plants sleep,” he said. “In the second year, they creep. And in the third year, they leap. If there’s a big rain, some of them grow 24 inches in 48 hours. When they get a little thick, I have to thin them out.”
Park Ridge officials embraced the family’s no mow grass, Sirvinskas said.
“They love it,” he said. “A guy from the city came out and said it was great. I explained it. It doesn’t violate any rules. It’s only 6 inches high.”
Sirvinskas mows once in June or July to “chop down seed heads” and again in about December after a freeze.
Along with the native plants, the family grows garlic, onions, tomatoes, peas, beans, four types of hot peppers, eggplant, lettuce, raspberries, blackberries, cilantro, basil, dill, oregano and rosemary, Sirvinskas said.
“The tomato plants came guerilla style,” he said. “They planted themselves. Probably a squirrel or something spread them.”
Across town, Susie and Greg Pierce were showcasing the three sustainable gardens, including their former lawn, that decorate their front yard at 512 N. Prospect Ave.
Grass was removed and what are now gardens were reduced to dirt, Greg Pierce said. They were then replanted with native plants and trees – all in one year, Susie Pierce said.
The Pierces brought in landscape architect A.J. Sus, a friend of the family, to help convert their property.
“It was a fun time,” Sus said. “We had the ability to start from a clean slate. They started with some great ideas and were open to my ideas.”
