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It’s more like a moonscape than a lawn. Hollow-filled craters dug by bandicoots, tired tufts of dead yellow grass picked by wallabies, and pitiful plants browned and withered by the Australian sun.
But Kathleen Murray is the proud winner of the inaugural World’s Ugliest Lawn Contest after a Swedish contest promoting water conservation and eco-friendly gardening went viral worldwide.
Murray’s turf in Sandford, Tasmania, beat competition from dry turf areas in Germany, France, Canada, Croatia, Sweden, the US and the UK.
“It’s quite a bit of shock and awe,” Murray said of his lawn. “Bandicoots love to dig holes, and that’s how they find their favorite food. Now my backyard looks like a real-life game of Hungry Hungry Hippo. I also have an echidna and a chook to help. Masu.”
Murray lives in an area without running water, and the rainwater collected in the tank is too precious to dump on his lawn. If she and her four teenage children run out of water in the summer, it could take her two weeks for additional water to be delivered by tanker.
“I thought bandicoots were weapons of mass destruction that were coming onto my lawn, but now I know that thanks to bandicoots, I’ll never have to mow my lawn again,” he says, proud of his inaugural trophy. said owner Murray. Commemorative T-shirt. “I’d like to have a guilt-free weekend, especially since her ex-husband walked out with his lawnmower in 2016.”
The competition began in Sweden two years ago after the popular holiday island of Gotland ran out of water within hours the previous summer.
The contest, devised by the municipality of Gotland, became global news after the Guardian newspaper covered the story. Gotland’s water consumption has decreased by 5% thanks to competition and other measures.
Councilor Mimi Gibson said: “This is a gentle way to spur people into action and automatically turns you into a climate change hero without having to do anything. How we save water We need to start having conversations about it. It’s a global issue. Sometimes people are under pressure to keep their grass really green and keep it lush, and they say, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ It might be easy to say, ‘I’m in a competition, so I don’t need to water my lawn.’
Murray previously brushed off criticism of her lawn, calling it a “paddock” and claiming she was waiting for the grass to grow so she could mow the hay, but now she is happy to talk about the biodiversity benefits of his laid-back gardening style.
Blue-bellied lizards, kangaroos, wallabies and pademelons all come from nearby nature reserves. “I chose my location as an extension of the nature preserve because it’s right next to the preserve. That’s another excuse for me not to water the lawn. Water Cradle Mountain Do you want to do that? No, it’s just to protect yourself. By and large, that’s what happened.”
The jury deliberated for nearly two hours before reaching its verdict on the ugliest lawn.
“They were all horrible and deserved to win, but the winning entry was really, really bad,” Gibson said.
Garden designer and broadcaster Diarmuid Gavin, who was also a member of the jury, said this was the strangest competition he had ever been asked to judge, but that it reminded people of their old love of green lawns. He said he hopes this will encourage people to abandon their gardens and create gardens suited to the climate.
“Looking at Tasmanian lawns like this really makes people wonder why there’s an award for the worst lawn in the world, but without being preachy or preachy, with that sense of humour. ” he said. “Tasmanian gardens were soulful because they understood what was going on. If we are lucky enough to care for the land, we all need to become gardeners now. Our moral obligation is not to fit in or disappoint our neighbors, but to not disappoint the planet.”
Mr Murray added: “You have a choice: Do you want to make sure farmers have enough water to produce food for a growing population, or do you want to have a Nazi race on your neighbor’s lawn? So you want me to envy your ways? Is your grass greener?”
“It’s so nice to see these little critters now feel safe coming out into the backyard during the day. They’re wearing camouflage and have a fun place to dig. It really gives me peace of mind to know I’m playing a microscopic role in helping others.”
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