Turf wars

AT THE AGE OF 13, Matt Daum became “the man of the house” when his father passed away. He began maintaining his family’s lawn and, over the years, discovered he had a knack for keeping it healthy. Now in his 40s, Matt spends about three hours every weekend lovingly tending his lawn in Whyalla, South Australia, using an old-fashioned cylinder mower that “cuts like a pair of scissors”. He also runs a lawn appreciation page on Facebook.

Matt started the page three years ago when he was forced to take time off from his job as a police officer following an injury. The page, named Lawnporn after a moniker Matt’s friends had given his lawn, very quickly gained traction. Matt posted lawn care tutorials and launched a lawn photo competition that attracted entrants from right across Australia. “I got some prizes from local businesses and hoped to get about 50 entries,” Matt says. “But I got 22,000 – it was crazy.”

These days, Matt receives about 100 queries a day about lawn