For years I could brag…I have no lawn. That was when I lived in the desert though. Now I am in the Midwest
and yes I do have a lawn and it is enough to make an eco conscious person want to faint. Using a gas mower for one hour will produce the same pollution as driving a car 1300 miles. Ouch! Guess what I have and what I use to mow my lawn? You guessed it…a gas mower. So there is my great green guilty confession for the week. To ease things up a bit we tilled up some land for two big gardens, so that took a nice chunk of our mowing land out of the equation. We are also thinking about getting one of these nifty Cordless Mulching Lawn Mowers. It is the only cordless mower that has the Energy Star rating. That coupled with a manual mower will help us cut down on carbon emissions even further. It would have to be a family affair.
This issue got me to thinking about what other steps we can take towards natural and green lawn care for a cleaner safer environment…
According to the U.S. National Wildlife Federation, over 70 million tons of fertilizers and pesticides are applied to residential lawns and gardens annually. What most of the users of the tons of fertilizers and pesticides used per year are not aware of is that the chemicals they are using is doing more harm than good. This harm has a high environmental cost.
The fact is that lawns are for more than making your home look good. There are many benefits to having a properly nurtured lawn. They aren’t all BAD.
One of the benefits of grass is that it absorbs water, helping to reduce storm runoff and improve water quality. It also has a cooling effect, provide oxygen, traps dust and dirt and filters rainwater contaminants. The focus then, for those with lawns, needs to be on reducing dependence on chemical fertilizers and developing a healthy lawn that is naturally resistant to weeds, insects, and diseases.
If a lawn needs to be fertilized more than once a year some steps towards improvement must be made. Things like improving the soil, choosing locally adapted grass, mowing often but not too short, watering deeply but not to often, and controlling thatch build-up are all important steps towards developing and maintaining a healthy lawn. These steps are all health basics for proper and natural lawn care.
Caring for the lawn is not just a physical aspect, either. It should also be an environmental importance. A lawn nurturer should water grass early in the morning to help reduce water usage, leave some clippings on the lawn to help reduce the need for fertilizer; and control weeds with natural ingredients like corn gluten or spot-treat them with vinegar. Another good water conservation tip is to water with rain you have collected in barrels or garbage cans.
There are some who feel that leaving behind grass clippings keeps a lawn looking untidy. A few important facts about leaving grass clippings that should be considered are that you will have 45% less crab grass, up to 66% less disease, more earth worms, more water reaching the plant roots, 25% greater root mass, and 50% reduced need for nitrogen fertilizer. It should also be noted that by using your grass clippings as mulch you are not adding plastic bags filled with grass to landfills hence you are doing one more green friendly deed. We leave a light dusting of grass clippings on the lawn and then with the rest we compost it.
So these are only a few of the ways that you can care for your grass naturally. I would love to hear some tips from you if you have them…leave a comment. It is important to take the time educate yourself on how grass responds to chemical care, over watering and improper mowing and the harm they can cause. Learn about the natural techniques you need to apply for healthier lawn care and take the steps to developing and maintaining a naturally nurtured lawn.
I know I love to walk in the grass barefoot whenever I can and my kids play on the lawn constantly. So we need healthy grass and a non-toxic environment for our family. Even though there is a lot to consider I am not trading my lawn in for the desert again any time soon. Here is too a summer of fun!
I have no idea why people rake their grass clippings. Seems like such a waste. We have a mulching mower which I highly reccommentd. It’s great for mulching leaves that can easily decompose in the compost bin. I’m in the midst of organically removing dandelions. What a pain!
Well – seems to me that not removing any plants you would normally call weeds is one of the most effective things you can do – saves you the effort of replacing your lawn with local plants. And it doesn´t look that bad, really.
Personally, I´ve never lived in a house that had actual lawn around it, and I enjoy your garden anyway – besides, clover, daisies, dandelions and the like look much better than boring old lawn, in my opinion. And make better food for your guinea pigs, if you happen to have those, like my brother and me. I suppose you could say the same for rabbits and the like.
Thank you for such a thorough article. A year and a half ago we converted our front lawn into an eco-lawn from Hobbs & Hopkins out of Oregon. It contains dwarf grass, english daisies, yarrow, baby blue eyes, etc. Once established it shouldn’t require watering, is self fertilizing, and depending on your preferences, you can mow it as little or as much as you like. I am into the more relaxed country meadow theme and I LOVE the flowers throughout the “lawn”. Nichols Garden Nursery also carries a mix that is similar.
Tiff, have you ever thought about ground covers? I’ve recently been learning more and more about organic gardening/landscaping, and groundcovers are great way to cut down on lawn mowing. It would take time and work in the beginning, but in the long run, it would save not only the environment, but also time and money.
Adrianas last blog post..Beautiful Ground Covers are a Backyard Essential
Becca, that sounds awesome! I ‘d love to see a picture
Recently read a tip about how much to water. Place a empty, rinsed out tuna can somewhere in your yard. It is an inch tall. When that is full of rain water, there’s no need to water…when it evaporates (as it will on the lawn), THEN water. No need to water each week, etc.
I too am converting our yard to a more enviromentally conscious yard. We cancelled our lawn care service and are going to put down high quality grass seed (the more grass, the less weeds!), water only when needed, mulch and leave the grass on the lawn, use an organic, enviromentally safe fertilizer (it’s by Scott’s). Also, I’ve heard corn gluten is a good pre-emergent herbicide. Unfortunately it isn’t available in our area. Would love to get opinions on it though. May have it shipped for next year. Thanks!
When we bought our house last year, that was the first rule I set – NO PESTICIDES!!! We spend Saturdays out there getting rid of dandelions (per the covenants of the neighborhood) and used corn gluten meal this spring – I see fewer weeds, but my hubby says it didn’t help as much (of course, he’s out there digging them up!) We also spread a thin layer of composted dirt over the lawn last fall and re-seeded with cool season grasses (we live in Washington).
I have considered pulling up the lawn and planting irish moss instead, but I’m not suite sure that would be allowed by the homeowners assn – it would certainly cut down on the mowing aspect though! I have planted it between the stones in our walkways and inside the growing sunflower house for the girls.
Keeping your lawnmower set at the highest level, and mowing on a regular schedule will help – and don’t over water! When you water, make sure it’s early in the morning, use a soaker hose, and water for a few hours – let the water soak down in, and the grass roots will follow it. It will become more drought resistant and healthier. Most people water their lawn waaaaay too often, but not long enough at each time, creating grass that has very shallow roots and can’t handle a drought very well.
Another thought on the “pretty lawn” topics – if you plant crocus or snowdrop bulbs in your lawn (very easily too!) they will bloom in early spring and be done and gone by the time you are ready to mow the first time. A bonus is that their leaves look like tall grass!
The thicker your lawn is, the better it will control the weeds. We de-thatched ours last summer, and wow – it looked like a different lawn! We re-seeded it at that time, and it has filled in nicely. Leaving clippings helps feed the grass (we have a mulching mower) and replacing the grass with other plants where it doesn’t want to grow helps it look better – whenever it looks right anyway! We had a spot up against the house that grew nothing but weeds – it was shaded and too dry for grass to grow. I dug it up and have been planting dry-soil, shade-loving plants there, and it is looking much better!
Having a lush, green lawn doesn’t require anything that ends in -cide, and your family and pets will be much healthier for it!
This is a great article, and I think using some sort of groundcover other than grass is a good way to compromise, especially with kids in the house. Here in the South, jasmine is a popular choice b/c it’s a native plant, spreads rapidly, and grows thick enough to choke out weeds. I like her suggestion of adding flowers to the mix, though.
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Today I bought and used that Cordless Mower you linked to, and I am loving it so far. I only was able to charge the battery for four hours and almost had my entire lawn done before it died (and that was with my son on my back in a mei tei…nothing like an extra 25 pounds weighing you down!). I was using a reel mower, but we have too many weeds. I’m working on getting rid of them, but it is a SLOW process!
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What is good to a lawn care if it is natural and you develop it in somehow you could say how fantastic it is if by its natural and not a man made one. All you need to have it make a good arrangement of which is suitable to that areas of your lawn and the specification of the plants.
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