Learning the Green Way to Care for Your Spring Lawn

Guest Blogger #396, Entry #991, March 2, 2012

The average person cares for their lawn in the following ways: by watering, weeding, mowing, and spraying plant food and pesticides. This is a fairly standard regimen. While there are certainly aberrations from this routine (like those who let their lawns turn brown from neglect or those that strip the sod out and replace it with dirt, sand, or AstroTurf), it is much more likely that you’re keeping your lawn in relatively good condition simply because you want it to look nice (or your HOA demands it). However, you may not realize that your method of landscape maintenance could be adding to your carbon footprint. So if you’re looking for a few good ways to greenify your lawn (figuratively as well as literally), here are some tips and tricks to help you make your outdoor space environmentally sound.

Learn green ways to care for your lawn

Image via: Pretty Stuff.Tumblr

1.     Aerate the lawn

When your soil becomes compacted (from trampling feet and even the mower) the grass gets less water and nutrients; this means you’re wasting valuable resources. So take the time to aerate your lawn regularly. Just use a rod of some sort (a piece of rebar, for example) to make holes about 3-4 inches deep all over the lawn so that your grass can get what it needs to thrive and you won’t be wasting money and water.

2.     Use recycled water

Even if you live in an area that doesn’t get much rainfall you can make use of whatever water does come down naturally by installing some type of cistern in your yard to collect and store it for later distribution to your landscaping. Of course, you can also use recycled waste water (or greywater) from your household, although you will have to install a special system in your home to make this a viable option.

3.     Opt for drought-resistant grasses

Water conservation is a major issue on the environmental front these days, so any method of reducing the fresh water you use on your lawn is a great green move. And one simple option is to install drought-resistant plants that require less water to thrive. There are many options for different climates and levels of traffic (some don’t like to be trod upon), so you’ll have to find the one that’s right for you, but a few species of grass you may want to look into are Bahia, Bermuda, Buffalo, Zoysia, and St. Augustine. That should get you started, although you should also look for species native to your area (so that they don’t choke out other plants).

Opt for drought tolerant grasses

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4.     Fertilize naturally

If you are the type to throw your grass clippings away, it’s time to take that bag off the mower and let the clippings fall where they will. As they decompose they will add much-needed nutrients to the soil, in turn fertilizing the remaining grass. You can also start a compost heap for additional fertilizing needs.

5.     Skip chemical additives

It doesn’t take an executive MBA degree to know that chemical manufacturers aren’t always totally honest about the potential side effects of their wares. And although we have yet to prove that chemical pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides are responsible for cancer and other diseases (maybe because the companies that make them are the ones performing the tests), most people realize that these repellants are toxic to humans and pretty much everything else that’s alive. So research natural ways to keep pests away from your lawn, like planting flowers that repel them and spreading corn gluten meal (which is a natural herbicide) just for example.

For more outdoor ideas on Stagetecture, click here.