Grass, it's great for kids and pets but maintaining it is less than green. Between chemical fertilizers and watering, a perfectly maintained grass lawn can be unnecessarily wasteful. By making just a few changes, you can make your lawn truly green.
Reasons to Green your Lawn
Cost: The more eco-friendly your maintenance is, the more green you'll have in your wallet. It's all about less: less water, less fertilizer, less pesticides and less equipment and that will always save you money.
Environment: With the right changes your lawn can actually give back to the environment by preventing soil erosion, filtering pollution from rainwater and absorbing air pollution.
Health: Less chemicals in and around your home is always good for your health. By eliminating chemical fertilizers, pesticides and weed killer.
Cost: The more eco-friendly your maintenance is, the more green you'll have in your wallet. It's all about less: less water, less fertilizer, less pesticides and less equipment and that will always save you money.
Environment: With the right changes your lawn can actually give back to the environment by preventing soil erosion, filtering pollution from rainwater and absorbing air pollution.
Health: Less chemicals in and around your home is always good for your health. By eliminating chemical fertilizers, pesticides and weed killer.
1. Start by mowing your lawn.
2. Next, aerate to punch air holes into the lawn. Aerating the soil once a year breaks through any thatch on your lawn. Aerating allows water and nutrients to get to the roots of the grass. To conserve energy, use a hand-powered lawn aerator.
3. Use a shovel to broadcast ½ to 1 inch of compost over the lawn.
4. Rake the compost into lawn using a garden rake.
5. Check the health of the soil with a test kit; for acidic soil, add pelletized limestone with a broadcast spreader.
6. Add chicken-manure fertilizer to the lawn with broadcast spreader.
7. Spread grass seed over the lawn using broadcast spreader.
8. Use the back of a leaf rake to work the grass seed into the lawn.
9. Lightly water the lawn two or three times per day.
10. Once grass germinates, return to normal watering: irrigate the lawn with no more than 1 inch of water per week.
More Ways to Green your Green
Find signs of over-watering: If you see any of these signs, be sure to cut down on the amount or frequency that you water your lawn. Check for runoff after watering your lawn. If your grass has a pale green or yellow tint. Moss or mushrooms growing around the area, as they can only grow in excessive moisture.
Water Infrequently: Watering less often will make your grass toughen up and have the ability to withstand longer periods without water, and it will help keep the weeds out. When you don't water your grass as often, the roots are forced to go deep into the soil, while weeds and weedlings with short roots run out of water. Watering too often can also cause a buildup of thatch.
The best time to water the grass is whenever it starts to curl. But be sure not to wait too long after that, since grass will start to curl right before it turns brown.
Water Early: A lot of the water evaporates before it hits the ground and wind can divert your sprinkler's spray away from the grass. It's best to water the lawn between 4 am and 9 am, when the air is cool and the wind is calmest.
Water Early: A lot of the water evaporates before it hits the ground and wind can divert your sprinkler's spray away from the grass. It's best to water the lawn between 4 am and 9 am, when the air is cool and the wind is calmest.
Leave Clippings: Contrary to popular belief, grass clippings don't contribute to thatch because they are still mostly water and decompose quickly. The decomposing clippings recycle nutrients back into the soil, allowing you to use less fertilizer and less water.
Compost: You can compost most of the yard waste around your lawn and add it as a top dressing for your lawn. After dropping about 1/3 inch of compost on the top of the turf, be sure to rake it off the grass blades and onto the soil. Water the grass so the microbes can be absorbed into the soil.
Invite Nature: Many birds are great replacements for insecticides. Providing a birdbath, bird feeder or birdhouse will attract all kinds of birds. Don't worry feeding the birds won't prevent them from eating the insects, since most birds have to eat both seeds and insects.
Mow Often: If your lawn has so many weeds that you can't possibly remove them all by hand, consider just mowing more often. For grass, the growing point is near the soil, but for most weeds, their sensitive growing point is near the top of the plant.
Grass Alternatives
Install Synthetic Grass: If your area has restrictions on water use, you may consider installing synthetic grass. After installed, it doesn’t use any energy, water, fertilizers, or pesticides.
Go for Native Plants: Native plants, being naturally adapted to survive without human intervention, require much less maintenance than the conventional lawn. They use less resources and save you time and money. Plus, they still provide the benefits of living plants to your local environment, such as helping prevent soil erosion, filtering pollution from rainwater, and absorbing pollution from the air.
Go for Native Plants: Native plants, being naturally adapted to survive without human intervention, require much less maintenance than the conventional lawn. They use less resources and save you time and money. Plus, they still provide the benefits of living plants to your local environment, such as helping prevent soil erosion, filtering pollution from rainwater, and absorbing pollution from the air.
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