Environmentally Friendly Lawn Maintenance

A lawn contributes greatly towards the look of a property and can provide an attractive place to relax and play. But how many people consider the environmental impact of their lawn maintenance? Here are a few tips for nurturing that green space and minimising the side effects.

• Leave grass clippings on lawn to return nutrients to the area - use a mulching blade to facilitate fast decomposition.
• Consider your choice of lawn mower - gas mowers cause more pollution than electric mowers, but push mowers are the most environmentally friendly option.
• Keep mower blade sharp so grass blades are cut cleanly, reducing moisture loss and limiting disease spread.
• Mow when grass is dry to prevent disease and to make mowing easier.
• Never mow the lawn to less than two inches - grass blades needs some length to be able to grow and stay healthy.
• Use non-toxic lawn care products. Organic products such as Bone meal, mulch, cottonseed meal, compost and manure are carbon-based and are therefore not harmful to the environment and are safe around children and pets.
• If you feel you must, apply fertilizers in the spring and fall, when there's less rain and less chance for runoff. Don't use herbicides when temperatures exceed 25C - generally July and August - since they can evaporate at those temperatures.
• Watering everyday can cause more harm than good as roots are not encouraged to grow more deeply in the soil. Weeds remain green in drought as their roots penetrate the ground further than a close cut frequently watered lawn.
• Water lawns during cooler parts of the day - early morning and evening - to avoid evaporation which wastes water.
• Allow your lawn to go dormant (brown) in the summer as this will save you money from not watering and mowing. This dormancy will not hurt your lawn and it will green up when more frequent rains occur.