Take care of your lawn and gardens.
Keeping your lawn and gardens healthy means more than just eliminating synthetic pesticides or herbicides. Here are some actions you can take to keep your lawn and gardens in tip-top shape:
- Feed your lawn naturally.
Use organic fertilizers, compost and grass clippings, all provided by nature, to feed your lawn. - Water infrequently.
Letting the soil dry between waterings encourages stronger roots. Choosing native plants will make your gardens more drought resistant as they tend to have longer roots and can endure dry periods more easily. - Seed your lawn.
Be sure to use the right seeds for your conditions (your local garden center can help you make the right selection). Overseeding/ frequent seeding is an effective tactic to prevent weeds. Late summer/ early autumn are the best times to seed as well as aerate and compost. - Keep weeds down.
Keeping your lawn dense will help prevent weeds. When they do grow, pull them by hand and pull them early when they are immature. Organic herbicides should be used sparingly and more as a spot treatment. - Mow properly.
When it comes to mowing your lawn, higher is better. Taller grass helps to keep out unwanted plants. How high? 3-4” is best. For best results, be sure to use a sharp blade when mowing. And don’t discard those grass clippings. Keeping them on your lawn gives them a chance to decompose, releasing water and nutrients back into the soil. This will help your grass grow thicker and greener! - Build healthy soil.
Adding organic matter to your lawn, especially in the fall, will give the soil a boost of nutrients. Examples are compost, mulched leaves and straw. Reducing or avoiding fungicides and acidic fertilizers are a must when it comes to healthy soil. So is restoring a proper pH. Soil testing is an inexpensive way to avoid any guesswork. - Consider a low-maintenance lawn.
Replacing grass with native groundcovers, trees, shrubs or perennial flower beds can make for a low-maintenance and healthy yard. Many proponents of organic lawn care are using microclover as a lawn plant instead of grass. Clover is excellent for healing nitrogen-deficient soil, tolerates dry conditions well, and provides erosion control. Another alternative is to install a meadow in areas you would typically plant grass.
STAY INFORMED
Grass is the single largest irrigated crop in the U.S. – more than corn, wheat and fruit orchards combined!*
*https://grist.org/article/lawns-are-the-no-1-agricultural-crop-in-america-they-need-to-die/
Leaf Blowers
You may have heard the statistics around the detrimental noise that a single gas-powered leaf blower produces- up to 115 decibels- which has serious negative effects on hearing, but how about the dangerous dispersion of materials such as dust, pesticides, herbicides and heavy metals which can be toxic? The high velocity air that blowers emit also blow away topsoil, desiccate soil, pollen, sap and other natural plant substances and contribute to loss of vegetation! Gas powered leaf blowers produce toxic emissions and pollutants which lead to ozone production (trapping heat in the atmosphere) and are also responsible for a significant amount of fuel spillage in the environment.
Fortunately, more and more people are becoming aware of the health risks associated with gas-powered leaf blowers, as well as the environmental pollution and destruction of habitats associated with them (and other lawn equipment) that they cause. In fact, the practice of leaf blowing (especially with the two-stroke backpack leaf blowers commonly used in suburban backyards) causes serious diesel and particulate matter pollution. A growing number of communities around the country are imposing restrictions on leaf blower use – and for good reason. Join the movement in Westport! Say “no” to gas-powered leaf blowers. Using rakes and brooms to move leaves when possible is a much smarter choice than a leaf blower and if you must, use a battery-powered leaf blower.
Of course, it’s not only leaf blowers. Mowers, trimmers and other lawn equipment are also part of the problem. Fortunately, there are a variety of choices in electric lawn equipment – corded and cordless – that are readily available anywhere lawn mowers are sold. Manual reel mowers are also an effective and practical option, especially for smaller yards.
TIP
Using leaves as mulch is inexpensive and good for your lawn and garden. And chances are you have plenty of them!
Mulching – the Alternative to Leaf Blowing
A better way to manage leaves is to mulch them. It’s easy to do and has many benefits! Mulching is the practice of chopping leaves into small pieces, typically with a lawn mower or a leaf shredder. You can leave mulched leaves on your lawn, or pile them 3-4” deep on garden beds and shrub roots.
Advantages of Mulching
- Mulching improves soil structure, reduces the need for fertilizer and avoids water pollution by reducing phosphorus and fertilizer leaching.
- Mulch, when spread on garden beds, suppresses weeds and improves soil quality.
- By adding organic matter to the soil, leaf mulching improves water retention and percolation for improved rain water management.
- Additional organic matter loosens the soil, allowing grass roots to penetrate more deeply, improving grass health
“Leave your leaves” in the Fall
Did you know that many species rely on fallen leaves for cover and to insulate them from the winter elements? Bees, butterflies, moths, beetles and other insects rely on the fallen leaves to lay their eggs, make their nests and for some, it’s where they get their food. Treating your leaves like trash tosses out all these amazing critters who play critical roles in keeping your yard and gardens healthy. Plus, leaves suppress weeds, retain moisture and help build healthy soil in your garden beds throughout the winter and early spring. If you don’t want to leave them on your lawn, rake them into piles around trees, shrubs and into garden beds.
Gardens
Starting a home vegetable and fruit garden can be a fun and educational activity for the entire family, allowing you to connect at a deeper level to where your food comes from and how it is grown. Sustainable gardening is about growing food without causing the destruction of land and other natural resources like water and air, and reducing excess whenever possible. It is possible to grow healthy and nutritious native fruits and vegetables for your family without the use of toxins. The good news is that growing your own fruits and vegetables in your organic garden creates much less of a carbon footprint than buying them from your local grocery store.
Here are some tips to starting your own sustainable garden:
- Use nutrient-rich compost.
- Go chemical free.
- Grow native plants.
- Pay attention to garden design and layout; put water-loving plants in the naturally wetter parts of the garden and plant shade-loving plants next to plants that grow tall.
- Conserve water by utilizing rainfall. Consider purchasing a rain barrel.
- Plant for pollinators.
- Mulch.
- Consider participating in Grow-a-Row so that your excess garden bounty does not go to waste.