Oasis Advanced Wellness Health Forum

[tommysgrass]

Tips for a Healthy Lawn
seventhgeneration.com

The best way to reduce your dependence on fertilizers and pesticides is to develop a healthy lawn which is naturally resistant to weeds, insects and diseases. The list below gives some basic tips for maintaining a healthy, lush, beautiful lawn. For more information see our list of resources.

Improve your soil. The first step is to test your soil's pH level. Ideally, it should read between 6.5 and 7.0, which is slightly acidic. Soil that is too acidic will need a sprinkling of lime. Gardeners sulfur can be added to soil which is not acidic enough. Most garden centers sell soil pH test kits for about $5 but they are often inaccurate so you should take several samples and compare results, or buy a better quality tester for about $50-$75. The type of weeds in your yard can also be an indication of your soil's health. Dandelions thrive at a pH level of about 7.5, and are a sign to add sulfur to lower the pH. Clover and medic are a sign that your lawn may lack nitrogen and needs compost or a nitrogen-weighted fertilizer.

Mow often, but not too short. Cut the grass no shorter than 2? to 3? inches tall. Short grass doesn't compete well with weeds and has less surface area for taking in sunlight. Shorter grass also exposes roots and causes the soil to dry out faster. Not only is it healthier, taller grass will make your lawn look thicker.

Keep your mower blades sharp. Dull blades can tear grass rather than making a nice clean cut. This can make the plants susceptible to infection and allow for more rapid evaporation. Mower blades should be sharpened after every eight hours of mowing. Most hardware stores can sharpen blades quickly and inexpensively.

Leave the clippings on the lawn.
This is the easiest way to add composted material to your lawn. As the clippings decompose, they contribute valuable nutrients to the soil. In fact, the nitrogen that is added when clippings decompose can cut your fertilizing needs in half. And contrary to popular belief, leaving the clippings does not cause thatch build-up or obstruct oxygen and water from reaching the roots. Quite the opposite is true: fresh clippings stimulate earthworm activity, which breaks down thatch and aerates the soil. If you mow the grass before it gets too tall, the clippings left on the lawn will disappear quickly. Lastly, leaving the clippings means you mow faster, without the stops and starts to empty the bagger, so you use less gasoline, and of course help cut down on the amount of yard waste added to landfills.

Don't overfeed. Over-fertilizing makes the grass susceptible to disease, plus it makes the grass grow faster so you have to mow more often. If you leave the clippings on the lawn, you only need to fertilize once per year. If you spread a quarter-inch layer of compost on the lawn (fan the compost onto the yard with a shovel and rake it out evenly) you can eliminate fertilizers completely.

If you use a fertilizer, make sure it's organic. Organic fertilizers are made of plant residues and by-products of animal processing - blood meal or feather meal. Look for a product with an NPK (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) ratio of approximately 3-1-2. Organic fertilizers release their nutrients more slowly, so you'll get a gradual but sustained green build for your lawn, whereas chemical fertilizers can "burn" your lawn with excess nitrogen.

Water thoroughly but not too often. Thorough watering encourages your lawn to develop a deep root system which makes it hardier and more drought-resistant. One good soaking per week should do the job (including rainfall). As a rule of thumb, the color should dull a bit and footprints should stay compressed for more than a few seconds. A "good soaking" means about one inch of water. To gauge how much water your lawn is getting, put a plastic cup in the sprinkler zone. Ideally, it's better to give a half-inch of water then wait an hour or two before delivering the second half-inch. This will deliver the water deeper into the grass roots. The best time for watering is early morning - less water will be lost to evaporation.

Crowd out or pull weeds. Researchers at the University of Maryland have found that mowing cool-season grass to 3 inches high works as well as or better than herbicides for suppressing crabgrass. And by keeping the grass at least 2? inches high, you will shade many dandelion and other weed seeds so they won't ever sprout. If dandelions do spring up, they can send down a taproot as deep as 12 inches. To kill an established dandelion, you have to remove at least 4 to 5 inches of the root. After you remove a dandelion or other weed, immediately sow grass seed onto the bare spots to discourage other weeds from moving in. Rough up the soil with a rake, spread the seed, and cover it with sifted compost or topsoil. Keep the area moist until the grass sprouts.

Control lawn weeds with corn gluten. Corn-gluten meal is a non-toxic by-product of corn processing. It's also a proven killer of weed seeds and seedlings. Spread it on your lawn in spring, and it reduces any newly sprouted weeds. It will also kill new grass seed, so use it only on an established lawn. In addition, it adds nitrogen to your soil. Just one application, before weeds emerge, reduced weed survival by 60%, according to research at Iowa State University. After several years, this method provides as much as 90% weed control. Extensive watering can reduce it's effectiveness, so try not to over water. A draw-back is that it's considerably more expensive than conventional weed 'n feed products.

Allow a variety of plants in your lawn. Reducing your lawn to a monoculture can make it more vulnerable to pests and drought. When lawns consist only of grass, they're an easy target for chinch bugs - insects that never plague mixed-species lawns. The plants that make up a healthy lawn - a mix of grass species, clover, vetch, timothy, sorrel, dock, self-heal, yarrow, buttercup, daisy - can withstand a wide variety of environmental conditions, and support a range of beneficial organisms. A well-balanced lawn will resist infestation, stay green longer in a drought, and will reward you by needing much less time, energy and money to keep it looking good.

Find a pesticide-free lawn care company. If you wish to hire a lawn care company to take care of your lawn, be sure to insist on a pesticide-free program that includes slow-release fertilizers, aeration and dethatching. Don't let yourself be talked into shortcuts like quick-release fertilizers and chemical "weed control." All reputable lawn care companies offer healthy pesticide-free programs.


Further Reading

The following list of books was compiled by the South Shore Pesticide Reduction Action Group of Nova Scotia, and is reprinted here with their permission. For more information, see their contact information in the section above.

Bugs, Slugs & Other Thugs: Controlling Garden Pests Organically, Rhonda Massingham Hart. Storey Communications, 1991.

Gardener's Bug Book: Earth-safe Insect Control, Barbara Pleasant. Whitecap Books, 1994.

Gardener's Weed Book: Earth-safe Controls, Barbara Pleasant. Whitecap Books, 1996.

How to Get Your Lawn & Garden Off Drugs: Pesticide-free Gardening for a Healthier Environment, Carole Rubin. Friends of the Earth, 1989.

Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control: A Complete Problem-solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden and Yard Healthy Without Chemicals, edited by B.W. Ellis and F.M. Bradley. Rodale Press, 1996.

Rodale's Chemical-free Yard & Garden: The Ultimate Authority on Successful Organic Gardening, Anna Carr et al. Rodale Press, 1991.

Rodale's Successful Organic Gardening: Controlling Pests and Diseases, Patricia S. Michalak. Rodale Press, 1994.

Using Beneficial Insects: Garden Soil Builders, Pollinators, and Predators, Rhonda Massingham Hart. Storey Communications, 1991.

Wild Lawn Handbook: Alternatives to the Traditional Front Lawn, Steve Daniels. Macmillan Press, 1995.