Native Plants - Eco-Mothering

I blame 1950s suburbia for getting America excited about plush green lawns. Sure, they accent the white picket fence nicely, but plush green lawns require a lot of work, money and, most of all, harmful chemicals that end up seeping into our water.

According to Sierra Club, lawns cover about 40,000 square miles of the U.S. and are maintained with nearly 100 million pounds of pesticides annually. And where do all those lawn fertilizers and pesticides end up? They leach into our groundwater. They get washed into local rivers, streams and lakes when its rains. Why? Because in your local watershed, everything flows downhill. Even if you don’t live right by the water, pollutants on land eventually end up there where they can kill fish and lead to polluted waters unsafe for human contact. (Want the technical details on human exposure to pesticides? Read this.)

This doesn’t mean you have to settle for a brown lawn every summer, but there are steps you can take to be truly green while greening your lawn.

Photo by leisergu/Flickr

Planting

First, consider downsizing your lawn. The more you have, the more time and money you’ll spend maintaining it. Replace grass with flower and vegetable beds, trees or native plants. In areas where grass does not grow well due to shade, poor soil or whatever, go with the flow of nature. Turn that area into a play area, rain garden (learn how to make a rain garden) or compost pile.

Test your soil yourself or through your local cooperative extension office. If you have crappy soil to begin with, you’ll only spend more money on chemicals that will only mask the problem.

When seeding, choose drought and disease-tolerant species like fescues or zoysia. Native grasses and ground cover already grow well in your area, thus requiring less attention. Ask your local nursery for guidance in choosing native species. Minimize grass species (such as the common Kentucky bluegrass) that require regular watering and fertilizer.

Part of our south-facing front yard was nothing but a display of weeds and roots from our neighbor’s maple tree. Rather than fight to create a lawn where none will grow, we decided to make a rock garden. A few weeks ago, our arborist friend Dave (from Out in Front Horticulture) regraded the area and replaced the weeds with stones and beds built up to accommodate shallow-rooted, sun-loving plants that we purchased from a local nursery. With the reclaimed fire pit and tea lantern, we have transformed our formerly disaster of a yard to a Zen garden that requires little to no maintenance.

Instead of forcing grass to grow here, we transformed the front yard into a rock garden.

Feeding

Besides contaminating groundwater, excess fertilizer contributes to thatch build-up in your lawn and undermine a grass species’ natural resistance to disease. Skip the fertilizer, but if you can’t go cold turkey, use a slow-release, organic fertilizer once in the fall and once in spring. Organic fertilizers are derived from natural sources like compost. They increase soil moisture retention and release nutrients more slowly so that there is less leaching into groundwater.

Even if you don’t care about polluting the water, you probably care about polluting your children. Beyond Pesticides offers a wealth of information on hazardous lawn chemicals and organic alternatives. You can even make your own, safer homemade pesticides.

Mowing

Switch to a Charlie Brown mower. You know what I mean—that push mower that whirs along peacefully and provides you with a workout so you can skip the gym later. Otherwise, opt for a cleaner, quieter and more efficient electric mower over a gas-powered one.

Don’t give your lawn a crew cut. Setting the blade at 3 inches provides several benefits:

Grass at this height keeps the soil from drying out. It needs less water, which means less work and more savings for you.
Taller grass prevents many sun-loving weeds from sprouting up.
Taller grass is more drought-tolerant and disease-resistant.

When you do mow, forgo the bag. Instead, let the clippings fall into the grass where they act as natural fertilizer. Clippings reduce evaporation and provide up to 30% of your lawn’s nutrients. Easy, peasy!

Watering

First, you should know that it’s perfectly normal for lawns to turn brown in summer. They’re dormant, not dead, and they tend to green up again when it rains. So don’t go crazy trying to make a brown lawn green during a heat wave. Save the water for something more useful like bathing.

If you do water your lawn, water in the early morning to reduce evaporation. Morning waterings also reduce root rot and mildew. Water deeper and less often; you only need to water once a week with one inch of water. Use a rain gauge to measure. Sprinklers set to turn on every day actually weaken the grass by encouraging shorter roots. Let your lawn dry out in between waterings.

Use soaker hoses for gardens to get water right at the roots where it’s needed most. Set up rain barrels (where to buy rain barrels) connected to soaker hoses so that the water for your lawn is recycled and free.

In the end, your lawn should be about enjoyment and ease rather than keeping up with the Joneses (who are only keeping up with the Smiths who are trying to keep up with the Browns…). Your kids and your planet will thank you for a safer, chemical free lawn.