3 Environmentally-Friendly Ways To Improve Your Lawn For Less

Posted on: 7 June 2017

Everyone wants to have the greenest, best-looking lawn in the neighborhood, but few people are willing to invest the right amount of time or money to achieve that. Face it – maintaining an attractive lawn is a lot of work and can be expensive after you account for the cost of water, fertilizer, equipment, fuel and time. Plus, there's the worry that your methods aren't very friendly to the environment. If you are looking for ways to maintain and improve your lawn without causing extra harm to the planet and not cost an arm and a leg, look no further. Take a look at these tips that can save you money and help the environment.

Thicken Your Lawn In The Fall              

Your lawn is not only a green and inviting place to hang out and play, but it also acts as a giant buffer blanket for your patch of earth. Most likely, deep beneath your feet is an aquifer or groundwater, where rainwater naturally ends up after storms. If your property does not reside over any groundwater, that's okay because rainwater that lands on your property will eventually reach the watershed anyway

Your lawn is the first thing that absorbs any contaminants before they can reach groundwater or watershed. The thicker the lawn is, the better it is able to absorb contaminants and keep them out of our waterways.  The fall months are the best time to overseed any thin or weak areas of your lawn; when spring rolls around, the seeds will quickly germinate and fill in those patches without requiring extra watering. The same applies if you are planting a new lawn as well. If you are enlarging the area of your lawn, apply the seed in the fall months to take advantage of the winter and spring moisture.

Pay Attention To Your Watering

Making sure you are watering correctly not only saves money on your water bill, but conserves water. This is important if you live in an area where droughts are common. The best time to water your lawn and other landscaping is early in the morning, between 4 am and 10 am. The air temperature is lower and winds are usually the calmest and won't blow water droplets away.  When the temperature rises later in the day, that precious water will evaporate. If you water at night, the water will only stay on the leaves and plants, encouraging disease and fungus.

In addition to time of day, how much you water is important too. It's better to allow your sprinklers to water for long intervals infrequently rather than short intervals every single day. Allowing the water to soak down around 6 inches into the soil develops a healthier root system. Because every lawn is different, find out how long it take your soil to accept 6 inches of water by taking a shovel and lifting up some sod. Then, water your lawn that duration every 4 days or so.

Mowing Really Matters

How high you mow your lawn really does make a difference in the health of your grass. Removing leaf tips at just the right height encourages now sprouts to form, making your grass thicker. Thicker grass is also better able to withstand pests, so cut your grass between 2 and 3.75 inches. Keeping your lawn higher helps cut down on weed seed germination. This requires less use of herbicides to get rid of those nasty weeds.  

Finally, allow those clippings to stay on your lawn after you're done mowing.  Grass clippings are a great source of slow release fertilizer for your lawn. To successfully practice "grasscycling", there are a few things to remember:

  • Mow the grass when it's dry. Wet grass is heavy, sticks together, and won't fall apart evenly.
  • Mow your grass regularly. Long strands of grass clippings produce the hay-field look. Shorter strands of cut grass fall easily down to the soil surface.

Keep mower blades sharp. Dull blades make a ragged cut that is more difficult for plants to recover from. Plus, dull mower blades just take longer to mow. For more information, contact companies like Bark Blowers & Hydroseeding Inc.

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