A healthy lawn is vital for any community. It adds value, curb appeal, and helps create a healthy environment for everyone. Homeowners can assist themselves and their communities in gaining these benefits by looking at how they care for their lawn and gardens. For the most part, eco-friendly maintenance can be easier and less expensive than the more harmful ones. They can produce richer, healthier, and more plentiful greenery as well. Today, Vesta has assembled some tips on ways to maintain your lawn and garden, while controlling weeds, in an eco-friendly manner.
1. Switch Out the Gas for Electric
Just like with cars, there are now plenty of electric and battery-powered options in today’s market for lawn equipment. Did you know that in just one hour, a gas-powered lawnmower creates as many pollutants as 11 cars, with a riding lawnmower emitting as many pollutants as 34 cars (according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)? Of course, you can always cut your grass with a push mower or pay someone to do so, but you can just as easily cut down on your fossil fuel consumption by switching to an electric or battery-powered alternative.
2. Leave the Trimmings
Speaking of lawnmowers, consider leaving off the bag and skipping the trouble of raking your lawn by letting the grass cuttings remain. Grass cuttings quickly decompose into soil, providing needed nutrients and providing free fertilizer. This helps the environment since many fertilizer products create pollutants, with several commercial fertilizers ending up in the groundwater. Leaving the grass cuttings is a win for everybody – the lawn, the environment, and whomever is cutting the grass.
3. Another Fertilizer Alternative
If you maintain a garden on your property, then you most likely grow your own food to help cut down on your grocery bill. But did you know that you can also keep a compost bin in your kitchen, throw in your food scraps, and soon you’ll have your own compost pile? When your bin is full, add the contents to a designated outdoor section to create a pile, turn it every few days to keep it mixed, and soon you’ll have a high-quality fertilizer that won’t cost you a dime! This way you’ll be cutting back on your trash, helping the environment, and saving money.
4. Make Friends with Worms
Soil is very much alive, and as a living thing, it needs oxygen to flourish. Sure, you can aerate your lawn and garden manually every season to ensure your soil gets the air it needs. But, there is an easier way that will save you time and money. You can purchase a colony of worms and give them a new home. By spreading them throughout your lawn and garden evenly, watering thoroughly, and allowing them to work their way into the soil, they will naturally aerate the soil and give it the air it needs.
5. Water More but Less Frequently
Everyone knows lawns need a lot of water. But if a sprinkler system is delivering the water during the day, much of it is evaporating before it even touches the ground. To help minimize the waste of this resource, program your system to come on after midnight when the air is much cooler and less capable of absorbing the water. Leave your sprinkler on for an extra five or ten minutes to ensure the roots get enough water. You can make sure you’re not overwatering by offsetting the extra minutes by only watering three times a week instead of every day. Of course, if there is rain in the forecast, turn off the system until the rain stops and take advantage of the free water.
Keep your garden flourishing but utilizing a drip system. Drip technology was created to maximize water efficiency and is easy and inexpensive to set up. You can create one or two sprinkler zones devoted only to the drip system and run those zones late at night when the sprinklers on your lawn aren’t running. Make sure to check with your local utility company for watering guidelines and restrictions.
