Lawn

This is what a holiday card from a lawn reform activist looks like – in this case from Tom Engelman of the Grassroots Program in California.  Attached was this extra message: that his patch of Buffalograss in Santa Monica had received no watering during December-January at all, and only every two weeks or so the rest of the year.

So I wrote to ask about this organic colorant – like what's up with that?  And Tom wrote back:

Personally, I'm good with the brief (60-90 day) seasonal changes to my Buffalograss (around the rocks). However, I used the colorant as a teaching tool because 95% of folks in the West want year round green. So I want to show how to have your cake while turning off the water/mower for a few months. The picture shows a test of two organic colorants — one lighter and one darker.  One was from this company.  I'm still hunting down the ingredients for the other colorant but remember it being certified 'organic' by a California nursery chain.

NOW here's my question:  If it's true that "95% of the folks in the West want year-round green," somebody needs to tell them they're in the ARID WEST, for crissakes.  Time to change some norms. 
 

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The Lawn Reform gang asked for your comments and got lots of ‘em – thanks!  Here’s the greatly amended version now on our website.  Comments are enabled there. [click to continue…]

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Here’s an update after a whirlwind week of launching the Lawn Reform Coalition with my 8 co-conspirators, complete with much blogging, status-updating, press-release-pushing and lobbying of friends.  It’s filling a small void in our website – what the heck we recommend by way of taking care of lawns as we know them.  Sure, books can be written about lawn care, but everyone’s busy so let’s just cut to the chase in a few bullet points.  Lots more resources on all these subjects are listed here. 

Thanks to everyone for the links and miscellaneous suggestions you’ve sent us about the campaign and the website, and keep ‘em coming.  On the subject of lawn care, we’re looking for links to articles and websites that recommend the following basic practices because too much information, especially if it contradicts itself, isn’t much help to the reader.

Weigh In

So what do you think of these?  What would you add, delete, amend, or throw a shoe at?  Let us know in a comment or directly to me.

Fertilizers

• We recommend against using synthetic fertilizers because they kill the soil and are far more likely to run off and pollute our waterways.
• Turfgrasses can receive all the fertilizer they need from a combination of: leaving grass clippings on the lawn, adding clover, and applying a layer of compost.  Also, any of those can be used in combination with a slow-acting, organic fertilizer product, applied in the fall only. 
• Spring feeding?  Only if it’s organic and if there’s a particular need; e.g., to restore a neglected lawn.  Once it’s healthy, spring feeding shouldn’t be needed. 

Pesticides

• We recommend against using insecticides and fungicides as a group, especially the synthetic ones, because of multiple environmental problems with their use.  We are also concerned about their toxicity for humans and pets, not only via direct exposure but as they infiltrate into our drinking water.

Weeds

• The best way to keep weeds down in a lawn is to have a thick, healthy lawn by overseeding in the fall, and by fertilizing as outlined above.
• For preventing broadleaf weeds we like corn gluten applied in late winter when the forsythias bloom.  In the recommended dose, it also provides significant nitrogen.
• We recommend against synthetic weedkillers for the lawn, especially the ones in the common weed-and-feed products.
• And two plants considered weeds for decades are making a comeback – and for good reason.  Clover is a nitrogen-fixing natural fertilizer and great for the pollinators.  Dandelions are lovely in bloom and edible, too.

Water

• We disagree with the old, water-wasting advice to give lawns an inch of water every week.  Rather, lawns should be allowed to go dormant in the summer and in the winter.  Healthy turfgrass grown naturally is pretty, though in a different way than the drug-addicted green perfection we’re told to emulate.
• We recommend more drought-tolerant species of turfgrass, where possible.  They include Buffalograss, mixes of fine fescues, Bahia grass in parts of Florida, sedges in wooded areas, and so on – whatever is best for your region.
• And if you irrigate, use an efficient system.  Install a smart controller that automatically adjusts irrigation schedules based on environmental factors and replace traditional spray heads with matched precipitation, low infiltration heads such as MP Rotators.

Mowing, Blowing and Discarding

• We agree with the universal recommendation that lawns be mowed high, to at least 3". 
• Gas-powered mowers and blowers are the worst offenders in the categories of air pollution, noise pollution and, obviously, the use of a fossil fuel.  Electric mowers are far preferable, and push mowers are everyone’s ideal.
• Grass clippings are best left on the lawn to provide nitrogen, not sent to the dump.

Less Lawn

• Here’s where we put in a plug for reducing or eliminating turfgrasses when they’re not needed for their toughness.  "Lawns" could be composed of more sustainable  groundcovers, or converted to something totally different - ornamental grasses, flowering perennials, shrubs, small trees, pervious patios, edibles, even a small meadow.  

Photo by Digimist.

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