Organic and Environmentally Friendly Lawn Care

When spring comes the grass will grow again and the ground will thaw. The winter vacation from yard work will end. Home owners will want to beautify their lawns and gardens. Lawn and garden care can be expensive and time consuming. Chemicals for growing and greening can be hazardous. Even though the grass and plants may look perfect and beautiful, the soil can be contaminated and cause health problems in people and animals. Lawns and gardens have to be kept alive from a lot of watering which can be expansive because of summer droughts which now occur frequently. There are steps to take in lawn and garden care that will not cause harm to the environment. These are steps that I thought of and practiced when my family and I were living in a house with a big lawn.

Keeping a perfectly green lawn takes a lot of watering which makes a big water bill. However, a lawn can be kept green with little watering. First of all, do not cut the lawn short. Short grass exposes the soil to the sun, causing the soil to dry out quickly after the roots of very short grass to grow shallowly. As a result the grass browns, drys, and dies quickly.

So to keep the lawn alive, when lawn mowing set the mower to cut the grass at least three inches long. The longer grass protects the top soil from the sun so it will maintain wetness and moisture longer. The longer grass also allows the grass's roots to grow thicker and deeper.

Lawns
After mowing the lawn do not rake up the grass clippings. Let it remain scattered all over the ground. The grass clippings act as a natural organic fertilizer. The tall grass and the grass clippings work together to keep moisture from morning dew, hose watering, and rain from evaporating. As a result the lawn can be watered every few days instead of every day. The grass will maintain its life and grow green; however the lawn will not be as green as it would be with chemical fertilizers. Still it would be green enough.

Flower and Vegetable Gardens
Good nutrient enrich soil is needed for growing flowers and vegetables. Instead of using manufactured fertilizers, fertilize your growing soil with compost. Compost makes the best fertilizer, and it can be made easily by a home owner. All a home owner has to do is put organic matter in a pile in the back yard and just let it sit there for a long time to decompose naturally. The organic matter to put in the pile are food waste, lawn clippings, leaves, and dirt. Mix the compost with the growing soil before planting.

Sometimes beauty bark is put around plants. However, beauty bark contains chemicals which get washed into the soil. Instead of using manufactured beauty bark one can make their own. Simply take some straw and the twigs and branches after trimming trees and bushes, run it all through a mulching machine, and loosely put the matter around the growing plants in the flower and vegetable gardens. This home made beauty bark is safe for gardens and it holds moisture and water in the top soil which would require less watering. Flowers and vegetable plants would grow strong and full.

Proper lawn and garden care is important for growing a beautiful lawn and garden. However, when caring for ones lawn and garden one should consider the environment and one's health. By doing so a lawn and garden to be proud of will grow.