A lush green lawn is a perfect addition to your beautiful home. However, maintaining a lawn is no easy task. Not many homeowners realize that the majority of lawn care solutions tend to be harsh on the environment. So what can you do to maintain your lawn, and not harm the environment in the process? Here are 9 eco-friendly tips that can help you out.
Maintain Proper Grass Height
Ensure that you maintain a proper grass height while cutting/mowing. While cutting too high will be of no use and make your lawn look uncared for, cutting too low would increase the grass’s vulnerability to infestations and diseases. This would, in turn, force you to use harmful pesticides to cure the grass afterwards.
Forget harmful pesticides, switch to organic ones instead
Most of the pesticides used in lawns contain chemicals that are not so eco-friendly. So cut back on these synthetic pesticides and opt for more eco-friendly alternatives. A good example in this case would be bio-pesticides; pesticides which are made of naturally occurring materials, including minerals, bacteria, plants and animals.
Plant Microclover
While high nitrogen fertilizers can make your soil more fertile, they contain chemicals that would harm the environment. So instead of using these fertilizers, consider planting plants like microclover in the bare patches in your lawn. Not only would the microclover fix the nitrogen in the air, but it would also feed it back to the grass roots, helping them grow health and strong.
Harvest Rainwater
One of the best eco-friendly lawn care tips is to harvest rainwater. You can collect rain water in buckets or containers and use the same to water your plants, thus cutting down on the amount of water needed from the community water supply for the same purpose.
Use a Push Mower
It may be hard work, but well worth your effort in the end. Electric lawn mowers and leaf blowers are known to contribute significantly to global warming with their high carbon emission levels. So ditch these gadgets and go the eco-friendly way by buying a push mower instead. You can also use a good old rake to remove the leaves on the lawn.
Leave the grass clippings on the grass
After cutting the grass, leave the clippings on the ground. The grass clippings will great mulch for the soil and retain moisture. This way, you don’t need to waste a lot of water in watering the lawn.
Make your own compost
Instead of relying on artificial fertilizers for your lawn, consider using homemade compost for the same purpose. All you need to do is set up a composter and deposit all your other yard waste into it. The composter will create great mulch that can be used to fertilize your lawn so that is grows nicely without the need for synthetic fertilizers.
Use Sustainable Lighting Solutions like Solar/LED lights
You would want your lawn to look cool even in the night. However, there is no need to use standard outdoor lights that not only release harmful gases when burning, but also run up your electricity bills. You can opt for eco-friendly alternatives like solar or LED lights. While solar lights tend to get dim after some time, LED lights will keep your lawn bright throughout the night.
Allow the lawn to go brown
No amount of watering is going to make your lawn look green throughout the summer. So stop watering the lawn frequently in the summer. It’s ok if the lawn turns dull and brown. It will always become green again once the rains hit. So when your lawn starts turning brown, consider it as a temporary break rather than a permanent one, and refrain from watering it every few hours.
There are plenty of ways to take care of lawns in an eco-friendly manner. From using organic fertilizers and composting to harvesting rain water, these are some of the eco-friendly ways in which you can take care of your lawn better.
