Top Tips for a ‘Green’ Lawn

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

 

You may have a green lawn, but is your lawn environmentally green? If you’re concerned about the effects of your lawn on the environment, you can keep it weed-free and reduce water use with a little planning.

A scraggly, weedy lawn is definitely unattractive. However, drenching it with weed killer can harm beneficial pollinators and contribute to runoff that harms waterways. You don’t have to let weeds grow to feed pollinators. Consider planting butterfly bush, a wildflower area and other plants that attract pollinators.

If you’re starting a new lawn, select grass varieties that resist drought. Sarah Van Eenwyk, general manager of Grandpa’s Nursery & Gardens in Sodus, recommends low-water and low-nutrient fescues.

“A lot of times, we sell a seed that’s called Summer Green Supreme, a hard fescue blend,” Van Eenwyk said. “Those fescues will be lower maintenance grasses.”

The roots of fescue varieties can reach deep enough into the soil so that the grass can survive without much rain or watering.

How much grass seed you sow can also make a difference in how many weeds grow in your lawn. Van Eenwyk said that the thicker the lawn, the more likely it will choke out weeds and crabgrass. Err on the generous side when planting grass seed.

Feeding the lawn also matters in keeping it thick. Van Eenwyk sells Espoma, an organic brand that offers an entire lawn program and organic Milorganite, “which works well for lawns,” she said.

Kyle Van Putte, CEO and president of Van Putte Gardens in Rochester, said his center sells four- and five-step lawn programs, but he also believes that “a well-irrigated and well-fertilized lawn without all those other inputs will keep pests and weeds at bay. If you have a lush lawn, then there’s less opportunity for pests and weeds to attack it.”

Mowing the lawn too short is not good for the environment. It requires more frequent mowing and thus more opportunities to generate lawnmower emissions. If yours is a small plot, consider investing in a reel mower.

Van Putte recommends mowing to 2.5” to 3” high. Frequent mowing means the grass is so short that it requires more watering.

“You don’t want it so short that you’re constantly having to irrigate it,” Van Putte said.

Some areas of the country struggle with a low water table and must institute watering bans to make it through the summer. Typically, Rochester is cool and rainy enough during the summer that watering isn’t a big issue. But drought years sometimes can mean watering is necessary to keep the grass green.

“You should irrigate your lawn once to twice weekly in the summertime,” Van Putte said. “It’s a very natural way to keep weeds and pests away. Make sure you’re leaving your clippings. That will naturally feed your lawn and provide some moisture retention more often rather than constantly removing those clippings.”

Timing matters when it comes to watering the lawn. Mike Nolan, owner of Green Acres Garden Center in Liverpool, advising watering during the first part of the day so that the lawn isn’t wet overnight.

“You can get more diseases that way, especially when it’s in the heat of summer,” he said. “If it gets a disease, you may need to treat it with chemicals.”

Watering early enough also prevents excessive evaporation, which wastes water.

Always follow package directions when using any lawn amendments.