LEAVE IT A LAWN
An acre of
lawn needs more than 27,000 gallons
of water every week. But Americans use even more than that; we routinely overwater our
lawns by
20 to 40%.
BACKGROUND.
Lawn
care isn't something you normally associate with saving the Earth. But when you
consider that thereare an estimated 20 million acres of lawn‑and some 600
trillion grass plants‑in the U.S., you can see the impact that watering,
fertilizing, and mowing them might have.
If
you have a lawn, it's worthwhile to learn a few environmentally sound ways of
taking care of it.
mow, mow, mow Some Mower Facts:
Set
your mower blades high. Don't be a victim of "golf course syndrome."
Many Americans believe a healthy lawn looks like a manicured golf course; but
the opposite is true. For most types of grass, the proper length is 2" to
3" high. This encourages longer, healthier mots, and provides natural
shade for the ground around each plant‑which enables it to retain moisture in the soil.
Keep
mower blades sharp. Dull blades tear grass (instead of cleanly cutting it),
weakening the plants, and making them more susceptible to weeds and disease.
Grass Clippings:
"Cut it high and let it lie." During dry periods,
leave grass
cuttings on the lawn. This works well if you keep grass long
and cut
small amounts each time. Cuttings will serve as a moisture
retentive mulch and a natural fertilizer.
At
other times, use grass clippings and other lawn and garden waste to make a
compost pile. It will provide your garden with natural mulch and fertilizer ‑‑and
help reduce contributions to your local, landfill. (See p. 86)
FILL ‘ER UP
Most established lawns need about 1" of water a week,
applied slowly to prevent runoff. This is considerably more effective than
shorter, more frequent sprinklings.
How
can you tell if it's an inch? Put 3 cans around the area you're sprinkling, at
varying distances from the sprinkler. Check them every five minutes to see how
long it takes for an inch of water to accumulate in each. Add the 3 times
together, and divide by 3 to get an average. That's how long to water.
Watering Tips:
Due to outdoor watering, water use in America increases by
as
much as 30% in the summer months.
Water from sprinklers evaporates 4 ‑8 times faster
during the
heat of the day than in the early morning. Watering at night
is bet
ter than midday‑there's no evaporation problem‑but it can
cause fungus in the grass plants. Best choice: water in the
morning.
In a drought, don't waste water on grass beginning to turn
brown.
It's dormant and will revive after normal rainfall begins
again.
ABOUT PESTICIDES
Homeowners
use up to 10 times more toxic chemicals per acre than farmers. * The average
homeowner uses 5 to 10 pounds per lawn‑for a na~ tional total of some 25 to 50 million pounds! Many
scientists believe these chemicals endanger the songbird population (by
contaminating the worms they eat), as well as polluting groundwater.
A green, healthy lawn is possible without chemical
pesticides.
(See Source below)
RESULTS
If every lawnowner composted grass clippings, we could cut
the
landfill congestion by a whopping 18% during summer and
spring.
Avoiding
overwatering can save about 12% of a homeowner's water use during the summer‑an average of
over 50 gallons a week. If 100,000 lawnowners do it, 5 million gallons are
saved.
If
even 10% of lawnowners began using organic pesticides, it would remove 2.5 to 5
million pounds of toxic chemicals from the environment every year.
SOURCE
The Chemical‑Free Laum, by Warren Schultz (Rodale Press, 1989).