Tip Sheet
Suburban Lawns
Climate ready maintenance practices
Situation:
Modern lawn care practices contribute to the warming of our planet. Fortunately, there are easy changes you can make to significantly to reduce the damage that lawn maintenance causes.
Tip: Use electric tools
Gas powered tools are heavy emitters of gasses that warm the planet. Switching to electric will help save the planet and will likely save you money.
Tip: Grow it long
Set your mower to a higher setting and let the clippings fall into the lawn.
– Longer lawns have longer roots below surface, protecting them in hotter months
– Longer grass provides more shade for the soil, blocking weed growth and conserving water
– Grass clippings are incorporated into the soil and provide 25-40% of the lawn’s nitrogen needs, reducing the need for added fertilizer
– Longer lawns have longer roots below surface, protecting them in hotter months
– Longer grass provides more shade for the soil, blocking weed growth and conserving water
– Grass clippings are incorporated into the soil and provide 25-40% of the lawn’s nitrogen needs, reducing the need for added fertilizer
Tip: Reduce Fertilizers
Fertilizer. We over-fertilize our lawns, using as much as ten times what the lawn needs. Excess fertilizer is not stored. It either runs off into waterways causing environmental issues, or it turns into a gas that heats the planet.
NOTE: get Jim Kropf to agree on wording regarding the frequency and quantity of fertilizer.
Manufacturers generally sell fertilizer in quantities much larger than you can use. Give your unused fertilizer to a neighbor and save them some money!
NOTE: get Jim Kropf to agree on wording regarding the frequency and quantity of fertilizer.
Manufacturers generally sell fertilizer in quantities much larger than you can use. Give your unused fertilizer to a neighbor and save them some money!
Tip: Minimize Herbicides
Herbicides. Do not use “Weed and…” products which apply herbicide to 100% of your lawn when your weed problem is only a small fraction of the surface area of your lawn. The excess herbicide is harmful to pollinators and the critters in the soil. If you have a weed problem that you cannot address manually, chemically treat only the affected area.
Watering
Our summers are hotter and drier than in the past. Warmer winters lead to declining snow pack, which is where our water supply is stored for summer use. Increasingly, even in Western Washington, our water resources will come under stress. Irrigating your yard is one of the largest uses of water. Anything you can do to more efficiently deliver irrigation to your lawn is in your, and your plants’ best interest.
Tip: Water deeply and infrequently.
Watering by hose. If you set a sprinkler, one inch per week depends on your sprinkler but it is usually on the order of 45 minutes to one hour per setting per week. You can measure the output of your sprinkler by setting cans in the yard and measuring the depth of the water in the can after 45 minutes and adjust.
Tip: Water deeply and infrequently.
Automated irrigation. If you have an automatic irrigation system, you need to check the program to ensure it is set to a weekly watering. Service providers often set irrigation to 10 minutes daily. This encourages your plants to set shallow roots which will stress rapidly during a heat wave.