How to Create a Safe , Beautiful Oasis for Your Family ’ s Fun and Games
by Paul Tukey
Natural Lawns
PHOTO : paul tukey
Lawns . American lawns . Pristine . Perfect . Manicured . Their mere mention can evoke images representing the polar opposite of the goals of natural land conservation within the Ag Reserve of Montgomery County . Statistics tell us that homeowners , in their quest for their own patches of perfection , apply as much as 10 times more chemical products — think fertilizers , insect killers and weed killers — per acre of lawn than the average farmer puts on a field . All of that spraying , mowing , blowing and watering is flat-out terrible for the environment .
The synthetic chemicals in the “ weed and feed ” that many folks use to grow lush , green , uniform lawns are , in many cases , poisons that destroy the underlying soil and harm the surrounding ecosystem while leeching toxins into the ground and exposing them to the water , the air and our lungs and skin . On top of that , typical lawn products make your lawn more dependent on additional chemicals , creating a vicious cycle where your lawn essentially becomes addicted .
I ’ m here to say , however , that lawns are not inherently bad . Following some simple techniques , it ’ s possible to care for your green patch of paradise in a way that ’ s safe for your family , your pets , and the planet . Autumn is , in fact , the optimum lawn care season , when we enjoy cooler temperatures for our back yard barbecues and badminton and bocce matches . It ’ s also the best time of year to do the work of getting the lawn ready for its optimum appearance next year . How you accomplish those tasks will go a long way toward determining just how much your lawn and landscape contributes to the well-being of the earth and its inhabitants .
Even better , I have found that natural , organic lawns are less expensive to maintain in the long run . Although more natural fertilizers are more expensive than their mass-produced counterparts , well-cared-for natural lawns are more resistant to drought , which means far less watering over time . About 50 % less mowing ( because natural lawns grow
32 plenty I autumn harvest 2021