Organic Lawn Care:
If replacing your lawn is not an option, there are ecologically friendly ways of maintaining it. The Manitoba Eco-network, an environmental non-governmental organization, offers free workshops on how to have a beautiful lawn without using fertilizers and pesticides which can be harmful to streams, wildlife and ourselves. The workshops cover pesticide impacts, alternative lawn care techniques, as well as other landscaping options (Manitoba Eco-Network, 2006). Instead of using manufactured fertilizer on your lawn, grass clippings, compost, or manure are great ways of supplying nutrients to the lawn. Aerating the lawn will also improve its health by increasing the air and water penetration of the soil. Aeration can be particularly important in Winnipeg with our highly compacted clay soils (Manitoba Eco-Network, 2006). Another way to achieve a thick healthy lawn is to overseed the lawn with new seeds. By adding different types of grass seeds, the lawn will be more diverse and better able to withstand stresses and disease. Water is an important factor in the health of the lawn, and lawn should be watered in the early morning as evening watering may result in pooling of water and the promotion of fungal growth or disease (Manitoba Eco-Network, 2006). Mowing the lawn at a higher height will also help the soil preserve moisture by shading the ground. Sometimes undesirable species such as crabgrass or dandelions will invade a lawn. To prevent this from happening, corn glutenmeal can be applied right after the snow melts in spring (Manitoba Eco-Network, 2006).
GREEN MAP
Land: Habitat
- Organic Lawncare
Aerating a lawn. Source:. http://www.healthylawns.net/
english/homelawns/lawn_maint-e.html#aera
Overseeding a lawn. Source: Manitoba Eco-Netowork
Summary:
There are many alternatives to environmentally costly traditional lawns. Naturescaping is just one alternative, but it helps preserve or re-establish native wildlife habitat within our cities. Other environmental benefits include reduced water consumption, less energy and chemicals consumed in maintenance, promotion and preservation of local plant species, and a better-connected ecological landscape. Perhaps even more importantly, naturescaped yards can help address the disconnect that often exists between urban dwellers and the natural environment by providing opportunities for learning and discovery and allowing us a little piece of the natural environment to observe and form attachment to right in our own backyards.
Painted lady butterfly. Source: T. McLachlan, p.178 in Naturescape Manitoba
Manitoba’s native lily: Western red lily. Source: J. Shearer p.53 in Naturescape Manitoba
red squirrels. Source: I. Ward p. 153 in Naturescape Manitoba
Leopard frog, common to
most of Manitoba. Source:
http://www.naturenorth.com/
1np/Species/amphibian/1Ffrle.html