Everywhere you look people are seeking organic foods and other products.
There are organic cotton bed sheets and organic cheeses. Environmental practices are taking hold nationwide, including neighborhood gardens.
When your lawn and garden is pesticide free your children are not exposed to toxins, nor are your pets. To become a part of the movement for more sustainable domestic living, read our 5 organic lawn care tips for a pesticide free landscape.
1. Be Proactive About Your Lawn’s Health
If you want to avoid using pesticides and herbicides on your lawn, the answer is rather simple: make your lawn as healthy and strong as possible, naturally.
Over-Seed Your Lawn
One way to be proactive is to over-seed your grass or to spread grass seed over your existing lawn. This strategy combats natural grass thinning and keeps your lawn full.
Over-seeding at the recommended rate (found on the seed product label) allows grass to remain healthy and strong enough to naturally fight off weeds without the use of chemicals.
Lawn Aeration
Another eco-friendly lawn care technique to ensure your grass is at its full health is to aerate the soil.
This is the process of perforating the soil so that nutrients and water can better reach grass roots, allowing your lawn to grow stronger and fuller. Aeration also helps avoid overly compacted soil.
You might also spray the grass with compost tea. This should result in a thick, healthy lawn that will repel all of your common garden enemies.
To start implementing organic lawn care techniques on your property, a skilled landscape contractor can also help you maintain your lawn naturally.
2. Mowing Matters
To keep your grass free of weeds, and at optimum health, you’ll want to pay attention to how you mow it.
You will want to use the sharpest mower blades you can. Dull blades tear the grass and weaken it, making it more susceptible to weeds that may require attention later.
It’s also important to maintain your grass to at least 3 inches high. This is the optimal eco-friendly lawn mowing strategy that gives the blades adequate time to mature and to help create a healthy, strong root system.
3. Compost to Protect Plants from Insects
Compost and compost tea can help your plants remain healthy even when insects abound.
Most gardeners maintain a compost pile and use it to enrich their soil. Others also steep their compost in a bucket of water and spray the “tea” all over their plants.
Anything you can do to make healthier plants (like compost and compost tea) is beneficial in the garden. Then, if you encounter an infestation of bad bugs, your plants will be better able to withstand the attacks and you may be able to avoid using harsh chemicals to correct the situation.
4. Discourage Pesticides in Your Neighborhood
While your lawn and garden may be free of all toxic poisons, your neighbors might still be spraying the same old chemicals that deplete the soil and put other living beings at risk.
You might want to discuss the use of pesticides with your neighbors or post helpful information regarding organic practices on neighborhood bulletin boards, such as Next Door.
Consider that if your neighbor sprays their lawn with pesticides and herbicides, those chemicals can easily blow or wash over into your lawn. Since some of these chemicals have been linked to the decimation of the bee population, these practices might be jeopardizing the wider environment.
5. Natural Weed Killers
Rather than giving up and resorting to an herbicide when weeds encroach your lawn’s natural beauty, you can use something natural, like vinegar.
Vinegar will kill your weeds without toxifying the environment. Keep in mind that vinegar will also kill the plants you prefer, so be very careful when spraying.
Ultimately, the best way to protect your lawn from weeds is to practice preventative, proactive lawn care. If you focus on keeping your grass and garden healthy, it will reduce the amount of weed control you’ll need to do down the line, and allow you to maintain a chemical free lawn and garden.
Crowley Organic Lawn Care
Our landscape contractors understand the importance of maintaining a healthy lawn using organic lawn care techniques.
Our experienced team installs and maintains a variety of landscapes for residences and commercial properties. We can help you create and naturally care for a healthy, pesticide free landscape.
Contact Crowley Landscape Management today!