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Going Green: How to get a healthy looking lawn without jeopardizing the health of your children or the environment.

The Quick Facts: If you want a "green" lawn that is primarily green grass, getting a "green" lawn is a multi-step process that involves much more than just giving up the use of chemical pesticides. This article discusses a multi-step approach to getting a lawn that is green—both in color and in being eco-friendly, will leave your neighbors green with envy, and will be safe for your children, pets and local wildlife.

Giving up the use of chemical pesticides on your lawn does not have to mean giving up on having a pretty piece of property. You can have a lawn that is green, will leave your neighbors green with envy, and will be safe for your children, pets and local wildlife. (For information on the health and environmental risks associated with chemical lawn pesticides, see Real Mama, Inc.'s Spring 2007 Issue article, entitled The "Green" Lawn Care Sell: Why for the sake of your kids and the environment you should choose a "green" lawn.)

Step 1. Assess the Existing Lawn and Soil Quality
As with any project, before you hit the ground running it's best to take a look at the big picture, organize, and address the issues. If your lawn is really a morass of weeds and grass varieties not intended for the climate in which you live, it might be best to kill the old lawn (by de-sodding or tarping in the summer) and re-establish a new one. If, on the other hand, the majority of your lawn is climate-hardy grasses, you have a sufficient base of topsoil (ideally a lawn should have 5" to 6" of topsoil), and you're willing to accept that a "green" lawn renovation could take multiple years, it may be best for you to work with what you have.

Soil quality can be determined by sending a sample to a soil-testing lab (many state university cooperative extensions provide this service for very reasonable fees) which measures pH and various nutrient levels, as well as the percentage of organic matter in the soil. Most labs will provide both chemical and organic recommendations to correct deficiencies and obtain optimal conditions for intended use (turf or garden). Soil quality is key to a vibrant lawn, so using the recommendations add organic matter (you can topdress existing lawn with compost) as necessary.

Step 2. Seed
Your local cooperative extension or nursery can offer advice on which grasses are best-adapted for your climate and most pest-resistant. A mix of two or more grass varieties is usually recommended, and the ratio of one type to another may vary depending on amount of sunlight and traffic. When looking for seed, use high-quality certified seed that contains zero percent weed seeds. Keep in mind that many conventional seeds are coated with fungicides, so look for seed that is fungicide-free. Additionally, consider seed that is endophyte-enhanced, meaning it contains beneficial fungi that are effective in killing certain lawn-damaging insects (but don't use such seed in pastures as it can be injurious to some grazing animals). Particularly in the northern states, for best results, seed your lawn as early as possible in the spring and in the fall, by first roughing up the soil surface with a rake or shovel, spreading the seed, and gently raking it into the soil.

Step 3. Aerate
In order to ensure improved root growth of your grasses and reduced weed problems, perform core aeration using a rented mechanical aerator in the spring and fall. Removing small plugs of soil (at a recommended rate of about 9 per square foot) and leaving the plugs on the lawn surface to decompose helps air, water and nutrients to reach grass roots.

Step 4. De-thatch
If your lawn has a layer of thatch (old grass stems and roots sitting on the soil surface) that is greater than 1/2-inch think, the thatch may inhibit proper grass root growth, harbor insects, and lead to disease and weather stress. De-thatch by using a mechanical de-thatcher and/or by power raking, and work to prevent thatch build-up by aerating, topdressing soil with organic matter, and seeding with grass that is less susceptible to thatch formation.

Step 5. Fertilize
Grasses, like all plants, require proper ratios of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium for proper growth. For "green" lawns, natural organic fertilizers (such as bone meal, blood meal, alfalfa meal, aged manure, etc.) are preferable to chemical fertilizers because they release nutrients more slowly, thereby increasing the efficiency of nutrient uptake, while chemical fertilizers may kill valuable microorganisms in the soil. Using the results from your soil quality test, which should provide recommendations for specific quantities of specific organic fertilizers apply organic fertilizers as required. (The following website also provides a list of soil care objectives and soil deficiencies with recommended organic fertilizers: http://www.extremelygreen.com/fertilizerguide.cfm.)

Step 6. Water
As with all plants, too little or too much water can be a problem for grass growth. Too much leads to fungal disease, too little leads to shallow roots and susceptibility to stress. If you want to be most-environmentally sensitive, seed your lawn with grasses that are more drought-resistant and allow it to go dormant during hot, dry summers (ensuring 1/2-inch of water reaches the lawn every four to six weeks to keep the crowns and roots alive). If you want to keep the lawn green throughout the summer, experts recommend ensuring your lawn receives one inch of water weekly or enough to wet the soil down to the grass root zone (use a rain gauge and trowel to monitor water quantity, and water in the early morning to decrease water loss from evaporation).

Step 7. Mow Properly and Remove Leaves
Experts recommend mowing organic lawns with a sharp blade (ragged tips lead to water loss and susceptibility to disease) to a maintained height of 3", while removing no more than 1/3 of the leaf blade at one cutting, and mowing at right angles on alternate mowings. Keeping the grass longer shades the soil, helps prevent weed seed germination and reduces water loss. When mowing, don't bag the cut grass, but instead leave it on the lawn to return nutrients and organic matter to the soil. If you do not have a mulching mower, rake the longer grass clippings to brake down clumps.

While you might think that leaving your leaves on the lawn in the fall to break down is a good way of adding organic matter, too many whole tree leaves left over a long period of time may kill patches of turfgrass. Instead, chop leaves with a mulching mower and spread them evenly over the lawn, or, if you have a plethora of leaves, remove them from the lawn and compost them for later lawn application.

8. Control the Weeds, Insects and Disease
Experts agree that your lawn's best defense to weeds, insects and disease is a healthy, vigorous lawn. Organic lawn care controls these pests with proper maintenance and biological options, rather than synthetic chemicals.

Weeds. In addition to proper lawn maintenance, you may be able to manage weeds by mowing weed flowers to prevent seed set, pulling weeds by hand, and applying organic herbicides, such as corn gluten and/or a fatty acid soap.

Early spring is the best time to naturally tackle weeds in your lawn. Strike now while the seeds are lying dormant by spreading 10 to 20 pounds of corn gluten meal per thousand square feet of lawn. Corn gluten is an effective pre-emergent herbicide that has been found to control weeds such as crabgrass, dandelions, and smartweed. Keep in mind that corn gluten will prevent the successful germination of ALL seeds including grass seeds. Experts advise that you get the corn gluten down early and apply the grass seed six weeks later.

Herbicidal soaps, which lead to dehydration and death of plants, are most effective against small annual and biennial weeds. Note that these soaps should be applied carefully as they are non-selective and can adversely affect all plants, not just weeds.

Disease. Undesirable (for your turfgrass) environmental conditions such as moisture issues and poor soils lead to disease problems, including lawn fungus. The best approach to control of lawn disease problems is proper soil quality, grass selection, and lawn maintenance.

Insects. Keep in mind that not all insects in your lawn are lawn pests, and many insects actually help to limit lawn pests. Again, the most effective pest management is appropriate grass selection and proper lawn maintenance. If despite proper maintenance your careful monitoring finds common lawn pests such as grubs, chinch bugs and sod webworms, you can attempt to control them by applying certain bacterium, nematode parasites, or insecticidal soaps, depending on the particular pest problem. Contact your local nursery or cooperative extension for more information on integrated pest management practices.

Information used in this article was found at the following sources, which you can visit if you want to find out more about this topic:

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/lawn/index.htm (website devoted to "halt[ing] the senseless use and exposure to lawn pesticides that are so pervasively used in the U.S."; provides multitude of links related to alternative lawn care and information on the hazards of chemical lawn care)

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/alternatives/factsheets/Least-toxic%20Lawn%20Care_05.pdf (Beyond Pesticides fact sheet: "8 Steps to a Toxic-Free Lawn")

http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=544&bhcd2=1146338552

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/4000/4031.html (although specific to the Ohio climate, a thorough resource for organic lawn care; also provides a non-exhaustive list of catalog sources for organic lawn care supplies).

http://www.theorganicreport.com/pages/462_taking_care_of_your_lawn_without_using_pesticides.cfm (reprint of Journal of Pesticide Reform article entitled, Taking Care of Your Lawn without Using Pesticides)

http://www.toxicsinfor.org/Lawn/HealthyBeautifulLawn.htm (provides concise, yet detailed information on organic lawn maintenance)


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