Green Ideas for Your Yard

Going green seems to be on everyone's mind these days. The following tips are some good ideas to consider when working outdoors that will help make our planet a better place, regardless of where you fall on the organic scale:

Skip the Phosphorous When You Fertilize.
Fertilizing your lawn can be environmentally friendly provided you choose your fertilizer carefully and apply it correctly. As far as your lawn is concerned, the nutrients in a synthetic fertilizer are really no different than the nutrients in an organic variety. When you look at any bag of fertilizer, you will see a series of three numbers on the label. Nitrogen, the first number, is the key ingredient for lawn growth. The second number phosphorous (P) is the component that the Earth conscious homeowner should look at.

If you live near water sources such streams, lakes and ponds, high phosphorous levels can cause rapid plant growth that chokes out fish and other water life. Keeping phosphorous out of water is the goal. So what can you do? Purchase a fertilizer that contains very little or no phosphorous. In most cases, your soil has enough available phosphorous which makes additions unnecessary. In the series of numbers on the label, look for a second number of 0.

Read Fertilizer Labels Carefully.
One noteworthy point for any concerned homeowner is that a fertilizer made from an organic source may now be less green than a synthetic fertilizer. If the organic source has a 5:1 ratio of nitrogen to phosphorous, and the synthetic source is 15:1, it is easy to see you are applying three times more phosphorous with the presumed safe organic choice. Learning to read the label is the key.

Mulch Your Grass Clippings.
This sounds pretty simple, and you may have been doing it all along with your mulching mower, but if you are bagging clippings you are taking away valuable nutrients that would simply be recycled back into the lawn. Mulch can save you one or two fertilization applications per season. Most newer mowers come equipped with a mulching blade that can be used to mulch leaves. In fact, recent tests have shown that some leaves, especially those from sugar and red maple trees, provide a natural form of weed control when mulched back into the lawn.

Sweep up all Fertilizer and Grass Clippings from Hard Surfaces.
When grass clippings or fertilizer are left on driveways, sidewalks or streets, rain may wash them into the sewer system and eventually area waterways. If you spill fertilizer or grass clippings on your driveway, sweep it up and place it in a flowerbed.

Plant Something.
Trees, shrubs and flowers all add beauty to your home while providing wildlife habitat and preventing soil erosion. Trees are great for the environment they reduce pollution while helping to cool your home in the summer.

Five Easy Tips to Get More Green from Your Lawn and Yard

1. Before you toss anything away, think of what else you could use it for. Yogurt and similarly sized cartons are perfect as next year's seed starter pots. A gallon milk jug with the bottom cut off on an angle makes a great scoop for fertilizer, potting soil or driveway salt in winter. You can create a wind chime from aluminum cans and hang it on a stake in your garden to shoo away creatures. It's fun to repurpose things and it saves money!

2. Do one of two things with your grass clippings: Bag them and put them in your compost pile; or get a mulching blade for your lawn mower which will cut the grass blades into fine pieces, returning them to your lawn as a natural form of fertilizer.

3. Grow salad greens in a large flower pot right outside your kitchen window. Many types of lettuce and radishes grow quickly and you will have an ample supply of healthy food within less than a month.

Use layers of old newspapers to create a garden bed. Place them on the garden bed site, right over the lawn. Soak them with water and place two to three inches of dirt, compost or mulch on top. By spring, the grass will be smothered and you'll be ready to plant.

4. Let your lawn grow a little bit longer before you mow. It's healthy for the lawn. Just be sure to cut one-third the length of the grass when you do mow again.

Mow high. The environmental benefits of mowing higher are many. Higher grass will shade the soil and promote deeper roots, which leads to less watering. The shade of a thicker turf also discourages weeds... bye-bye herbicides! Simply follow the one-third rule. Don't cut more than 1/3 of the leaf blade in any single mowing.

5. Control weeds naturally. Proper lawn care should discourage weeds from taking over. But if you want an extra edge, one of your best defenses is corn gluten meal. While it won't kill existing weeds, it will prevent new weeds from germinating. You can find this product at home and garden centers.

Water conservatively. More does not mean better. One inch per week should be plenty, depending on the weather. Let Mother Nature do the work when possible.

Use boiling water to kill weeds growing up in the cracks of your sidewalk or patio.

So, get your green on outside too. Keep up with lawn care basics and you'll be right in step with the green movement.

Source: Yard Smarts, Briggs and Stratton Corp.