Winter may seem like an odd time to think about your lawn, but I assure you, it is the perfect time to re-think your strategies for that giant green nitrogen-junkie lying outside your front door.
As a one-upon-a-time professional landscaper, I know a bit about lawns. My kids used to call my property "Kingwood West".
It was bound to happen, my father was a lawn fanatic. Your family played sports? We watered, fed, mowed the lawn in "stripes"...
...and used chemicals, chemicals chemicals.
But it doesn't have to be that way. You can enjoy a patch of green and still have a life. In fact, I submit you will have a better life if you knock off stressing over your lawn and just start enjoying it for a change.
Think about the time and money you have spent on keeping that junkie green, and consider some alternative options.
That goes for your garden, too. You can learn to manage your pest problems and have a healthier product in the end. Maybe this is the winter you will start educating yourself on organic practises for your lawn and garden.
I will be teaching some of those practises to the Richland County Master Gardeners and the Richland County Men's Garden Club. If you are interested in enjoying you lawn more and working less, join me at the Midwest Native Plant Conference in July. You'll find a link to their website in my side-bar.
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Soon you'll be lounging around enjoying your spare time, or off chasing birds and butterflies, like me!
Whatever you choose to do with your newly found time and money, won't it be nice to know you'll never have to handle those chemicals again?
I agree that people should ease back on their fanaticism with beautiful green lawns. A well-groomed, weed-free lawn offers very little to wildlife and costs energy, time, and effort to maintain.
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