Environmental impact of a healthy lawn.
Heard of global warming? Few people realise that a healthy lawn does wonders for the
environment in which we live.
Why does grass always feel cooler when barefoot in Summer? Because lawns
cool your environment and when compared to other surfaces, well maintained turf
can be as much as 15°C cooler. Did you know that eight average lawns have the
equivalent cooling effect of 70 tonnes of air conditioning!
Grass is also a very efficient air filter absorbing CO2, Ozone, and all sorts of other
poisonous gasses, converting them to oxygen. In fact, 100 square metres of lawn
will produce more than enough oxygen to meet the daily air quality needs of a family of
four!
Mowing
Mow high, often and with sharp blades.
Mowing high and keeping your grass a bit longer will produce
stronger, healthier grass with fewer pest and disease problems. Longer grass has more leaf surface to take in sunlight. This
enables it to grow thicker and develop a deeper root system, which in
turn helps the grass survive drought, tolerate insect damage, and fend
off diseases. Longer grass also shades the soil surface keeping it
cooler, helping it retain moisture, and making it difficult for weeds to
germinate and grow.
A lawn's ideal length will vary with the type of grass. Ideally the grass length should be
around 2 inches but this is often too long for most people. Therefore, as a general rule
we recommend keeping grass length about 1 ½ inches. Never cut your lawn too short
(below 1 inch) as it will damage the grass and helps weeds, insects and diseases to take
hold. A healthy lawn can out-compete most weeds, survive most insect attacks, and fend
off most diseases before these problems ever get the upper hand.
It is also important to mow with sharp blades to prevent tearing and
injuring the grass. And it's best to mow often, because grass adjusts
better to frequent than infrequent mowing. The rule of thumb is to mow
often enough that you never cut more than one-third of the height of the
grass blades.
We recommend that lawn clippings are always collected and composted as otherwise
they collect on your lawn as surface thatch which will have adverse consequences on
moss and disease control.
Watering
Watering properly will help your lawn to grow deep roots that make it
stronger and less vulnerable to drought. Most lawns are watered too
often but with too little water. It's best to water only when the lawn
really needs it, and then to water slowly and deeply. This trains the
grass roots down. Frequent shallow watering trains the roots to stay
near the surface, making the lawn less able to find moisture during dry
periods.
Try to water your lawn in a way that imitates a slow, soaking rain,
by using trickle irrigation, soaker hoses, or other water-conserving
methods. It's also best to water late at night or in the early morning, especially during
hot summer months, to reduce evaporation. Apply about an inch of
water-enough that it soaks 6-8 inches into the soil. Then let the lawn
dry out thoroughly before watering it again.
The best rule is to water only when the lawn begins to wilt from
dryness when the colour dulls and footprints stay compressed for more
than a few seconds.
