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Natural Lawn Care |
How to ween your lawn off chemicals
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| All those dead
leaves that cover the lawn in fall are not a problem
but a valued resource. Run over them several times
with a mulching mower to break them up. They’ll
eventually return organic matter to your lawn. |
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As more and more Canadian municipalities
ban the cosmetic use of pesticides, many gardeners are left
wondering how to manage their lawns without letting them become
a haven for dandelions, other weeds and pests. Well, there’s
good news for these gardeners—and anyone else concerned
about pesticide use: almost all lawn problems can be dealt with
organically.
Michael Pascoe has been caring for 100 acres of turf, without
using synthetic chemical pesticides, for the past 15 years at
Cuddy Gardens, a private estate garden near London, Ontario.
Pascoe is a horticulturist, but he sounds more like a Buddhist
monk on the subject of organic maintenance: “If there
are problems with your lawn, you need to ask, ‘Why are
they there?’”
The key is to identify the underlying cause—the “why”—of
your ailing grass. Quite often the problem comes down to soil
depleted of nutrients and organic matter, and lack of aeration.
More good news: autumn is the perfect time to give your lawn
an organic pick-me-up, which will get at the root causes of
turf traumas and ensure vigour come spring.
Organic maintenance in fall basically consists of a trio of
tasks: aerating, top dressing and fertilizing. All three will
improve your soil, providing a healthy foundation on which your
lawn can thrive. (See “The
Gentle Approach”)
Along with these three practices, there are a few other fall
tasks that may be required, depending on how well your grass
has come through the rigours of summer, the main challenges
being drought, pests and weeds.
If, for example, there are bare patches, early fall (six to
eight weeks before frost) is a good time to overseed. Rake the
soil, sow the seeds, then lightly rake again. Top-dress with
a very thin layer (about one centimetre thick) of topsoil; water
well, keeping the area moist until seeds sprout and the grass
thickens.
For pest and weed problems, there are a number of organic products
on the market that you can apply in autumn. And here’s
a heads-up: Lorelei Hepburn, owner of the Ontario-based organic
lawn-care company Environmental Factor, predicts that leatherjackets
(the larvae of the adult crane fly, which looks like a large
mosquito) will be a common pest this fall. She suggests pulling
back the sod to look for the greenish brown larvae (see “Sneak
Peek”). In early September, there won’t
be any visible lawn damage yet; however, if it’s mid-October,
you’ll likely see brown patches if there are leatherjackets.
It’s best to look for these pests in a couple of different
places. Another sign of the larvae is the presence of crane
flies. If you do find leatherjackets, you can buy beneficial
nematodes (microscopic parasites that destroy insect pests such
as cutworms and Japanese beetles) to spray on the lawn to control
them. Available commercially at select nurseries, nematodes
can also be used to control white grubs (the larvae of various
beetles), which could be found in the soil at this time as well.
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1. Managing your lawn without chemicals| 2.
Other ideas for improving your lawn |
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