Environmentally Friendly Lawn Care
 

Environmentally Friendly Lawn Care: if there is such a thing.

I haven't used any lawn treatments this year (Nitrogen-based fertilizer) or excessive watering. I just can't justify it environmentally. But, the grasses are in a state of deterioration.

Unfortunately, the yard shows it. So, the entire thing is a mess. The back neighbor built a wall up to the property line (into the natural rain drainage swale), and the one next to him waters like mad. The result: a marsh and dead vegetation on my side.

In the front: grass is planted on limestone gravel and clay from construction 3 years ago. Back yard: excessive heat and direct sunlight on a slight hill -- also very clay-like soil.

Luckily, the small tree in front has gotten lots of care and appears to be the healthiest in the neighborhood. :)

So, what to do? Are environmentally friendly lawn care options viable? Something should probably be done before Winter sets-in, or else it may get to the point of a codes violation next Spring :o

I'd love to collect the run-off from the excessive watering neighbor, and use it for myself :D. I might have to dig a French Drain with a pump, but there are lots of electrical, cable, and tel-comm lines in the soggy area :( .

Meh, what to do...

RH77

Get yourself a couple 55 gallon drums from the pepsi plant and set up a little rainwater collection/watering system. It'll be cheap, effective, and you can combat those silly droughts MO gets in the summer.

You know someone thought of this... on Instructables :p

Switch over to eco friendly detergents and you'll kill two birds with one stone :p unfortunately, that might not be a quick installment - and if your micro controller knowledge is equal to mine (1%), that's another hindrance (unless you make it more manual like) :/

Rain Barrels are a good idea (if you can).

Planting shade should prevent the grass from roasting... Xeriscaping is nice, but then you lose the use of that lawn area.

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Do you compost? That's a pretty easy way to recycle organic waste and provide some nitrogen....

my whole front yard is Zero-scaped. The lawn got torn out and now i dont have to mow it :) the roots coming from the tree were a pain and its on a hill..
Ive also got 2 garbage cans hooked up under the gutter spout, and it works when we DO get rain...
We've also got a compost set up.
hmm.. what else...

I don't think monocultures are ever a good idea, so maybe adding some more stuff to the mix can help everything out? I kinda enjoy having no lawn.

i use ivy, around the 2 trees in the backyard. this saves me mowing sq yards. and the gas that i used to mow that area.