The Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Environmentally Friendly Tips for Your Lawn

11.5 years ago environment, recycle

Who doesn’t appreciate a nice green lawn? Caring for a lawn doesn’t have to be a nightmare. In fact, with a little creativity it can be fun—even if you live in a neighborhood with an overly strict and nosy homeowner’s association and makes seemingly unreasonable demands and is always looking over your shoulder. Here are some of the things to make the task of yard and lawn care easier for you and for the environment.

1. Hire a Professional

Seriously! The easiest way, though not the cheapest, to care for your yard and lawn is to hire someone else to take care of it for you. It’s easy enough to find a professional in your area by using sites like search sites like lawnservice.net or hitting up Craigslist. Professionals do this for a living, know all the tricks of the trade, and bring professional grade equipment that can do the job in half the time.

2. Use a push mower

Mowers that use engines require gasoline. This is terrible for the environment, your lungs, and your wallet. They are also louder than push mowers and while it might be fun to irritate an annoying neighbor, that whole turnabout is fair play thing should keep you in check. Plus, do you really want to spend money to bother your neighbor?

Bonus: engineless/push mowers are more difficult to move, which means you get a better workout when you mow the lawn (which could mean that you no longer need that expensive gym membership!)

3. Compost is Your Friend

Start a compost pile at a far corner of your yard (they’re smelly and aren’t fun when kept under windows). Compost piles are great because they reduce the amount of land-fill bound waste produced by your home. You can compost almost all organic foodstuffs (not meat—compost piles are Vegan) as well as grass clippings and other yard debris. Compost is better for your lawn and plants than fertilizer, it saves you money and it is much better on the environment.

4. Use Rain and Gray Water

Set up a rain collection barrel near your house (they’re easy to set up and use). Stop up your tub and sink when you bathe and wash dishes. Run this water through a simple filter and then use it and the rainwater you’ve collected to water your lawn and your plants. This reduces your water and electric bill by quite a lot. It’s also better for your plants. Just don’t use the gray water or roof runoff to water vegetable or fruit producing plants, they may contain toxins that you don’t want in your food.

5. Rake, Don’t Blow

Leaf blowers are loud, they are obnoxious and they require gasoline to run. They put lots of carbon into the air, which is terrible for the environment. Also, blowing the leaves from your lawn into the street (or someone else’s yard) doesn’t actually solve the problem. It just creates a bigger one for someone else to take care of.

Raking your yard helps you gather up leaves and debris so that your yard looks great. It provides you with a pretty decent workout and can be a fun way to spend an afternoon if you get the whole family involved. Leaves and organic debris are compostable so you can simply add them to your compost pile when you’re done gathering them up (and jumping in them).

These are just five ways that you can care for your yard and be as eco-friendly as possible.  They should even pass a strict Homeowner’s Association’s standards (especially if you keep your compost pile covered so the smell doesn’t spread or attract critters)!