Make your goal green as grass
We get a lot of questions about lawns. They’re a point of pride for many homeowners.
Lawns are also subject to scrutiny from environmentalists who point out that they don’t support much in the way of biodiversity, and can be demanding of water — especially by those who keep their grass lush and green in summer’s dry spells.
We take the middle ground on the subject. Certainly, there are higher uses for a property carpeted in lawn from end to end, but sod also serves as a useful filler and few ground covers stand up better in high-traffic areas.
We have some recommendations for the best-looking lawn this spring as well as some alternatives:
■Rake. Using a soft rake, get the air flowing through grass blades to minimize snow mould and powdery mildew, and to accelerate the greening up. Don’t go at it too hard; you shouldn’t be dethatching your lawn.
■ Aerate high-traffic areas that can get compacted. Make sure you pull cores out of the ground when aerating, rather than using the spike method, which simply compacts the soil in the wrong direction.
■ Fertilize using a slow-release spring fertilizer blend. Look for a slow-release ingredient that feeds your lawn over many weeks.
■ Overseed using a three centimetre layer of lawn soil or triple mix and a high-quality grass seed mix. Thickening your lawn in the fall and spring is your best defence against weed pressure throughout the season.
If you’re among the growing number of people who are looking to replace their lawn, here are our favourite ideas:
■ Grow food in a raised bed constructed atop your previous lawn. Build an open-bottom raised bed in a sunny part of your yard with a 10-to-20-page layer of newspaper at the bottom to smother the grass. Then backfill with at least 30 cm of the best quality soil you can afford with a generous quantity of compost mixed with about 30 per cent sand. And then plant your veggie garden!
■ Establish a “living carpet” of low-growing perennials. This works best in areas of lower foot traffic. Be sure to avoid invasive plants such as periwinkle (Vinca minor), English ivy (Hedera helix), and goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria).
Wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) is a native that grows well among existing lawns, will tolerate light foot traffic and shade, produces flowers for pollinators in the spring and tiny, sweet strawberries later in the season.
Blue violet (Viola sororia) is a fastgrowing groundcover that pairs well with wild strawberry and is a host plant to colourful fritillary butterflies. Pennsylvania sedge (Carex
pensylvanica) is another native plant that tolerates moderate foot traffic. Unlike typical turf grasses, Pennsylvania sedge is an important host plant for some butterfly species.
■ Go the easy route, with an “ecomix” seed mixture. Ontario Seed Co. is one of the companies that offer them — consider the Flowering Ecological Seed Mixture (a blend of wildflowers and fescues), or the Low Maintenance mix. Start your seed as you would grass seed, overseeding a typical lawn but with a wilder look. The results require less water and fertilizer (if any) after it is established, while supporting an abundance of wildlife.
■ Go wild if you don’t need a place to run around or host picnics. Look at your lawn area as a blank canvas for a whole new garden.
Homegrown National Park is a grassroots movement started in the U.S. by entomologist, conservationist and author Douglas Tallamy to convert half of privately owned lawns (20 million acres) to native plantings, creating much-needed habitat for our biodiversity crisis. Learn more at homegrownnationalpark.org.