Eco-Friendly Lawn Care Tips

Eco-Friendly Lawn Care Tips

If you're looking to create a picture-perfect lawn without using gallons of water or truckloads of harsh chemicals, you've come to the perfect place. There are plenty of eco-friendly ways of caring for your lawn that don't involve synthetic fertilisers or chemicals. Here are five of the best eco-friendly lawn care tips that you can start using right now.  

1. Nurture clover to feed your lawn

In the pursuit of perfection, many homeowners and gardeners use herbicide to kill clover on their lawns. For some, it's a matter of preference; an organic lawn with clover could be described as 'flower-studded' by one person and dismissed as 'weedy' by another. But is a clover lawn really such a bad thing? Clover uses far less water than grass and is much more drought-resistant. Moreover, clover leaves are nitrogen-rich and swiftly compose, helping supply the lawn with vital nutrients. If you're looking to reduce your environmental footprint, maybe leaving a bit more of nature’s variety to tend to itself will help.

2. Leave your grass clippings

The second way to enjoy a green lawn while minimizing the environmental impact is to leave your grass clippings on the lawn. Grass clippings are a vital source of nutrients that will gradually compost into the soil if left. The easiest way to do this is to use your existing lawn mower without the box, but you could also invest in a special mulching mower that cuts the grass finely and shoots grass cuttings onto the lawn. When your lawn is cut at a sensible height and the cuttings are left in place, they will provide additional nutrition for your lawn. However, thcan  

3. Use a robotic lawnmower

If going green is your aim, you'll need to retire your combustion engine lawn mower, leaf blower and power tools, and consider buying a robotic lawnmower instead. Robotic lawn mowers are battery-powered devices that will autonomously keep your lawn beautifully manicured without emissions. Most models require you to set out a guideline around the perimeter of your lawn so the mower knows how far to cut. Once set up, the mower will happily keep your lawn in tip-top condition year-round with zero effort. Robo mowers cut the grass so finely that it acts as natural fertiliser so there's no grass box to empty or lawn trimmings to collect. Most robotic lawn mowers are ultra-quiet and automatically return to their charging station once they run low. 

4. Invest in a rain barrel

If switching to a low-maintenance clover lawn doesn't appeal, you can make your grass lawn eco-friendly by buying a rain barrel. Rain barrels, as their name suggests, collect rainwater that you can then use to water your lawn. This lets you conserve water, minimize runoff, and beat hosepipe bans if you need to irrigate your lawn during particularly dry summers. With a standard barrel positioned under a gutter's downspout able to collect as much as 90 gallons of rainwater after just one inch of rain, most gardens can be kept watered during dry spells even when hose pipes are off limits. 

5. Downsize your grass lawn

The fifth eco-friendly lawn care tip is to consider downsizing your lawn and reducing the amount of turf that needs to be mown and watered. Some ways to downsize could include setting aside a portion of your lawn for clover, creating a habitat for wildlife, or incorporating ground plants that are native to your area and require less watering. Downsizing will give you a smaller, more manageable lawn that has a smaller environmental footprint without taking away from the beauty of your garden. 

Conclusion

A well-managed, sustainable lawn will always be full of life and give your home a real boost without damaging the environment. Green lawn care techniques can still ensure that grass is one of the best garden floors and has a minimal environmental impact. You can also use Garden Trader to find dealerships with Robo-mowers near to you, so give it a try!