What's Sustainable Lawn Care?
Last updated: 8 March 2024
Sustainable lawn care is creating conditions that favor a healthy lawn while having a positive impact on the environment.
In a nutshell…
It’s preventive health care for your grass while eliminating wasteful applications such as over-fertilizing and over-watering.
Encourage deep rooting when conditions favor new root growth and preserve a well-developed root system as much as possible during unfavorable environmental conditions. Environmental stresses include heat and drought, soil compaction from traffic, poor soil fertility, weeds, insect pests, and diseases.
You accomplish this by focusing on the soil and good cultural practices. Including…
- Choosing the best grass types for your area
- Mowing high and recycling clippings
- Watering deep and infrequently
- Fertilizing to add nutrients and stimulate healthy root and shoot growth
- Compost topdressing to add organic matter
- Aerating to improve soil conditions
Integrated Pest Management
When your grass is healthy and well-rooted it will resist weeds, diseases and insects. You’ll be able to reduce or eliminate the need for chemicals.
Your lawn care program should take an Integrated Pest Management approach… to pest problems.
- Identify the pest, pests include weeds, insects, and diseases
- Determine the cause (See Common Lawn Problems or ask a question)
- Correct the problem and use lawn care Best Management Practices
- Use pesticides only as a last resort and when absolutely necessary
This process requires a long-term approach. As you focus on building the soil through good cultural practices, you’ll encourage an ecosystem where your lawn will thrive. Reducing inputs like water, fertilizers and pesticides.
Making it easier to achieve desired results…
Growing a beautiful lawn that benefits the environment and saves you money.
What else can you do to maintain a sustainable lawn?
Don’t pollute our waters! Fertilizer becomes a pollutant when it is misapplied or overapplied – it does not matter if the product is natural organic or synthetic. Take care to use fertilizers according to their labels and instructions. Proper rate and timing is important as well as basing lawn nutrient requirements on a reliable soil test. Protect our water sources! Avoid getting fertilizer on sidewalks, driveways and roads where it can wash into storm drains and then into streams, lakes and rivers.
Get a Smart Lawn Plan
Have you heard about the Sunday Smart Lawn Plan? It’s simple, do-it-yourself natural lawn care that’s customized to your soil, climate, and lawn. Delivered to you right when you need it.
Sunday’s plant and soil nutrient products are made from food waste, seaweed, and molasses. The natural additives stimulate plant growth and activate soil life.
This is Super Environmentally Friendly lawn care!
Each shipment contains exactly what you need to feed your lawn and optimize the soil in easy-to-apply pouches. No guessing! No spreader calibration! No half-empty fertilizer bags to store.
Don’t collect your grass clipping and send them to the landfill. Recycle your clippings or compost them. You can also mulch your leaves by mowing them instead of raking. This will shred them and incorporate organic matter into the soil.
Upgrade to a Smart Sprinkler System to avoid over-watering. Smart sprinkler controllers connect your irrigation system to local weather forecasts through the internet and optimize watering based on the forecast using real-time weather data. Upgrade to prevent watering on rainy days.
You might like these sustainable lawn care tips
How to choose the best lawn fertilizer. What do the numbers on the bag mean? Are organic fertilizers more eco-friendly than chemicals? Consider costs and nutrient needs. Are they pet-safe?
Lawn Mowing: Tips and techniques, the basics of lawn care. How to cut grass like a pro. Cutting grass to keep it looking groomed and healthy. DIY tips and advice for growing grass.
Use this fertilizer calculator to determine the amount of granular fertilizer product that is needed to spread on your lawn according to recommended rates.