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Go green and clean
A guide
to animal-friendly lawn care
by
Andy Lopez
 |
| "...it’s
never too late in the season to start
caring for your lawn naturally."
|
Many people
do not realize that the fertilizers they
use to keep their lawns nice and green
may also be harming their animals –
not to mention their kids and themselves!
A lot of lawn fertilizers are the “weed
and feed” variety. This means they
contain both a chemical fertilizer and
weed-control agent. I prefer a safer means
of maintaining a healthy lawn while keeping
myself, my family, my animals, and the
planet healthy as well.
It may be fall, but it’s never too
late in the season to start caring for
your lawn naturally. In fact, depending
on where you live, the autumn is an excellent
time for lawn renovation and maintenance.
Here are some basic steps you can take
for a healthy, 100 percent natural lawn.
Location,
location, location
The first step is to plant the
right variety of grass seed for your area.
Plant not only for the amount of light
you have, but also for the weather conditions
where you live. How cold does it get?
How much do temperatures fluctuate between
night and day? How much rainfall do you
receive? Some grasses require heavy watering
with regular organic fertilization, while
others thrive with less water and fertilizer.
Consider any need for water control and
choose your grass varieties accordingly.
Soil
conditions are another important factor.
To what degree you are going to need to
amend the soil?
How
much traffic and play will your lawn be
seeing? In northern locations, high traffic
areas need a mixture of Kentucky bluegrasses
and perennial ryegrass. In southern regions,
try a mixture of Kentucky bluegrasses
and a turf-type tall fescue or any fescue
blend. You will need to keep your animal
off the area for a month if you are planting
seeds, or two weeks if you are laying
sod.
Never
buy low-cost seed mixtures as they often
contain low-quality grasses. Try to buy
organically grown seed varieties whenever
possible; otherwise stick to well-known
names, and buy the mix best suited to
your area.
A sunny area with proper, regular irrigation
is the ideal. In northern locations that
are cool, humid, semi-arid, and inter-mountain,
a blend of Kentucky bluegrasses and fescue
work well. In southern areas that are
cool, humid and semi-arid, try Kentucky
bluegrass blended with perennial ryegrass.
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Published
in the October/November 2005 issue of
Animal Wellness
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