I don’t know if you mow your own lawn or if you use a service. Some people love nothing better than a riding mower. I would not be one of those people. If you do use a service, sometimes it’s hard to know what to look for in choosing a provider. I’m part of an organization called the Midwest Ecological Landscaping Association, and we have come up with some questions for people to ask before they sign on with a service person, a garden installer, or a designer. I’m going to share them with you and talk a little bit about why we asked these questions.
Questions to Ask your Maintenance Service:
1. For new lawns: What type of turfgrass do you recommend? Why? Seed or sod?
Most lawn service people use whatever sod is carried in the local trade. Sod is sold in rolls and grown commercially. I did an internet search using the term ‘sod farm’ and found lots of them. If you do this search with your state name, chances are you’ll be able to locate the likely sources of sod in your area.
The question then becomes, what kind of grass do you want or do you get? The “picture perfect” American lawn is mostly Kentucky bluegrass. In the last 50 years or so, this has become the lawn of advertised splendor. Unfortunately Kentucky Bluegrass requires a lot of water and invites a lot of weeds. Available alternatives depend on your location, but Cornell University has been recommending a blend of bluegrass and fescues. Fescues look pretty much exactly like bluegrass, but they require much less water and they exude a chemical that may well suppress the development of weedy species.
Sod growers of course will tell you that sod establishes faster than seed (probably) and requires less care (maybe). It’s clearly more expensive: while you can buy sod yourself at a garden center and install it, it’s clumsy, heavy work, so the chances are you’ll have someone else install it for you. That means you’re paying their labor, delivery, the grower’s labor, the garden center’s costs, and on and on. Of course, if it needs to look good yesterday – for a party or such - then sod’s a good choice. If you start your lawn from seed, the initial costs are lower, but you don’t have a walkable lawn for quite some time.
Anyway, you should ask your installer these questions and see what they say. Do some homework yourself and you will most likely end up with a nicer lawn that’s less water-piggish.
2. How often do you mow?
Most maintenance companies will mow weekly, and this is probably more than the lawn requires. Especially in the summer, if you mow twice or maybe three times a month, that’s plenty. The more you mow, the more water the lawn needs. If you restrict watering in the heat of the summer, your lawn will get browner, but it will come back when the weather cools off, and you’ll have saved all that water.
3. What kind of mowers do you use?
You know what this is about, right? Gas mowers run on, well, um, gas. They spew fumes in the air. Electric mowers are a little better, but of course something has to power the electricity. But push mowers! Well, you’ve read all the studies on how good exercise is for you… Human power: I like it.
However, a lawn service almost always uses gas mowers. Chances are, they use old ones too, mowers that use lots of gas. You can’t blame them: not all homeowners are going to say, ‘Sure, plug your mower into my current!’ It doesn’t make sense from a business point of view to use labor-intensive push mowers.
But ask anyway: the more consumers request environmentally clean services, the more companies will come into being to offer them. If it’s important to you to reduce your carbon footprint, you can search locally for environmentally conscious firms that do maintenance. I have a colleague who has a company called “EcoCare” here in Chicago. He got a mention in the local paper and his business nearly doubled overnight. So if you’re looking for a small business to start, think about it.
4. What kind of fertilizer do you use? Why? How often is it applied?
Again, chemical fertilizers may deliver a short-term punch, but over the long term, they deplete the soil. They also run off into the waterways, where they feed algae. The algae take up oxygen from the water, depriving fish and other organisms and producing what’s called ‘eutrophication’, or strangling by lack of oxygen.
Most chemical lawn fertilizers use slow-release nitrogen, so some of the nitrogen is released immediately and some over time. Organic fertilizers are more complex, breaking down over time, so the nitrogen is released more gradually. Keeping chickens is probably best, but that may not be an option for you. You don’t need to fertilize often - once in the fall is probably all you need. If you’re running, say, a golf course, you may also want to fertilize around Memorial Day, but avoid fertilizing early in the spring, which makes plants susceptible to insects and diseases. And you shouldn’t fertilize automatically.
In fact, why not ask if they do a soil test? Without a soil test, how can they know what your garden needs?
5. What do you consider a tolerable number of weeds? What kind of weeds?
You’ve thought about this for yourself; now ask your lawn service. Talk to them about your own standards and make sure they’re not using herbicides when you don’t want them to.
6. What kind of insecticides, herbicides or weed killers, and fungicides do you use? Do you use them automatically? Can I have a list? How often are they applied? If not, what conditions lead you to use them? What should I be wary of?
The important issue here is whether your lawn needs the treatment they propose. Would you take an antibiotic if you had a sore knee? Just because the family down the road has Japanese beetle grubs doesn’t mean you do. (Hey, I sound like my mother: ‘would you jump off a bridge if all the other kids were doing it?’)
Grass is home to lots of insects, most of them harmless, and only a few harmful. Insects are necessary parts of the whole ecosystem, and the healthier your garden, the better able the beneficial insects are to combat the destructive ones. Birds, other soil organisms, even small newts and frogs, eat the insects that live in your garden. Don’t use poison unless there’s a compelling reason to do so.
Diseases of lawns are mostly a matter of fungi that live in the soil and perform mostly helpful functions, but if the conditions are right – some combination of heat and humidity – a fungus may get the upper hand. The best treatment is prevention: water early in the morning so the grass has time to dry, don’t overfertilize, plant disease-resistant grass. And don’t confuse lawn diseases with dog urine spots (which can be minimized by watering immediately after the dog pees).
If you must use herbicides, choose the most water-resistant types, don’t use them around wells or impervious surfaces (where runoff into water supplies may occur), don’t use herbicides when there’s wind or when rain is expected, and rinse and dispose of herbicide containers properly (see if your town has a hazardous materials collection site or time).
Do ask the lawn people who applies any poisons they plan to use, what products they use, and whether their applicators are certified. In most states, you have to pass an exam to be licensed to use poisons commercially.
7. How high do you cut the lawn? Why? Do you use mulching blades, or remove the grass clippings? Why? Can I adjust how often the lawn is mowed?
Mow high! Most plant care people recommend mowing at least 3”, using mulching blades, and leaving the grass clippings, which provide nourishment for the grass.
8. Do you apply compost to the lawn?
A little top dressing with compost can add all the fertility the lawn needs.
9. Do you aerate?
Aerating is the practice of punching holes in the turfgrass to allow air to the roots. It promotes plant health and should be done in the spring. You can buy devices to strap onto your shoes to aerate the lawn yourself, but the spikes aren’t really long enough to do much good.
10. What is included in spring and fall cleanups?
This is one of my pet peeves. Lots of maintenance people will come in and automatically prune anything that grows. I’ve had clients call me after butcher jobs have been performed on their shrubs. The chances are pretty good that your lawn care guys don’t know how to prune properly, but you can always ask what training they’ve had in pruning. (I’ve written some about pruning, so check the past blogs and let me know if you’d like more info on good pruning practices.)
They should cut back last season’s perennials, mostly, and they should know what those plants are so they don’t prune inappropriately. Another neighbor has a lovely Oak Leaf Hydrangea which the lawn people pruned hard. Problem is, Oak Leaf Hydrangeas bloom on old wood, so they won’t get any flowers from the plant this year. The butchers of Berwyn Street (mentioned above) failed to cut back some perennials that needed it while they trashed a perfectly lovely Redbud. Aaaarrrgh.
In the fall, make sure your lawn people don’t remove all the fallen leaves. If you leave leaves on the soil, they’ll break down and provide nutrients. Best is to shred the leaves, but just plain fallen leaves are good for the garden. (Think about forests. No one needs to blow their leaves out.) (OK, I can’t help this rant: I hate the blowers. I hate the noise they make. What’s wrong with rakes????)
Let me know if this was useful. Would you like to hear our questions for designers and garden installers?
Hope you’re having a lovely spring. And for a really great website on lawn care, go to the Cornell University site, view link
