The Manitoba Eco-Network :: Organic Lawn Care Education

The Manitoba Eco-Network, in conjunction with Campaign for Pesticide Reduction! Winnipeg and Chemical Sensitivities Manitoba, created an Organic Lawn Care educational project, in order to provide information on the benefits of Organic Lawn Care.

The mission of this project is to educate people on how to have beautiful lawns, and healthy green spaces without the use of harmful chemicals.

Read more about:

Free Workshops

Organic Lawn Care Tips

Resources

Book Reviews

In The News

For more information or if you have any Organic Lawn Care questions that are not addressed on this website, please contact the Organic Lawn Care Education Project at 947-6511 or olc(at)mbeconetwork.org.

Free Workshops

The Organic Lawn Care Workshops have wrapped up for another year, but we are still available to answer your lawn care questions, please contact us at olc@mbeconetwork.org or call 947-6511.

The Eco-Network is pleased to offer free organic lawn care workshops to show you how to effectively maintain a beautiful lawn without using any harmful chemicals.

Workshop topics include: a brief overview of current pesticide use and the human/environmental impacts, specific organic lawn care techniques and practices, and some alternatives to lawns.

For more information about our Organic Lawn Care Workshops, please call 947-6511.

Our workshops have the best information on maintaining your lawn organically, but if you cannot make it to one, here is some basic information.

Organic Lawn Care Tips

The general principle behind organic lawn care is to take a preventative approach. That is, take care of the lawn naturally, and give it the strength to out-compete weeds. To get the full story of organic lawn care, please consider attending one of our free workshops. To get you started, here are some tips:

Fertilize Naturally

The guiding principle of organic lawn care is to nourish the soil. In this way, it differs fundamentally from chemical lawn care, which focuses on feeding the grass. Nourish your soil with natural and organic products such as finished compost or compost tea (from your own backyard compost heap), well-aged manure, grass clippings and/or slow-release organic fertilizers. Grass clippings and compost can be applied in small amounts throughout the growing season but slow-release organic fertilizers are best applied in late summer - early fall. An early spring application is also acceptable. Compost tea can be applied every other week, or at least three times a week. For more information on compost tea, please see our links section. Unlike quick-release chemical fertilizers, these natural and organic products will not burn grass or contaminate ground and surface water. One fertilizer we recommend is Turkey Trot, which is available from most garden centers.

Topdress with Compost

Nourish your soil by sprinkling screened, finished compost over your lawn. Finished compost has an earthy odour, spongy texture and rich-brown colour. It contributes a wide range of both macro and micro nutrients, which are released slowly over a long period of time. It also contributes micro organisms, which help decompose thatch and other organic matter. Compost should be screened before being applied to the lawn.

For more information on composting and composting workshops, visit Resource Conservation Manitoba's compost website http://www.resourceconservation.mb.ca/cap/ or call the info-line @ 925-3777.

Test your soil

You may wish to have your soil tested once every few years to determine if it lacks any nutrients. A test kit can be purchased from most garden centers, or you can send a sample of you soil to get tested professionally. They will give you a full report of the Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium levels, as well as the pH level of the soil. The report will also tell you how to remedy any deficiencies there may be in the soil. Look in the Winnipeg Yellow Pages under "Soil Testing".

Aerate

Aeration relieves compaction and cultivates the soil. It is best done in the spring or fall prior to fertilization. Aeration increases air and water penetration and movement in the soil. You can ensure continual, natural and free aeration by attracting and protecting earthworms in your soil. Aeration is especially important in Manitoba, as our clay-based soil tends to get compacted easily, and a compacted lawn is more prone to weed infestations. If you can't stick a pencil into your lawn, it's too compacted and needs to be aerated. The best way to aerate is to use a manual plug-remover or core aerator machine. These machines remove small plugs of soil and leave them on top of the lawn to decompose.

Most lawn care companies offer aeration services, or you can rent a machine and do it yourself.

Overseed

Your lawn is comprised of millions of individual grass plants. Like any other living thing, these plants eventually die. It is important to overseed once every year to keep your lawn thick and healthy. A dense lawn will crowd out weeds like dandelions and crabgrass that crop up in bare or thinly covered patches. Choose grass varieties that suit the light, moisture and soil conditions of your yard. Overseeding is also a great way to introduce hardy, pest-resistant and low-maintenance grass varieties such as endophytic perennial ryes and fine fescues into your lawn. A lawn with diverse grass types is better able to deal with and recover from stresses such as droughts, pest outbreaks, diseases and traffic. It is best to overseed in the early fall, although early spring after aerating is also acceptable.

Mow "Green"
Cut down on emissions and noise pollution and use electric or push reel mowers.

Mow High

Mowing is one of the most important aspects of organic lawn care. The simple practice of mowing high contributes enormously to the health of a lawn. Experts recommend at least 3 inches because it shades out sun-loving weeds and encourages good root development. Taller turf also shades the soil more than shorter turf thereby helping to keep soil cool and moist. In addition, a longer lawn has a greater ability to collect nutrients from the sun, thereby improving the overall health of the grass.

The One-Third Rule

A general rule is to never cut off more than one third of the blade at once. Cutting off more than one third of the blade may cause the grass plant to go into shock as a huge portion of its food factory is eliminated. It will also result in longer clippings that take longer to decompose and may suffocate some grass plants. If grass is overgrown, mow twice; first at a high setting and then at a lower one.

Recycle your Clippings

Instead of collecting and putting clippings out for garbage, leave them on your lawn. Grass clippings are the perfect fertilizer for lawns. They are free, convenient, chock full of nutrients and organic matter and able to boost soil fertility by up to 30 per cent. They also return moisture to your soil and shade it from the drying rays of the sun.

Sharpen your Blade Once a Year

Another way to ensure your grass remains healthy and strong is to cut it with a sharp blade. Dull blades tear and stress grass blades, thereby increasing the potential for disease and infestations. Sharp blades cut cleaner and easier and leave your lawn healthier and better looking. Again, many places throughout the city offer blade sharpening, visit our resources section for a listing of businesses that sharpen blades and what they charge, or look in the Yellow Pages under "Lawn Mowers - Sales and Service". There are also sharpening kits that you can purchase from local home improvement stores for either reel or rotary (gas powered) mowers.

Alternate Directions

It is also a really good idea to alternate the direction that you mow your lawn. By mowing in the same direction each time you cut your lawn, the grass blades remember the way they are pushed down and begin to grow that way (not unlike how your hair starts to fall the way it is been repeatedly styled). When the grass blades are pushed down, only one side is able to absorb the sunlight that it needs to remain healthy. Ruts can also form where the wheels of the mower repeatedly roll over, which can compact the soil leading to more weeds. Alternating directions or even patterns will help the grass blades stand up, which makes for a healthy lawn and can make your lawn look more dense.

Water Wisely

Experts agree that a lawn requires no more than one inch of water a week. Sometimes, rain will provide your lawn with all the water it requires. At other times, irrigation is required. As a general rule, water deeply once a week during the early morning. Watering during the late evening is not recommended because cooler temperatures and sitting water invite disease. Watering deeply will encourage deep root growth, which will make the grass heartier and more drought tolerant. Grass will enter a natural dormant period during a drought by turning brown, but will recover after the first rain. Providing some water during long droughts will ensure the deterrence of insects that prefer dry conditions.

When laying sod or seed, supplemental watering is necessary as seeds require a consistent moisture level to germinate, and sod relies on water near the soil surface while establishing a root system.

Rain and well water are generally better choices for lawn watering, as municipal water is treated with chlorine and flouride. Both flouride and chlorine, in excessive amounts, will harm your lawn.

Weeding

Weeds are simply plants that grow where they are not wanted. The best defense against weeds is a healthy lawn which crowds them out. Increased tolerance for a greater variety of plant life is also important to maintaining a healthy organic lawn as no lawn care regime will eliminate weeds completely, so its best to accept the presence of a weed here and there. However, when weeds do become too numerous, hand-weeding is the best option and there are various weeding tools available at your local garden centre to do this.

For weeds that spread by seed, such as Dandelions, pulling the head off before it goes to seed will prevent new plants from germinating. When pulling weeds by hand, ensure at least 80% of the root is removed, this is best done when the soil is moist and the plant is young.

If you have more weeds than grass, solarization, smothering, and starvation are techniques that are used to kill high quantities of weeds at once, allowing you to start your lawn from scratch.

Many weeds are actually beneficial for your lawn. For example, Clover fixes nitrogen in the soil, which makes it readily available to your lawn. Dandlion's thick roots help aerate the soil, allowing oxygen and water to reach the grass roots. Buttercups attract beneficial insects such as bees and lady bugs, which are good for your lawn and your garden.

Corn Gluten Meal

Corn Gluten Meal (CGM) is a byproduct of the wet milling process and is typically used as a protein supplement in hog feed, but is also used in the production of taco shells, pet foods, and corn chips. However, it also can be used as a pre-emergent herbicide, which inhibits root formation during germination. It controls crab grass, barnyard grass, foxtails, dandelion, lambs quarter, pigweed, purslane, and smartweed. It is safe for use on established turf. Do not use CGM in an area in which you are trying to establish turf grass. Grass seeds need at least 6 weeks to germinate. It contains 10% nitrogen by weight, thus making it an ideal "weed and feed" product. On grass, CGM is often applied at 20 lbs / 1000 sq ft; in garden situations, the rate may vary from 20 to 60 lbs / 1000 sq ft. In order to be effective, it should be applied when the snow melts in early spring, about two weeks before the first Crocus blooms. It can also be applied in mid summer and late summer to early fall, to catch the seeds that have blown in throughout the summer. Many garden centres carry CGM or a trademarked version of it, and it can be purchased at Feed Rite Mills (17 Speers Rd, 233.8418) and Sage Garden Herbs (3410 St.Mary's Rd., 257.2715). Every consecutive year you apply CGM - assuming proper timing and rate - should give you better results than the year before.

The use of Corn Gluten Meal as a herbicide was discovered by Dr. Nick Christians at Iowa State University. For more information, see: www.gluten.iastate.edu

Less Lawn!

More and more people are choosing to reduce the amount of lawn space on their property or have decided to eliminate their lawns altogether. Doing so will reduce your water consumption and decrease the amount of energy and resources going into lawn maintenance. Some alternatives include: Vegetable Gardens, Rock Gardens, Trees and Shrubs. Eartheasy has some good information on lawn alternatives.

When planting, consider using native species. They've adapted to our climate naturally, need very little maintenance and virtually no water. Be sure to use species that are native to your specific bioregion. Contact the Living Prairie Museum at 832-0167 for information on native plants and local sources.

Here are some examples of Winnipeg properties with alternative lawns:

Resources

Manitoba Eco-Network Resources:

Greener Pesticides and Cleaners

How to talk to neighbours about pesticides

Organic Lawn Care Brochure

Manitoba Lawn Care Products, Resources & Alternatives

Organic Lawn Care Tips

What To Ask Your Lawn Care Service Provider

Other useful resources:

National Coalition for Pesticide-Free Lawns' Read Your "Weeds"- A Simple Guide To Creating A Healthy Lawn

Organic Garden Fertilizers

Private Property Pesticide By-laws in Canada

Saskatchewan Environmental Society's brochure on Dandelions and Ants: 5 easy tips to control them

What Bugs Us: Safe and Organic Ways to Deal with Pests in the Garden

Websites:

Canadian Cancer Society - Pesticides

Canadians Against Pesticides

Care2- Get Off Your Grass and Create An Edible Lawn

City of Winnipeg Organic Lawn Care website

Beyond Pesticides

Eartheasy

Go organic gardening

Toronto Public Health - Go Pesticide Free website

Lawn care

Let's Curb Pesticides

Naturally Hamilton an education program for citizens to help them reduce or eliminate cosmetic pesticide use.

The Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP) is strongly recommending that people reduce their exposure to pesticides wherever possible after releasing a comprehensive review of research on the effects of pesticides on human health.

Organic Lawn Care 101

Organic lawn care tips

Paul's Containers (Rain Barrel Supplier)

Pesticide Free Lawns Coalition a growing popular movement of environmental, consumer, and pesticide reform groups and concerned individuals, coming together on all levels to educate the public, retailers, landscapers and policy makers about the hazards of lawn chemicals and the viability of safe alternatives.

Safe lawns

Saskatchewan Environmental Society pesticide website

The Sierra Club of Canada has a very good page devoted to pesticide reduction. It contains information on common pesticides used on lawns and gardens, reasons to avoid them as well as practical alternatives.

Sharing Backyards
Links people with unused yard space with those looking for space to grow food.

Also visit our Links page

Books:

How to get your lawn and garden off drugs (2nd ed.)
by Carole Rubin, Harbour Publishing, 2003

Building a Healthy Lawn : A Safe and Natural Approach
by Stuart Franklin

Common-Sense Pest Control: Least Toxic Solutions for your Home, Garden, Pets and Community
by William Olkowski, Sheila Daar, and Helga Olkowski, The Taunton Press, 1991

Down-To-Earth Natural Lawn Care
by Dick Raymond, Storey Books, 1993

Handbook of Successful Ecological Lawn Care
by Paul D. Sachs, The Edaphic Press, 1996

Mending Mother Nature with Native Plants: An Urban Garden's 5- Year Testimonial of the Benefits Achieved when Landscaping with Plants Indigenous to One's Area
by Lucille G.M. Verrier. (See our review below)

Natural Pest Control; Alternatives to Chemicals for the Home and Garden (2nd edition)
by Andrew Lopez, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1998

Ortho's All About Lawns
by Warren Schultz, Ortho Books, 1999

Pelouses: Couvre-Sols Et Alternatives
by Édith Smeesters, Broquet, 2000

Redesigning the American Lawn: A Search for Environmental Harmony
by F. Herbert Bormann, Diana Balmori, Gordon T. Geballe, Yale University Press, 1995

Safe & Easy Lawn Care: The Complete Guide to Organic, Low-Maintenance Lawns (Taylor's Weekend Gardening Guides)
by Barbara Ellis (Editor), Frances Tenenbaum (Editor), Houghton Mifflin Co, 1997

The Landscaping Revolution: Garden with Mother Nature, Not Against Her
by Andy Wasowski & Sally Wasowski, Contemporary Publishing, 2000

The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect & Disease Control: A Complete, Problem-Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden & Yard Healthy Without Chemicals
by Barbara W. Ellis, Fern M. Bradley, Rodale Press, 1996

The Organic Lawn-Care Manual: An All-Natural, Low-Maintenance System for a Safe and Beautiful Yard
by Paul Tukey, Storey Publishing, 2007

Weeds, Control Without Poisons
by Charles Walters, 1999

Book Reviews

The Organic Lawn Care Manual: A Natural Low-Maintenance System for a Beautiful, Safe Lawn
By Paul Tukey
Published by Storey Publishing, MA, 2007

Paul Tukey started out in the lawn care industry mowing lawns and applying pesticides, until he developed health problems which his doctor associated with his job. He stopped using synthetic pesticides and has been on a mission to spread the word about organic lawn care ever since. This book contains everything you need to know about maintaining a beautiful lawn without chemicals which are harmful to you or your family and pets, or the environment. Broken down into chapters like “Watering Dews and Don’ts” and “Get Your Lawn Off Drugs” this book presents the information in a manner that anyone can easily relate to and understand. With great illustrations of lawn ‘thugs’ and weeds and how to deal with them as well as step-by-step instructions on everything from starting your lawn from scratch, to sharpening your mower blade, this book is a fantastic resource.

Mending Mother Nature with Native Plants: An Urban Garden's 5- Year Testimonial of the Benefits Achieved when Landscaping with Plants Indigenous to One's Area
By Lucille G.M. Verrier

Planting native species in one's yard is a surefire way to increase sightings of local wildlife, such as butterflies, and Verrier's book is certainly a testament to this fact. Mending Mother Earth With Native Plants tells of Verrier's enthusiasm for the natural world. It showcases the exciting process of converting her yard, including her sightings of new wildlife species, which are marked with butterfly logos throughout the text.
Mending Mother Earth is written like a journal, with multiple entries each season for five years, charting details such as the weather, humidity, plants' progress and growth, and wildlife sightings in her yard. It contains many colour photographs of the flora and fauna in this urban garden, taken by Verrier, as well as very precise paintings, reproducing the insects that Verrier was not able to capture on film.
While the photographs of wildlife and blooming flowers in Verrier's yard serve as a good resource guide (and inspiration) to other gardeners looking to landscape with indigenous plants, the journal entries can be quite repetitive to sit down and read all at once.
That being said, the chronology might be useful as a comparison for someone else converting their yard in this manner, as it gives a sense of when one might expect certain flowers to bloom, and how long it takes for plants to completely establish themselves after being planted.
Aside from the amazing photographs (which are appended as a ‘photo gallery', alongside a list of useful resources) , I also enjoyed Verrier's notes, which include facts about predatory insects, as well as news stories that confirm what she has already observed in her yard, such as cold fronts blowing in, or a season with unusually large numbers of butterflies in Manitoba. Another appealing aspect of this book is its support of The Nature Conservancy: this organization will receive 25% of all proceeds from Mending Mother Earth.
This book may not be a quick read, but it is certainly an interesting resource for Manitobans who are avid conservationists, gardeners, or simply looking to integrate native plants into their yards.