Green Your Yard and Garden
By Linda Mason Hunter

Spring is upon us, time for thoughts to turn to gardening and lawn care. Digging in the earth, planting seeds, and nurturing plant growth is an excellent way to get grounded in green living.

If you don’t have a garden already, think about getting one of some kind, be it flowers, vegetables, herbs, or a landscape that attracts birds. If you don’t have room for a little patch in the sun, fill two or three large clay pots with soil and plant something that will make you smile as it grows. If nothing else, plant a tree.

Gardening is as old as dirt (almost) – and can save you money, as well as provide the freshest, most delicious organic (and hyper-local) produce.

• In central Iowa, May 10th is the average safe date for planting established seedlings, as the last frost sometimes occurs the first week of May. You can plant some seeds as soon as the ground can be worked without becoming cloddy—early to mid-April in central Iowa. Read the back of the seed packet for specific instructions.
  
  Be ready when the soil is ready. Sharpen your hoe, pruning shears, and clippers. If you have a compost pile, turn it every couple of days and water it if it doesn’t get moist from the rain. Mulch flower gardens with organic mulch, such as pine needles, cocoa bean hulls, or grass clippings.

• Plant native species. Consider replacing a portion of your lawn with plant species indigenous to central Iowa and its climate—plants like prairie grasses, Echinacea, Black-eyed Susan, and Asters. Native plants not only infuse your landscape with stunning color, they’re low-maintenance, and don’t need as much water as grass does. They don’t need to be mowed, either, and actually remove harmful carbon from the air. Plus, they provide birds with food in the form of fruit and seeds, and provide a home for bugs and spiders that help reduce unwanted pests.

• Think twice before using weed killer. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering halting the sale of the common herbicide 2,4-D. According to the environmental group Beyond Pesticides, 2,4-D is linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, endocrine disruption, reproductive and developmental defects, as well as water contamination and toxicity to aquatic organisms. If you use chemicals on your lawn or garden, think about switching to organic lawn care.

• The Iowa Gardener is a new online newsletter published by two former Meredith employees. It’s filled with handy information for every gardener, regardless of experience, and is geared to Iowa’s climate and soil. Check it out at www.theiowagardener.com.

• Pull weeds by hand. Chances are you have invasive plants in your yard. The increase of non-native plants is linked to the decline of songbirds. Old-fashioned hand-pulling may be the most effective way to remove invasive species. Pull the plants before they set seed, and try and remove the entire root system; several species can sprout simply from pieces of root left behind.

Mow Green
By Linda Mason Hunter


Smartly clipped “putting green” lawns, with nary a dandelion nor tendril of Creeping Charlie, belong to another era. If you want an eco-lawn, think habitat, not lush perfection. Work in harmony with nature instead of harming the environment simply to suit your own needs. Here are some lawn tips to try this summer:

• Go low-tech with a reel or electric mower. Power mowers pollute the air with noxious odors (obscuring the olfactory delight of fresh mown grass) and account for five percent of air pollution, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. By making the green switch, you’ll eliminate gas waste (we spill more fuel while filling lawn equipment each year than the Exxon Valdez spilled in 1989, according to Idealbite.com), save money (you’ll pay about $5 per year to power an electric mower, where it costs that much for just two mows with a gas-powered machine), and you’ll reduce irritating noise pollution (reel mowers are basically silent, while electric ones make a tenth of the noise that gas-powered mowers do).
   
•  Tune it up. If you use a power mower, an annual tune up can reduce emissions up to 50 percent. Your local hardware shop can do it for you if you don’t want to do it yourself.
   
• Keep cutting blades sharp. Sharp blades keep plant tissue from tearing and promote a healthier carpet of grass.
   
•  Mow your grass long. Longer blades discourage weeds and pests, retain moisture, and promote healthy roots. As an added bonus, you’ll be less tempted to use poisonous commercial pesticides and herbicides.
   
•  Let grass clippings decompose on your lawn. Grass clippings make great natural fertilizer. If you don’t want to leave them on your lawn, layer them in your compost pile to make fertilizer for next year’s garden.
   
• Mow regularly, and remove no more than one-third of the blade length at a time. This minimizes stress on the grass. Paul Tukey, author of The Organic Lawn Care Manual, points out that cutting grass to 3 or 4 inches tall can reduce evaporation by 70 to 80%.

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