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Sunny, I guess its different strokes for different folks and what you're used to....I'm not used to people letting their lawns go....
I've always lived in an area where fescue was the main grass type (not bermuda). If you get ample rain from Thunderstorms and fertilize, fescue will stay nice and green in the summer.
Also, I mow the lawn around 8:30am or so in the morning, so even on the stickiest days its not that bad...(if you compare it to say Florida...)
But chemical fertilizers destroy the banks of our water sources and our water basins (runoff).
Not too concerned about runoff, but organic fertilizer and regiment is healthier for your lawn anyway.
Chemical fertilizers for vanity need to be banned. There is no need to fertilize lawns. Mow with a mulching mower, with the blade set no lower than 2.5 to 3 inches, and fertilizer will not be needed.
We need to conserve our now limited water supply, and we need to protect the quality of that water. And yes, run off is a problem even if you don't live near any streams or rivers. Where do you think the storm drain in the street goes?
Actually, yes you may. If you are a Christian, you are destroying what is God's according to the Bible.
'The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.” Leviticus 25:23 NIV.
Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;”
Psalm 47:7 For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
Sorry, this is from a presentation I am doing tomorrow about the same subject.
Anyway, would you put that fertilizer in yours or your kids' food and water supply? That is what you're doing. Over 90% of chemical runoff is from residential fertilization. This contributed to the flood after Katrina being so bad since the shoreline quickly eroded in the years leading to it (though it was not the only factor).
Chemical fertilizers for vanity need to be banned. There is no need to fertilize lawns. Mow with a mulching mower, with the blade set no lower than 2.5 to 3 inches, and fertilizer will not be needed.
We need to conserve our now limited water supply, and we need to protect the quality of that water. And yes, run off is a problem even if you don't live near any streams or rivers. Where do you think the storm drain in the street goes?
This is a good post a very true!! I will go a step further and say lawns should be very minimal in size, and if you don't need one for recreation purposes (like you have small children or something) then you don't need a lawn. The trend of the typical American house with the huge lawns hopefully will start to change as many designers are pushing for more Eco-friendly, sustainable landscapes. Lawns are about as non-environmentally friendly as you can get.
I am a residential gardener and have been strictly organic for 16 years now. Once I get a yard under my maintenance, I start mulch mowing the lawns and if it needs feeding I use sphagnum moss, compost from my compost piles, composted chicken manure from my chickens or sifted rabbit manure from my rabbits. I never use herbicides or pesticides or ant killers. I feed all the birds in the middle of my driveway and in turn they eat most of the bugs in my yard. I hand pick snails and sow bugs to give to my chickens. I use teas of coffee grinds on acid loving plants, manure teas on outdoor potted plants and teas of garlic, feverfew or yarrow to chase away insects. If a weed persists in a crack in the sidewalk or driveway, I pour boiling water on them and repeat a few weeks later if needed. When I moved onto my property it had close to 3000 square feet of lawn and over eight years have reduced it to maybe 700. I rarely water the lawns, but I live on the coast and it is always humid even when it is in the 80's. One client that insists on using roundup when no one is around has caused one of her dogs to suffer through skin allergies related to the roundup and weed and feed that she uses on the lawn. She moved to a new house and has not yet used anything on the lawns and her dog has nearly healed up in less than six months. I would find out that she had the bug man come and spray and took note that her dog broke out within a week of the pesticide application. I had to drop that yard because organic and non organic do not mix well.
What sounds far fetched? That someone can be organic! All my yards are healthy and green and chemical free in the yard. Many of my clients have pets , children or grand children and do think about their health. When I lived in the S F Bay Area, I did use chemicals, only pesticides. But I did use them till one of my spray bottles filled with malathion and sevin burst its cap and showered me with the pesticide mix. I have been free of that garbage ever since, the only time I will step over the line is if I find a yellow jacket nest or hornet nest that is too big to be destroyed with a large pot of boiling water.
And before you debunk organic means, try them first before calling it far fetched. The farmers of the twenties and thirties thought that using chemicals was far fetched till the they were talked into using them.
I'm not debunking organics, in fact I reccomend them a lot. It's your dog story that seems to be a little far fetched. And boiling water on weeds, never heard of that. If that was true with our boiling hot summers here in AZ all the plants would die.
BTW, if it wasn't for pesticides and herbicides you and I may not be here today. They have saved a lot of problems in the past fom invasive pests or weeds. It's where people do not follow directions that there are problems. This past week our AZ Dept of Transportation was spraying all the areas around the freeways with an herbicide to rid the invasive weeds growing there. And the Dept of Agriculture this week has started their yearly spraying of the whole valley at night with a mosquito pesticide. No one, I'm aware of, has complained about sickness the past years that they have been doing this.
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