By The Garden Commando

In this section we will conclude the lawn Maintenance discussion, with a short section on low maintenance grass, some comments about chemicals and their use on lawns, some comments about gas/oil mowers and blowers, concluding remarks and a detailed Bibliography. 
 

An unusually clear photo of The Garden Commando

The grass will be cut perhaps once every four to six weeks, with the grass cuttings left down to aid in regenerating nitrogen. You might apply a fertilizer once during the season, and you would never water the grass. This type of lawn is allowed to go into dormancy during hot weather, the leaves turning brown, giving it a dried out appearance. Since it depends mostly on natural conditions for survival, this grass is normally green only during spring, early summer and fall, when the weather is cooler and it gets plenty of rain.

A low maintenance lawn is useful where the issue of time and cost are more of a determining factor than looks. You will notice large recreational areas, such as parks, will adopt this type of maintenance program. (There are also the odd neighbours who ascribe to this program.)

I continue to have a real problem with many of the lawn companies that send out their employees with NO proper chemical use training. I also have a problem with individual homeowners who buy the various chemicals, but fail to properly read the instructions, and fail to heed the warnings.

Come on people! We CAN have lovely lawns, WITHOUT polluting the neighbourhood. 

If you employ a lawn care company, ask lots of questions. Don't be afraid to ask them how they plan to protect neighbouring flower and vegetable beds from second-had spray. Also, ask them how they are going to avoid wind-drift when applying the chemicals.  Ask if their employees will be wearing masks and other protective clothing.  Chance are that if they don't like the questions, or refuse to give you an answer, you might widsh to chance lawn-care companies.

If you are planning to apply your own chemicals, make sure that you: 
1. READ the instructions and warnings carefully before you begin.
2. Do NOT apply chemicals on a windy day!
3. Do NOT blanket spray the grass if you have isolated problems, spot spray.
4. Wear protective clothing including a mask and rubber gloves when using the chemicals.
5. Post warning signs to indicate the lawn has been treated. This helps to prevent kids and pets being allowed to cross the grass immedietely after treatment.
6. Wash out all containers used for chemical application when done.
7. Remove protective clothing and put through the washer on hot, three times.

It seems that most of the lawncare companies in my area (Toronto) seem to feel that noisy, 2 Stroke engines are the only option as lawn care equipment.  (I recently read that one of those gas/oil mowers running for five minutes causes more pollution that a care running all day!)

I can't help wondering why the clever people who run our local governments - and who are SO adept at interfering in every phase of normal life - do not outright BAN this type of equipment. These machines not only spew out vile smelling fumes, but they destroy the peace (what there is of it) of a summer day.

The rationale used by the Lawn Care people is that with these machines they are able to operate less expensively and they insist that they need the power equipment in order to squeeze as many lawns in one day as possible.

With the high rate of unemployment, I wonder why they don't use hand mowers (which give a better cut anyway) and have more employees operating.  It would certainly be better for the environment, and would provide some work for people that need it.
 

You may decide on either a high maintenance lawn, or a medium maintenance lawn (or you may feel that it is easiest to deal with the lawn maintenance issue by hiring a landscape maintenance crew, or a lawn care service). In my experience however, a lawn that will tolerate a medium maintenance program is the best choice, because it is environmentally friendly as well as providing you with a tough, living carpet to enhance your garden.