Garden Medley

No matter how much you love it or loathe it, most yards have a lawn. It’s a lot of work, takes plenty of water and regular maintenance. It’s also a great place for the kids to play or to sit and enjoy your home and yard on a pleasant day.

The trouble with lawns is that it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of overwatering and using too many chemicals to keep it green. The job of watering is often relegated to automatic sprinklers rather than actual attention being paid to the needs of the lawn.

I’ve become more aware of how easy it is to overwater a lawn recently. My sprinkler system has a leak, which my landlord has been able to find a permanent solution to. As a result, that water is turned off except when we’re watering, rather than using the installed automatic system.

That lawn, which gets watered much less than the lawn in the back, is still doing reasonably well. That’s despite that it doesn’t get watered nearly as much. I water it when I remember and the time of day is right. Watering in the middle of a hot day makes no sense, after all. First thing in the morning or in the evening is better.

Each watering is a good, deep water. That is probably what keeps things going as well as they are.

A service takes care of the lawn for us, but I prefer a longer lawn. Longer grass tends to be healthier. If it were my lawn, I’d be leaving the clippings as fertilizer, but it’s not, so they get hauled off. Being a renter can make things like that more challenging.

A good organic fertilizer is also great for your lawn. Add in some fresh grass seed to help keep things up.

Our big battle right now is with a very persistent gopher going between our yard and the neighbor’s. Neither of us has managed to get rid of it, although it seems to be dormant just now.

Lawns are a lot of work, but can be quite attractive and functional as well. If you’re raising a family a lawn is one of the most perfect places for children to play.

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