Metro: Simple steps to a healthy lawn and garden

Simple steps to a healthy lawn and garden

Follow these easy steps to growing a healthy garden without using pesticides or other chemicals.

A healthy lawn and garden is the best way to combat weeds, diseases and pests in your yard. Relying too much on fertilizers and pesticides may be a symptom of an underlying problem in your lawn and garden and can make problems worse.

What's wrong with fertilizers and pesticides?

Fertilizers with high levels of quick-release phosphorus and nitrogen can pollute storm drains, streams, rivers and other waterways. This impacts the health and habitat of water-dwelling creatures like fish and amphibians.

Pesticides – insecticides, herbicides and fungicides – are used to control weeds, diseases, insects and other pests such as slugs. These chemicals are toxic and can pose a threat to people and pets if overused or carelessly applied. They also can kill beneficial insects, earthworms, birds and other organisms, disrupting the ecological balance of your lawn and garden.

Six tips for healthy yards and gardens

To prevent problems before they start, follow these easy steps for growing a healthy lawn without using pesticides or other chemicals.

Build healthy soil

Healthy soil makes healthy plants that naturally resist diseases and pests. Because of this resistance they require less care. How do you make soil healthy? Adding organic material improves drainage and provides food to the microscopic creatures that provide nutrients to your plants. Add two to three inches of compost or aged manure every year by turning it into the soil or using as a mulch around plants.

Rethink your lawn

Grasscycle. Grasscycling is the practice of leaving grass clippings on the lawn. Regular grasscycling releases nutrients back into the lawn and reduces your fertilizer needs by up to 50 percent, not to mention the time you save bagging and disposing of the clippings.Learn more about grasscycling

Only fertilize if needed. If a soil test or plant performance indicates a need, use organic or slow-release fertilizer. If you need to fertilize your lawn, do it in late fall or late spring. Organic fertilizer will release nutrients over a longer period of time and are less likely to run off your lawn into waterways after rain. Organic fertilizer will also support the variety of soil organisms that improve fertility and combat diseases.

Water deeply but infrequently. About an inch a week is all you need. Let the lawn dry out between waterings to encourage deep roots that will withstand the stress of drought. Over-watering can promote disease and leach nutrients from the soil as well as waste water.

Aerate, over seed and use compost. Aerate using a rented power aerator, or push a garden fork six inches deep every four inches into the lawn and work back and forth to loosen the soil. After aerating or raking to expose soil, overseed with a rye/fescue mix designed for Pacific Northwest conditions. Finally, top dress with fine compost about a quarter inch deep. Use of compost will improve the condition of soil and allow for better water retention, thereby reducing water needs.Learn more about composting

Skip the weed and feed. Weed and feed is more than just fertilizer. It contains weed killers that may damage soil and lawn health as well as pollute waterways. There is also evidence that pesticides may harm humans, pets and wildlife.

Have less lawn. Lawns require a lot of fertilizer and water, and large lawns limit plant diversity.

Grow plants that thrive in our environment

Choose plants that do well in the Pacific Northwest soil and climate. A plant that is suited to its environment will be stronger, healthier and less likely to succumb to diseases or pests. Plant in appropriate places in your yard according to whether the plant needs full or partial sun or shade.

Grow a diverse garden

A balanced ecosystem provides a year-round habitat for creatures that are beneficial to your garden, such as insects, birds and other wildlife. A natural balance of insects, birds and other wildlife can help control pests. Using pesticides can upset this natural balance and actually increase pest problems.

Get to know your bugs

Not all bugs are bad, and even the presence of some bad ones is not necessarily a sign of problems.

If you think you have pests in your garden, determine whether they are actually damaging your plants. Most plants can easily survive losing 25 percent of their leaf surface, so if there are signs that pests have been chewing on your plants, a little damage won’t hurt. There can also be some time between the appearance of pests and the arrival of beneficial insects that will control them. Many plants can actually “outgrow” pests or diseases that afflict them if the soil is healthy.

Try non-toxic pest control

If you determine that a pest or disease problem requires intervention, use the safest method possible. There are many ways to control pests without using pesticides. Pick off bugs by hand, use a stream of water from a garden hose to remove aphids and put out traps for slugs. Use barriers to keep pests from getting on your plants in the first place – row covers for vegetables, for example. If you need to use a pesticide, choose the least-toxic product possible, insecticidal soap, for example.

download the brochure

For an easy reference and further explanation of the these steps, view the brochure.

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