A Well Maintained Lawn
is not only a source of one’s pride, but can also provide many practical benefits to our environment. An average sized lawn is of about 4,000 sq. feet contains around three million grass plants. This creates an incredibly diverse and active ecosystem that benefits property owners and the public alike. Besides green grass having an appealing aesthetic value, we must recognize its more important benefits. Here are just a few benefits that a healthy lawn provides.
Oxygen Production
A healthy lawn is an extremely efficient production system. Grass plants produce an endless amount of oxygen while also removing carbon dioxide from the air. A 2,500 square foot lawn will release enough oxygen to meet the daily needs of a family of four.
Curbing Pollution
The blades and root zone of your lawn are active in controlling pollution from the air and soil respectively. Grass blades capture airborne pollutants while a lawn’s dense root system traps pollutants as water filters through the soil.
Temperature and Noise Control
During the middle of the day, hard surfaces such as roads, driveways, and sidewalks can average 20 to 30 degrees warmer than adjacent lawn areas. Grass plants reduce undesirable noise levels by absorbing and deflecting sounds.
Erosion Control
A lawn’s dense root system helps bind soil particles together to effectively capture and absorb water runoff. The grass plant’s foliage will slow water speed so it can be more effectively absorbed into the so
Safe Recreational Surface
Dense turf is one of the safest playing surfaces to avoid injuries from falls. This is the reason why most athletic fields remain natural grass.
Improved Property Value
In addition to the aesthetic and environmentally beneficial value of a healthy green lawn, a well maintained landscape can increase a property’s value by as much as 10-15 percent.
Why Fertilize?
In order to maintain the quality of a lawn, a uniform supply of fertilizer nutrients, water and air must be available to the plants’ roots. Lawn fertilizers are used to replace plant food removed from the soil by normal and stressed growing conditions. Essential nutrients such as nitrogen and potassium are required in relatively large quantities and need to be supplemented.
No other management practice does more to improve turf quality than fertilization. Lawns will survive without fertilizer, but the less fertilizer it receives, the more its quality regresses. It is often believed that the more fertilizers the lawn receives the better it looks, but over-fertilization can be harmful to turf quality. Over-fertilization stimulates rapid top-growth at the expense of the roots, as they will become thin, shallow and unable to withstand heat and drought. Rapid top growth also promotes disease activity, as cell walls become thin within the grass plant. In addition, over-fertilization will promote thatch accumulation.
Nitrogen
Affects root and shoot growth, turf density, color, disease resistance and stress tolerance.
Potassium
Provides disease resistance, tolerance of heat stress and winter injury.