Tag Archives: lawns

Leaf Recycling

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Leaf Recycling
©2015  Danylo Kosovych and Organic Edible Gardens LLC

One of the first practices that struck me as odd when I began landscaping is the collection and disposal of the season’s fallen leaves. Leaves are a good source of organic matter and plant nutrients. You can reduce your mulch and fertilizer inputs by using what nature provided, rather than paying money or expending energy to get rid of them.  If you live in a forest you can simply let them lie but like most people who have a combination of lawn, garden beds and paved surfaces the leaves will need to be processed in one of three ways.

Deciduous trees drop their leaves each fall storing all their energy within their roots. In mature forests the leaves fall onto the ground and whatever nutrients remain are cycled back into the system. Trees need leaf litter; it keeps the soil warm in the winter and prevents evaporation in the summer. Just as we put on more clothes in the winter to keep ourselves warm. Leaves create a warm blanket on the ground, their active decomposition creates heat. The litter of fallen leaves under the tree creates an ideal substrate for beneficial soil fungi and bacteria to grow in. The metabolic activity from these microorganisms can keep the temperature higher than in the surrounding area. The increased warmth supports microorganism activity and root growth as well as providing a habitat for insects and small animals.

The large area and number of trees in the forest keep the leaves on the forest floor. Landscape beds are much smaller and many times slightly raised in comparison to walkways and lawns. As a result, fallen leaves tend to blow off of landscape beds and collect in lower areas of the property. Shredding the leaves reduces the surface area that catches the wind, keeping them in place. They also tend to mat less, preventing the smothering of groundcovers. Shredded leaves have a more uniform color than whole leaves. Leaf mulch is an attractive dark brown and slowly decomposes, releasing nutrients to the plants, and preventing winter damage by keeping roots warm.

Shredded leaves in garden beds:

Fallen Leaves: A Valuable Resource, Not a Waste Product 01

Fallen Leaves: A Valuable Resource, Not a Waste Product 02

An even easier way to utilize fallen leaves is to shred them into your lawn. This takes only slightly more work than mowing your lawn. You will have to mow your lawn 2-3 times over to get all of the last leaves. All it requires is a mulching blade and closing the discharge chute. A study by Michigan State University, found that mulched oak and maple leaves reduced the amount of dandelions and increased spring green up in lawns.  They reduce the prevalence of dandelions by reducing dandelion seed germination.  Shredded leaves provide nutrients and organic matter to the lawn producing a thicker, greener more drought tolerant lawn.

Fallen leaves contain a small percentage of nutrients, ranging from 1-3% nitrogen, (the higher being from leguminous trees) and small amounts of phosphorous and potassium.  While the percentages might be small, the sheer volume of leaves dropped by large deciduous trees creates an ample amount of nutrients. A low input lawn requires 1 pound per 1000 square feet of nitrogen per year. A heavily wooded lot can produce 100 pounds of leaves per 1000 square feet providing enough nitrogen for the year.

Leaves in the lawn before shredding:

Fallen Leaves: A Valuable Resource, Not a Waste Product 03

After Shredding:

Fallen Leaves: A Valuable Resource, Not a Waste Product 04

If you do not have much lawn but have vegetable gardens, then you might want to save the leaves for the compost bin. Compost improves soil porosity by loosening heavy clay soils and retaining moisture in sandy soils. It also adds beneficial microbes that support root growth and break down the organic matter into soluble plant nutrients.

A balanced compost has an equal ratio of brown (dry) and green (wet) or carbonic and nitrogenous material.  An over proportionate amount of either one will result in unhealthy microbial activity. Too much carbonic material will be too dry and take too long to break down. Too much nitrogenous material will become sludgy and anaerobic producing a bad smell. Leaves and wood are good examples of brown or carbon rich materials while grass clippings, herbaceous plants and food scraps are good sources of nitrogen rich materials.

There are many beneficial uses for your fallen leaves that can save you time and money in the landscape, not to mention the fossil fuel saved by eliminating the transportation of material. Even if you use machinery to process the leaves you will not use nearly as much fuel as transportation requires. Which method you choose to process your leaves or whether you simply decide to let them be is determined by the makeup of your property.

Fallen Leaves: A Valuable Resource, Not a Waste Product

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Fallen Leaves: A Valuable Resource, Not a Waste Product
©2013  Danylo Kosovych and Organic Edible Gardens LLC

One of the first practices that struck me as odd when I began landscaping is the collection and disposal of the season’s fallen leaves. Leaves are a good source of organic matter and plant nutrients. You can reduce your mulch and fertilizer inputs by using what nature provided, rather than paying money or expending energy to get rid of them.  If you live in a forest you can simply let them lie but like most people who have a combination of lawn, garden beds and paved surfaces the leaves will need to be processed in one of three ways.

Deciduous trees drop their leaves each fall storing all their energy within their roots. In mature forests the leaves fall onto the ground and whatever nutrients remain are cycled back into the system. Trees need leaf litter; it keeps the soil warm in the winter and prevents evaporation in the summer. Just as we put on more clothes in the winter to keep ourselves warm. Leaves create a warm blanket on the ground, their active decomposition creates heat. The litter of fallen leaves under the tree creates an ideal substrate for beneficial soil fungi and bacteria to grow in. The metabolic activity from these microorganisms can keep the temperature higher than in the surrounding area. The increased warmth supports microorganism activity and root growth as well as providing a habitat for insects and small animals.

The large area and number of trees in the forest keep the leaves on the forest floor. Landscape beds are much smaller and many times slightly raised in comparison to walkways and lawns. As a result, fallen leaves tend to blow off of landscape beds and collect in lower areas of the property. Shredding the leaves reduces the surface area that catches the wind, keeping them in place. They also tend to mat less, preventing the smothering of groundcovers. Shredded leaves have a more uniform color than whole leaves. Leaf mulch is an attractive dark brown and slowly decomposes, releasing nutrients to the plants, and preventing winter damage by keeping roots warm.

Shredded leaves in garden beds:

Fallen Leaves: A Valuable Resource, Not a Waste Product 01

Fallen Leaves: A Valuable Resource, Not a Waste Product 02

An even easier way to utilize fallen leaves is to shred them into your lawn. This takes only slightly more work than mowing your lawn. You will have to mow your lawn 2-3 times over to get all of the last leaves. All it requires is a mulching blade and closing the discharge chute. A study by Michigan State University, found that mulched oak and maple leaves reduced the amount of dandelions and increased spring green up in lawns.  They reduce the prevalence of dandelions by reducing dandelion seed germination.  Shredded leaves provide nutrients and organic matter to the lawn producing a thicker, greener more drought tolerant lawn.

Fallen leaves contain a small percentage of nutrients, ranging from 1-3% nitrogen, (the higher being from leguminous trees) and small amounts of phosphorous and potassium.  While the percentages might be small, the sheer volume of leaves dropped by large deciduous trees creates an ample amount of nutrients. A low input lawn requires 1 pound per 1000 square feet of nitrogen per year. A heavily wooded lot can produce 100 pounds of leaves per 1000 square feet providing enough nitrogen for the year.

Leaves in the lawn before shredding:

Fallen Leaves: A Valuable Resource, Not a Waste Product 03

 

After Shredding:

Fallen Leaves: A Valuable Resource, Not a Waste Product 04

 

If you do not have much lawn but have vegetable gardens, then you might want to save the leaves for the compost bin. Compost improves soil porosity by loosening heavy clay soils and retaining moisture in sandy soils. It also adds beneficial microbes that support root growth and break down the organic matter into soluble plant nutrients.

A balanced compost has an equal ratio of brown (dry) and green (wet) or carbonic and nitrogenous material.  An over proportionate amount of either one will result in unhealthy microbial activity. Too much carbonic material will be too dry and take too long to break down. Too much nitrogenous material will become sludgy and anaerobic producing a bad smell. Leaves and wood are good examples of brown or carbon rich materials while grass clippings, herbaceous plants and food scraps are good sources of nitrogen rich materials.

There are many beneficial uses for your fallen leaves that can save you time and money in the landscape, not to mention the fossil fuel saved by eliminating the transportation of material. Even if you use machinery to process the leaves you will not use nearly as much fuel as transportation requires. Which method you choose to process your leaves or whether you simply decide to let them be is determined by the makeup of your property.

Fall Lawn Renovation the Organic Way

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© 2013 by Danylo Kosovych and Organic Edible Gardens LLC

Fall, in general, is the best time of the year for planting. With temperatures slowly cooling down and an increase in precipitation, newly installed plants have a good opportunity to establish themselves. When it comes to the month of September specifically, this is a good time for planting cool weather annuals, whether they are petunias or pansies or vegetables like lettuces, arugula, spinach, beets and carrots. Perennials, trees and shrubs can be planted now but there is no hurry as they can be planted as late as December as long as the ground is not frozen. There is one family of plants that have a much smaller window of opportunity; their optimum period for establishment in the month of September. I am talking about our prized and sought after turf grasses. This is what we at Organic Edible Gardens are devoting our time to right now and I will explain a little about our process.

Fall Lawn Renovation the Organic Way

As the name suggests we practice organic gardening methods. In reference to lawns, this means no herbicides or synthetic fertilizers. How do you manage weeds without selective herbicides? You might ask. We burn them, or technically put we heat-sterilize them. With a specially made tool designed for organic agriculture, we pass an extremely hot flame over the weed, heating the water inside the leaves to a degree that destroys the cell walls killing the plant tissues. Now most weeds have rhizomatous roots which store energy in case their leaves die, so multiple applications are necessary to kill weeds permanently. Following a sufficient weed suppression schedule we add any necessary nutrients and adjust the pH of the soil as advised by a simple chemical soil analysis. An organically fertile soil requires organic matter; it is the food that the microbes eat in order to produce nutrients for the plants. Most lawn soils, especially chemically treated ones have low percentages of organic matter. In order to improve this, we apply a top-dressing of well matured compost. We follow this with an aeration to improve soil porosity, work the compost into the soil and to provide a good seed bed for the grass seed. Seed selection is important as certain varieties are best adapted to our climate. We also include certain non- grass seeds in our mixes that work well in turf systems whether by fixing nitrogen or filling in niches that other weeds would otherwise fill without altering the look of the turf. With a little help from Mother Nature in the form of rain, a short time later you can have a more drought tolerant, lush green lawn for your children to play in without the health risks of synthetic pesticides or contamination of the watershed.

Danylo Kosovych
Owner
Organic Edible Gardens LLC

Your Lawn Can Be Organic!

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©2013 by Jon Storvick and Organic Edible Gardens, LLC

Our previous article on ecological lawn care was an introduction to how the ubiquitous and toxic-chemical-addicted American lawn can be transformed in a safe, non-toxic, eco-friendly manner. Now we’re going to show you a little of what that actually looks like in practice.

We have been working with one of our clients in McLean for several years now, designing and maintaining various plantings organically. However, they retained their existing lawn service, which treated the lawn with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Despite all of the toxic chemicals, unsightly weeds still flourished in the lawn. They decided to try out our organic lawn maintenance service as an alternative. Here’s what we’ve been doing as part of the process of converting their lawn to an organic ecosystem.

First off, we needed a snapshot of exactly what the conditions were in the lawn ecosystem. We took several soil samples from the lawn areas, and sent them off to two different sources – one examined the chemical and nutrient levels, and the other analyzed the biological activity in the soil – bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, etc.

Your Lawn Can Be Organic

Your Lawn Can Be Organic
The chemical analysis indicated low levels of phosphorus, potassium and calcium, as well as a slightly lower pH than desirable. Organic matter was at 3.3%, where 6-8% would be more ideal.

Your Lawn Can Be Organic

Your Lawn Can Be Organic

The biological analysis indicated a much better microbial soil food web than we had anticipated – fungal and bacterial levels and diversity were good, but protozoa and beneficial nematodes were low. There were also higher levels of “pest” nematodes than were desirable.

We devised a strategy for increasing lawn health and converting to organic management based on these test results.

We arrived at the property in early April – we’ve had a belated Spring, so this was one of the first weeks where soil temperatures were high enough that we could proceed without harming the grass. Here’s a before shot of the lawn:

Your Lawn Can Be Organic

We began by organically removing much of the weeds in the lawn – hand removing taproot and bulb species like spring onions and dandelions, and flame weeding the rest (yes folks, this is safe, and we take all necessary precautions before using open flame in the landscape!).

Your Lawn Can Be Organic

We then gave the lawn its first mowing of the year, leaving the grass clippings in place. After mowing, we aerated the lawn to increase oxygen levels in the soil, decompact the hard clay, and allow for organic material to penetrate the soil surface.

Your Lawn Can Be Organic

After aeration, the next step is to topdress with lime and a good amount of compost.

Your Lawn Can Be Organic

We then spread the compost over the lawn.

Your Lawn Can Be Organic

After this is completed, we heavily overseed with our custom mixes (composed of various grasses, legumes for nitrogen fixation, and selected broadleaf species to fill open niches in the lawn ecosystem), and topdress with alfalfa meal, which slowly adds nitrogen and other nutrients through decomposition.

Your Lawn Can Be Organic

As we left, the lawn doesn’t look much different from when we started – but this will give it the initial start it needs to be healthy and organically maintained. In the future, we’ll be treating it with compost teas to feed the soil life, among other sustainable management techniques. We’ll keep you posted to show you how this new organic lawn turns out!

UPDATE 4/19/2013

After just 2 weeks, this is what the lawn looks like!  Amazing!

Your Lawn Can Be Organic

 

For more information on organic lawn care, please visit the NOFA Organic Landcare website, or call Organic Edible Gardens LLC at 571-282-1724 for a free consultation.

Lawn Care the Ecological Way

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©2012 by Jon Storvick and Organic Edible Gardens, LLC

Lawn Care the Ecological Way

Lawns are a hotly contested subject these days.  Lawns have become the major defining feature of the American landscape.  Yet, it wasn’t always this way.  Up until the development of the suburbs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the lawn was the sole province of the extremely wealthy, who could afford to spare the land for non-utilitarian purposes (e.g. food production).  Lawns have become synonymous with home ownership, but there is a hidden cost to our obsession with the “living carpets” that surround our homes.

“The American Lawn uses more resources than any other agricultural industry in the world.  It uses more phosphates than India, and puts on more poisons than any other form of agriculture… A house with two cars, a dog, and a lawn uses more resources and energy than a village of 2000 Africans….  The lawn and its shrubbery is a forcing of nature and landscape into a salute to wealth and power, and has no other purpose or function.”  – Bill Mollison, Introduction to Permaculture, p. 111

Americans dump fertilizers and pesticides on their lawns in tremendous amounts.  Since lawns do not  infiltrate water very efficiently, most of these toxic chemicals run off into nearby storm drains and make their way into local watersheds where they poison ecosystems, animals, and humans.  We will not give you statistics here, they are readily available with a brief Internet search.  It suffices to say that lawns have a very large and very destructive impact on the environment.

An argument often put forward is to eliminate the lawn entirely in favor of lower-input landscapes, food forests, etc.  While we certainly approve of these ideas, they are not the only option.  Lawns do have their appropriate uses and functions, and we believe that they can indeed have a role to play in the sustainable landscape.  As permaculturist Paul Wheaton says, “I think I have heard ‘grow food not lawns’ about a thousand times. I wish to advocate that the lawn is where children play, and where we put chairs to enjoy nature, and the place for yard sales. From a permaculture perspective I prefer ‘grow food in your lawns’: there are lots of edibles that would thrive there and tolerate the occasional mowing.”

While the edible lawn is somewhat beyond the scope of this article, we do wish to make clear that lawns in general can be sustainable and organically maintained.  We’re going to tell you a little bit about how we do it here at OEG.

Lawn Care the Ecological Way

Grasses are plants too, and the ‘Right Plant Right Place’ mantra applies to the lawn as well.  Most commercial seed mixes are based on a ‘one size fits all’ attitude, and species/cultivars of grasses in these mixes are rarely if ever tailored to site conditions – soil type and pH, climatic conditions, etc.  Whether starting a new lawn from scratch or overseeding an existing lawn, it is important to select species and cultivars of grasses that are appropriate to the site.  We use a mixture of several different grass species and cultivars, including tall fescues, American Buffalograss, Perennial Ryegrass, and Zoysia – all cultivars specifically selected for local site conditions, drought tolerance, and root patterns which partition the resources in the soil more effectively than monocultures.  We also include small amounts of selected species of broadleaf plants in our lawn mix which do not interrupt the appearance of the lawn when mowed, and further utilize the soil resources, keeping water and nutrients in the soil where they belong.  Seeding at the proper time of year ensures establishment with minimal resource inputs.

Weed control is a major issue with lawns in general, we’ve mentioned that lawn pesticides (including herbicides) are a major source of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere.  The organic/ecological approach to weed control is quite a bit different than you might expect.  It isn’t simply a matter of replacing toxic chemicals with slightly less toxic chemicals which come from “natural” sources.  We try to understand the ecology of both weed species and of the lawn ecosystem as a whole, and design our strategies accordingly.  Our lawn seed mix effectively partitions the resources in the soil, leaving no niches where weeds are free to grow. When weeds do appear, we remove them with either heat sterilization (destroying plant cells and preventing photosynthesis) or with hand removal where appropriate.  We then seed the weed-free patches with our custom seed mix to immediately take advantage of the open niches.  As a pre-emergent solution, we use an application of organic corn gluten meal in the early Spring, which prevents weed seeds from germinating, and has the great side effect of acting as an organic, slow-release nitrogen fertilizer for the lawn.

Fertilizing is another issue.  We’ve already mentioned the use of corn gluten meal as both a pre-emergent weed control and as a nitrogen fertilizer.  Other than that, there is really no need to fertilize the lawn, unless soil tests reveal severe deficiencies of other nutrients such as phosphorus or potassium, all of which can be remedied by the use of slow-release organic materials which break down naturally at the soil level.  Topdressing the lawn with good, biologically-active compost in the fall also adds nutrients organically.

Cultural practices are important, too.  Mowing is not a one-size-fits-all practice, either.  Frequency of mowing should change with the growing  season of the grasses, as should mowing height.  In the Spring, when growth is lush and quick, more mowings at a lower height may be desirous, while less frequent mowings at a greater height are preferable in the summer, when growth is less vigorous and water needs are higher.  Mowing higher in the summer allows the plants to grow deeper and more extensive root systems, which lessens the need for irrigation.  Speaking of water, we think a well-designed and planted lawn should not have to be irrigated by anything other than rainwater, except in drought conditions.  Healthy and biologically-active soil and proper plant selection should eliminate or significantly reduce watering needs.

Our region is known for its plethora of lawn pests and diseases, as well.  From an ecological standpoint, it is plants that are already stressed that are more susceptible to pest and disease infestation.  By keeping grasses healthy, we can significantly prevent most occurrences of pest and disease problems.  For problems that continue beyond acceptable thresholds, there are organic chemical solutions that can be used as a last resort.

To summarize, it is possible to keep lawns as an integral part of a sustainable landscape, and through proper study and technique, to care for them in an ecological and organic matter.  It really boils down to viewing grass as we do other plants in an ecosystem – healthy soil, proper plant selection, and growing in polycultures helps keep plants healthy and flourishing.  For advice on growing your lawn organically, shoot us an email or give us a ring at 571-282-1724!