Tips for a Healthier more Environmentally Friendly Lawn & Garden- Dealing with Weeds

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Tips for Environmentally Friendly Ways to Deal with Weeds


Every little bit of greenery on our planet helps clean the air, contributes to our oxygen supply, helps prevent soil erosion and improves our quality of life. Whether you have a few square feet or a forest behind your home, preserving and promoting the diversity of the area and maintaining it chemical-free will enhance your life and keep you, your family and the animals in the area safe from harmful toxins.


 

One of the most common gardener gripes is the everlasting duel with pernicious weeds. Fortunately, there is an easy, green way to take care of these garden thugs—the answer lies in using newspaper instead of weed fabric. Many home gardeners are familiar with weed fabric, the petroleum-based black mat used to discourage weed growth. All too often, this fabric ends up in tiny shredded pieces that litter the soil like a thousand candy wrappers. Newspaper on the other hand, decomposes into food for soil microbes and earthworms; after all, it’s just carbon with some soy-based ink!

Sheet Mulching

Sheet mulching involves the following steps:

• Blanketing the soil with newspaper or cardboard, overlapping the pieces like fish scales.

• Watering the paper so it sticks together.

• Covering this paper mulch with 2-4 inches of compost or mulch.
This sheet mulching technique typically keeps weeds at bay for approximately one year, and after that the paper and mulch decompose to become topsoil.

If you hire blow-and-go gardeners to care for your yard, there’s a good chance they will blow away valuable organic matter and they don’t generally add anything more than harsh chemical fertilizer to your lawn. Not to fret though–ask your gardener to use a broom and direct the leaves so they are used as mulch rather than being trucked to the dump. You can also pickup a load of compost for the cost of a bag of fertilizer.

Going green with yard care is no longer just a moral imperative—it is an aesthetic and intelligent way to ensure that your yard sustains a healthy, natural, and long-lasting relationship with surrounding ecosystems. With an open mind and a little creativity, homeowners can do a great service to the environment and to their pocketbooks in one fell swoop.


Greener Environmentally Friendly Lawn Care Ideas
Organic Gardening Tips & Ideas

Natural Safe Organic Pesticide Recipes

Environmentally Friendly ways to deal with Weeds
Environmentally Friendly ways to deal with Outdoor Pests