Environmental watch

July 15, 2007 | Print

Chemical Free Lawncare

Children love to explore their backyards. Being low to the ground, highly observant and unafraid of dirt (usually), they pick up everything and often taste a pebble before we can guide them away from their testing techniques.

That alone is enough reason to avoid all chemicals in the backyard. Another reason is the chemicals in pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers move through the soil into groundwater which can show up in our water supply.

Also, there’s no such thing as washing off chemicals like Round Up–their half lives (the amount of time it takes for the chemical to reduce its potency by half) can last months and months in the soil. It’s best to avoid them altogether.

Here are a few ideas for a chemical free backyard:

1. Avoid chemicals. It sounds simple, but can be complex especially if a landscaper overlooks no chemical instructions.

Be clear with whoever cares for your lawn, meet the people who do the actual mowing each week and explain your concerns, tell your landscaper (if it’s a company) verbally and in writing each season.

Check Resources below for organic fertilizer sources and other non-chemical lawn treatments. Also when checking labels and asking for non-toxic products, remember that organic in lawncare doesn’t always mean organic in the sense of no chemicals.

2. Use alternative weeding options. Pulling weeds is easy while watching young kids play outside, they often like to help. It’s manual labor, but not terrible. Check Resources below for natural weeding sprays like vinegar and water.

Planting can also prevent weeds because they don’t have room to grow. Check with a local landscaper or nursery for ideas.

3. Watch your neighbors and the city. We live in forest areas where pine beetles and knapweed are a problem. Many people choose to spray their trees, and cities and counties are legally obligated to control knapweed along the public right of ways. Right of way can mean part of our own front yard.

We ask neighbors who spray to let us know beforehand, and keep the kids inside and close windows during any tree spraying as well as after on windy days.

We call the city (the person in charge of land maintenance) in the early spring and again in late June to find out their spray schedule, and the chemical treatments planned for the local parks. We also can put our property on the city’s no spray list each year.

For areas with year round sunshine, we would call anytime to find out about the local maintenance program.

Resources for Pesticide Information and Pesticide-free Solutions:
National Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP)
National Coalition for Pesticide-Free Lawns
The Green Guide:
Grassroots: Easy, Organic Lawncare
Detoxing Green Velvet
Non-Toxic Lawncare: Products and How To’s

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