Sustainable lawn care encouragement...

Bagging your lawn clippings and taking them to the trash has to be one of the biggest wastes of energy -- and lawn nutrients in the form of naturally occurring nitrogen in the mowed stems that sift in, break down, feed, and protect the roots of the remaining grass. The City of Edmonton has come up with some goofy little ads to remind us of simple ways to have a healthier lawn -- going bagless and mowing high.

For the sake of readers far afield, I thought I'd share two ads that have recently come to my attention. The basset belly metric idea made me laugh out loud (like we all have a basset hound in our back pocket for measurement!), and I kept waiting for the grass monster to grab the guy, but maybe that was beyond the CGI budget for this year... Enjoy! And don't forget to leave the bag off your lawnmower. It's better for the environment -- and your lawn!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZHjXxvecSM

https://youtu.be/ojoqIoLy-X0

Simple Suggestion # 237... Water less, mulch more

The south side of our house is our yard's hot spot, ridiculously hot in the summer. It's got its own micro climate, situated in the fifteen or so feet between two bungalows and with a rock path where we dug a channel to funnel water away from the foundations. With the sun beating on the side of our house, the temperatures can reach the 40's C (100's F) when really, they're in the high 20's and low 30's (80's-90's). In spite of that, in the soil along our foundation I continue to plant nasturtiums every year because their bright flower faces make me happy -- and they're tasty in salads, too.

Of course, yard hot spots require a fair bit of water, especially in the near-drought conditions in Alberta this summer. I've been running along the south side of our house with my watering can almost daily, ensuring that the nasturtiums have enough to drink. But today's a cooler day, so I took a little time to reduce my watering efforts by adding more mulch to the nasturtium beds.

The nasturtiums below are pretty happy -- when I planted them back in May, there was a layer of leaves on top of their bed that got mixed into the soil.

But their friends to the west didn't have that luxury as the wind blows everything into the east corner and sweeps the west bed clean, leaving bare soil. These plants are smaller, and a bit sunburnt.

What I really should have done was dig some leaves into all the soil before I planted. Note to self: do that in the fall. For now, though, I added some damp and matted leaves around all these plants as I still have bags of them from last fall for use in my compost pile.

Here are the beds, happily mulched.

Watering efforts won't be so frequent now, and I'm betting the slightly sunburnt look of the west bed will dissipate over time. Mulching gives soil and plant roots protection from the sun, adds organic matter for the plants to absorb, makes it harder for weeds to take root, and prevents moisture from evaporating as quickly.

All of these are reasons my city is presently pushing a grasscycling campaign -- if people leave grass clippings on their lawns rather than bagging them up and sending them to the landfill, they're effectively applying a layer of moisture-retaining, nitrogen rich mulch that will improve the health of their grass (and the city won't have to spend so much effort taking hundreds of thousands of bags to the composting facility). Here's a recent video of our mayor promoting grasscycling. I love that he doesn't take himself too seriously and can ham it up for a good cause!

Mulch can be made of almost anything organic -- even weeds (stripped of their seed heads) can be placed around plants to hold in the soil's moisture. Sometimes, as I weed, I leave the unwanted seedless plants on the soil to mulch and give added nutrients.

Do you have any yard hot spots? If so, mulching can cool them down, cut weeds, and save water. I'll post pictures from these efforts later in the summer, so you can see what I mean...

Happy mulching!

90 Ways to 90%

http://www.90waysto90.com

The City of Edmonton has this really cool thing going on. Besides already having an amazing rate of 60% waste diversion from residential sources through recycling and composting at its state-of-the-art Waste Management facilities, it's started a new program to encourage all Edmontonians to get our residential waste diversion up to 90% through simple, personal initiatives.

It's called 90 Ways to 90% Less Waste, and there's a website with 90 possibilities that individuals can adopt in their daily lives -- sort of like some of my more environmentally aware 200+ Simple Suggestions, but even cooler, because of the snazzy website, AND there's a contest! People are invited to choose from the 90 Ways and send 30 second videos illustrating how they've incorporated those ways to reduce waste into their lives. And there are great ideas among them -- like grasscycling (11 ways), composting (14 ways), using ecostations (12 ways), reducing consumption (13 ways), reusing (24 ways), and recycling (16 ways). I'm not much of a videographer, but I couldn't resist making a little reuse video and sending it in. #9, in case you're curious.

So if you're interested in some Simple Suggestions for reducing waste where you live, take a peek at 90waysto90.com by clicking here. It's got great interactive possibilities if you're creative, and even if you're not, the 90 ways are worth reading -- and adopting. Waste is a justice issue on our planet, whether we realize it or not. Carelessly using things up, tossing them and making a mess of creation isn't good for our earth, ourselves, or the interconnected web of life within which we live. But if each of the seven billion folks on this planet tries to reduce our waste of resources as much as possible, hopefully, the ecosystem's health will improve.

I'm with Margaret Mead when she says: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Let's all be thoughtful and committed when it comes to reducing our waste. 100% less waste would be even better, but I'd take 90% quite happily! So, after reading the City's Ways, I have some work to do...

Simple Suggestion #143... Give a thought to your garbage guys and gals

When we got home from Jasper on the weekend, I noticed a line of garbage bags along my neighbour's back fence... autumn leaves from her yard clean up, which I promptly "borrowed" for my compost pile. As I lugged six bags to my storage area beside our garage, I decided that this week would be a good time to post this suggestion, which, I admit, is mostly for city dwellers, or towns where garbage is collected by people in waste management services.

Our garbage collectors work really hard, and their work often takes serious tolls on their bodies. But if ordinary citizens like you and me think about what we can do to make their jobs safer, no one gets hurt and everyone wins. So here's a quick list of things to keep in mind that can make life a lot better for your garbage guys:

1. Ensure easy access to your garbage area. If in an alleyway, keep the path between truck and cans clear. If on a street, try to keep vehicles parked away from collection points.

2. Make sure your cans have fixed handles. Moving handles can wrench wrists.

3. Stationary cans (without wheels) are less likely to cause back injuries.

4. Keeping bags under 40 lbs (20 kg) also saves backs.

5. Sharp things should be packaged in a way that they can't cut collectors. Put broken glass and other sharp items into labelled, puncture-proof boxes or containers.

6. Grasscycle and compost if you can. The guys really don't mind picking up FEWER grass clippings and leaves.

Here's a great little 4 minute video that tells you everything your garbage collector wants you to know. And even if your area doesn't have garbage collectors, giving some thought to your garbage now and then is good for the planet... but that's another moodling for another day.

Grasscycling, Part II

Back at the beginning of May, I made a Simple Suggestion (#120) about grasscycling. Well, now my wonderful city has come up with a great contest to encourage more people to grasscycle... meaning, let your clippings lie instead of bagging them and wasting all the resources it takes to dispose of them. Really, it's the healthiest thing you can do for your lawn, because the nitrogen in the clippings returns to the grass' roots, and as mulch, it prevents the lawn from getting dehydrated in drier weather.

And even if you don't live in Edmonton, please give some serious consideration to the idea of letting nature take care of your grass clippings instead of forcing your local waste management folks to deal with them. It's another indirect way to help save the planet.

And here's a great little video starring my friend Gary (he's a great guy!), who explains everything you need to know about grasscycling. If there's still something you don't understand, don't hesitate to contact me, your grasscycling-Master-Composter/Recycler-moodler!

Simple Suggestion #120... Go bagless

The lawnmowers were singing on Saturday (if you can call it that)... I saw and heard several in my little neighbourhood surrounding the park. So, as promised to our 2012 class of Master Composter/Recycler graduates, here is a simple suggestion about grasscycling, which turns out to be a pretty good May Day moodling. Of course, MCRs already know this stuff!

If you've never heard of grasscycling, let me start by saying that you and your lawn will love it. All you do is mow your lawn, and rather than bagging or raking up the clippings, leave them on the grass; they'll disappear in a few days, if not immediately. It's the healthiest thing you can do for your yard and our environment. By allowing the clippings to settle around the stems of your grass, you are applying a free natural fertilizer to your lawn (grass clippings are high in nitrogen -- that's why bagged clippings will get an ammonia smell if they're left to sit for a while). Not only that, but the clippings help the soil beneath retain moisture, so you don't have to water as often. And leaving the clippings to feed the soil means you don't have to "drag your grass" around -- hee hee! It requires a lot less time and effort, and you're saving the planet from the fossil fuel emissions required to truck your grass away.

Some people have the idea that if they leave clippings on their lawns, they're creating thatch, or they'll end up with mushroom fairy rings. The fact of the matter is that thatch is a root-based issue that can be solved by deep raking in the spring and aerating as required. Grasscycling doesn't cause fairy rings either -- that's more of a moisture issue. You're more likely to end up with lawn diseases if you have a dull lawnmower blade or mow too low (lawns are healthier if they're kept between 6 to 7.5 cm long... that's about 2.5 to 3 inches for non-metric thinkers).

For more information, check out this link: http://www.edmonton.ca/for_residents/garbage_recycling/grasscycling.aspx

Hmmmm. Looks like the blades need a little sharpening.

Happy Grasscycling!

P.S. Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Try here.