Photo: victoriapeckham
If you’re still maintaining your lawn using chemicals, stop! (Now, wasn’t that easy? Think how much time I just saved you!)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that U.S. households use nearly 90 million pounds of herbicides and pesticides on their lawns each year. Those chemicals end up in our groundwater and run off into rivers and oceans. If growing your own food is on your sustainability agenda, you certainly don’t want those poisons ending up on your kitchen table via the vegetables you grow.
Do you have any tips for dealing with weeds then? I don’t use chemicals on my lawn but I’m tired of looking out at a sea of dandelions all summer.
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With dandelions, the ticket is to avoid letting them go to seed. Kids love those little puff balls, but that’s how the plants spread so prolifically. I’ve been experimenting with full strength vinegar as a weed killer, but don’t know that you’d want to try that in the middle of your lawn!
Yes, I have heard vinegar works. I recommend the film “A Chemical Reaction” by Paul Tukey. He was a lawn care specialist. The film explains how the town of Hudson, Canada managed to ban lawn care chemicals, based on activism by one dermatologist who saw people getting sick from them. This action was what caused the chemical industry to get preemption laws voted in all but 13 states, which means that in the states with these laws, single towns cannot take action and ban pesticides if the state allows them. Ugh!!!
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Dandelions like a pH greater than 7.5 in the soil, while grass is best at 6.5. So if keep your soil slightly acidic (neutral is 7.0) you naturally make your lawn undesirable for dandelions.
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You rock, Chris! Even with my background in landscape design, I had no idea.
[...] but what they don’t say is that many (if not most) of these products boost and build with chemical fertilizers. Products like “weed and feed” take it a step further as they build up the grass and [...]
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