I understand the importance of a well-maintained lawn. It helps property values, doesn’t upset the neighbors and looks nice. But keeping a lawn green and weed-free is not a very eco-friendly practice.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), gas-powered lawn mowers can produce as much air pollution as 43 cars being driven 12,000 miles.  We use an electric mower, but they still require energy that has to come from somewhere. And many fertilizers are also harmful to the environment.

We live in a very wooded area. Our backyard and one side of our yard is grass-free. Which is very low-maintenance, but not so pretty. That leaves us only the front and side yard to mow. And we’ve decided to get rid of some of that grass this fall and winter.

Why are we waiting until then? My severe grass allergies and the fact that every flower bed in our yard has some sort of poison growing in it. I’ve tried to avoid the obvious “leaves of three,” but have still managed to suffer through two fairly severe poison ivy outbreaks this summer already.

My grandmother, an experienced gardener, told me to wait until November to move the plants in our very over-run flowerbeds. I’m hoping that the grass allergens and poison ivy will be dead.

While I understand the importance of a green lawn (feeding birds, etc.) our goal is to cut down on some of the grass with flower beds and raised beds for produce.

Raised beds aren’t that pretty, but they will allow us to plant a wider variety of veggies, fruit and herbs next summer and fall. And we plan to “hide” them by planting a prettier flower bed in front of them. We also planted some flowers along the road in front of our house, and want to plant a bigger flower bed in the front as well.

This should certainly cut down on mowing and not look bad. Some lawns in our area are covered in ivy. They look nice and I’m sure they are very low maintenance, but I think that waiting for ivy to overtake our yard would take years and years.

Plus, according to the EPA, having some grass in your lawn is good. As for taking care of the remaining grass, according to this website, we should look for organic fertlizer and herbicide.

Our next goal after replanting our flower beds will be to come up with green pathways. Any ideas?

Summer can be a tough time for greenies. At least in my opinion. If you own, or rent, a place with a yard, then you are expected by your neighbors to keep it fairly neat.

Making a lawn beautiful isn’t usually the most “green” thing to do. There’s the mowing, weed-eating, watering and fertilizing.

Mowing and weed-eating:

Most mowers and weed-eaters are not environmentally-friendly. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA,) the emissions from small engines, like lawn mowers, include carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides.

The good news is, there are lower-energy options. If you have a small lawn, or lots of stamina, you can use a reel-mower. The only energy these guys use is man-power. For the weeds, you could use a scythe (though that might scare your neighbors!)

There are also electric options. We recently upgraded to an electric mower, and though the cord does tend to get in the way, this mower is so much lighter and easier to push over the lawn. We also have an electric weed-eater. While these do not guzzle gas, they are using electricity.

But there is one other option — plant groundcover. Once groundcover takes hold, it shouldn’t need to be mowed. You could make your yard ornamental and unconventionally beautiful with lots of work upfront, but little on the back-end.

Watering:

Once the dry, hot summer begins, many people put the sprinklers out to keep their grass lush and green. But that can be a big waste of water.

Instead, why not invest in a rain barrel? They collect rainwater from your roof, and even have a spigot that you can connect your hose to for watering. Here’s a great description of rain barrels and what they do.

Fertilizing:

Many fertilizers on the market are chockful of chemicals. There are several organic options, like animal manure and compost. I know some cities sell compost, but you can easily make your own organic compost.