The fad for a green lawn started in the 1950s when all and sundry started competing for a greener lawn than the neighbors. This gave rise to haphazard use of harmful chemicals. As our awareness about the environment around us increased people started treating such chemicals as part of a necessary evil. The situation has changed for the better now as we are becoming more concerned about our planets health.

Protecting your green lawn from weeds and other diseases does not necessarily require chemicals and pesticides. If you take care to put in some effort and care for the green lawn, it is possible to nurture it with out harming the environment.

A green lawn requires water but timing plays an important role in watering. Watering should always be done in the early hours of the morning. If we water in the hottest part of the day it is bound to scorch the tender green blades as well as waste precious water. Watering in the evening gives an opportunity to molds and fungus to grow, especially when nights are cooler.

Those of you who care for your green lawn yourself must have realized that weeding is a major bother requiring constant monitoring. Regular cutting of grass and its clippings play an important role in controlling weeds without having to take recourse to harmful weed killer chemicals. Cut the grass regularly to keep it about three inches, and it will automatically keep the weeds from showing by restricting their potential to grow.

Grass clippings too suppress weed growth along with providing valuable nourishment. Clippings, if let to remain in the lawn form a thin protective covering known as mulch which gets composted quickly, which, in turn, gives diet to the grass to give the lawn a lush and greener look.

During fall the soil, not the grass, needs fertilizing. Mulch, of decomposed and shredded leaves is a sound alternative to synthetic fertilizers. It is important to apply mulch thinly on a weekly basis especially during cooler months. The earthworms will do the rest on their own by burrowing in and loosening the soil for the grass to grow with renewed vigor during springtime.

Another thing that you need to do during fall is seeding which must be done before middle of September so that grass takes roots well in time before winter. Nowadays products that include seed and mulch are easily available. If they appear expensive, then seed using the one recommended for the area and mulch as suggested above.

If we make a conscious effort to restrict the use of harmful and expensive chemicals / fertilizers, our green lawn not only remains green but we also add our efforts to the global drive to leave our planet in a better shape than we inherited.