Reducing Summer Water Consumption with a Natural Lawn

In the summer months, your yard is an outdoor retreat. So, it’s no wonder New Jersey homeowners spend a great deal of time and energy creating a lush, carpet-like lawn. But achieving that patch of heaven comes at a price. Two of the culprits in draining the pocketbook are overwatering and over-fertilizing. Conventional lawn maintenance causes summer water consumption to spike to nearly double normal levels. Even more staggering: Safelawn reports that Americans apply 80 million pounds of pesticides and herbicides to their grass each year. That’s 10 times more than farmers use on their crops, per acre.

Attaining beautiful, healthy and sustainable turf doesn’t require throwing your hard-earned money away on quick fixes and toxic chemicals that deplete your lawn of necessary nutrients. For example, beneficial microbes help break down organic matter into food for your grass. Pesticides kill these good microbes, preventing normal, healthy processes from occurring. Synthetic fertilizer contains high doses of nitrogen, which greens your lawn and speeds growth. However, most of the fertilizer’s energy is spent on the blades, causing roots to stay close to the surface instead of tapping deep into the ground. So, during droughts, this weakened grass can easily wilt away. This forces homeowners to turn on the sprinklers more often—and forces turf to become dependent on chemicals for survival. It’s a vicious cycle that can be avoided with a natural lawn care program.

Natural and organic lawn care reduces the time spent tending to your yard, minimizing the need for harmful chemicals. A natural, slow-release or organic fertilizer delivers safe nutrients to grass over an extended period of time, promoting stronger root growth and increasing the ability for soil to retain water. Using chemical-free products helps grass to maintain its healthy natural growth cycle –and a healthy lawn can fend off diseases, pests and the elements. In the long run, a sustainable backyard lightens the burden on the environment, your health and the watershed.

At Natural Turf, we believe you can have it all—a thick, beautiful, natural yard treated with chemical-free, effective products that are safe for your family, pets and friends. Call our NJ lawn care experts today to learn how to reduce your summer water bill with naturally and organically maintained turf!