Lawn Care/Basics for Homeowners-Lawn Care
Every
new house means a new beginning for you on all the problems and opportunities
of lawn care. If you are buying your first home you must begin to make all the
decisions about your landscape and its maintenance. Even if you are an experienced
homeowner, a new home means a whole new set of site, soil and grass characteristics.
This section is a brief introduction to the choices you will face as soon as you move in. If it is during the growing season your grass will require mowing within a week or two, and probably watering soon after. Each section that follows provides general background, and offers both evolutionary and revolutionary ways to respond to the needs and opportunities offered by your home yard.
Please remember the recommendation of the surgeon Galen: Primi non nocere (First of all, do not make things worse). A conventional lawn can be harmed and made truly toxic through the misuse and misapplication of pesticides, fertilizer and even water. An innovative native landscape often faces a greater "burden of proof" to win the approval or even toleration of neighbors and local officials; it thus requires careful maintenance in the period of establishment.
