Lawn care

Many people spend a lot of time, money, and water maintaining their lawn.  Some of this lawn care uses more resources (water, fertilizer, power for the lawnmower, weedkilling chemicals) than are necessary.  Many lawns are over-watered, with the excess water running into the storm gutters.  In arid or semi-arid areas, water is precious and should be conserved whenever possible.  In addition, energy is required to transport and treat the water, so reducing water use also reduces energy use.  In areas with plenty of rainfall, is still important to manage your lawn care to minimize use of resources.  The article at the link below discusses some lawncare myths and more-sustainable ways to care for your lawn. 

​Some additional ideas:

• Try a non-chemical way to deal with weeds and pests (birds eat a lot of insects).  If you need to use chemicals, follow application instructions and use them only in the areas that require chemical assistance.   
• Water at night to reduce evaporation.
• Check your sprinklers to ensure you are not watering sidewalks, driveways, or other non-vegetated areas. 
• If water is running off the lawn rather than soaking in, you are using too much water.  Try watering for a shorter period of time.  Also, as the article below describes, you can probably water less frequently. 
• If you have the opportunity, select a low-water grass variety when you plant your lawn.  Some very nice lawn grasses require up to 50% less water than the standard bluegrass lawn so popular in the US.
• Mow the lawn based on the length of the grass, not what day of the week it is.  Your lawn may not require weekly mowing, especially in hot weather.
• I am not a fan of covering large areas with rock so that nothing will grow, but there are many other xeriscaping options to consider. 

https://earth911.com/home-garden/lawncare-myths