Lawn Care Kentucky involves the overall treatment of lawns that includes fertilization, weed control and turf disease management. A healthy, lush lawn improves the curb appeal of homes and businesses while also promoting environmental health.
A good start to a lawn includes a soil test, which indicates the level of nutrients needed for optimal health. Proper irrigation, mulching and aeration help prevent soil compaction. Weeds can be pulled manually or sprayed with low-toxicity herbicides.
A well-maintained lawn can add beauty to your property and enhance curb appeal. Lawn care services like mowing, seeding, aeration, organic weed control and tree and shrub pruning are critical to the health of your turf and improving your landscape. In addition, regular edging of your lawn’s grass and other landscaping elements helps define the edges of your property. This simple but effective aesthetic detail gives your home a clean and manicured appearance. Edging can be done with traditional steel, iron, brick, or concrete borders, or you can use low-growing plants to create a living edging.
Research has shown that aesthetic characteristics like color, shape, and texture can affect human perception and interaction with a lawn. For example, rounded shapes and soft textures tend to increase interaction with a lawn and encourage people to move through it. Sharp angles, on the other hand, are perceived negatively and can decrease this interaction.
Adding water features to your landscape can also be an excellent way to improve your lawn’s aesthetics. A beautiful pondless waterfall, fountain, bird bath, water wall, rain garden, or koi pond will bring an air of tranquility to your yard. Similarly, installing a custom-designed rock garden can add interest to your landscape and make your yard stand out from the crowd.
Air Quality
The lawn care industry has a major impact on air quality. Gasoline-powered lawn equipment emits harmful gases that contribute to ground-level ozone, especially on hot and sunny days. Ozone is a lung irritant that can cause asthma and other respiratory ailments. Ozone also damages vegetation and reduces visibility. Ozone is also a threat to children, people who exercise outdoors and people with existing respiratory conditions. Using electric lawn equipment and switching to other non-gasoline powered outdoor power tools can significantly reduce ozone levels.
Another source of air pollution is the fertilizers and pesticides used for lawn maintenance. Lawn maintenance chemicals can be blown into the air by lawnmowers and other equipment, or run off into waterways if they are not applied in a timely fashion or if overwatered (natural fertilizers and pesticides don’t create this type of pollution). When choosing a lawn care company, ask them what types of chemicals they use and whether any are organic.
Regular mowing and trimming will help reduce the amount of pollen that is released into the air, which can aggravate allergy symptoms. Removing weeds will also decrease allergens in the grass. Regular aeration of the soil can help improve soil health and moisture retention, which will help to minimize mold spores that may trigger allergies.
Lastly, choosing a lawn care service that only applies pesticides when they are needed will protect the environment. Over-applying pesticides can lead to toxic runoff that can harm local waterways and animals. A knowledgeable lawn care professional will be able to identify early signs of a pest problem and apply the proper amount of pesticides.
Many companies offer targeted insect control, which is less likely to hurt earthworms and other beneficial insects that maintain a healthy lawn. Some will only treat the parts of a yard that have a weed problem or are vulnerable to disease. If you are a homeowner, try to limit how much of your lawn is treated with pesticides, and encourage the companies that you use to do the same.
Water Pollution
The desire for a healthy, green lawn often leads to chemical fertilizer and pesticide applications. These chemicals may enter water supplies through surface runoff or leach into groundwater. Many factors influence how easily and quickly these products enter water sources. The soil type, application and use practices, product solubility and environmental conditions all contribute to their ability to affect water quality.
Nitrogen and phosphorus are the most common lawn care pollutants. These nutrients are important to turfgrass growth, but excessive amounts can degrade water quality. High levels of nitrogen and phosphorus lead to undesirable algal blooms in lakes, ponds, rivers and streams. These blooms can damage the environment and can cause health problems for people, pets and livestock.
Most residential lawns receive fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus. These nutrient loads are a significant source of pollution in urban areas. Most of this pollution is caused by fertilizer that washes into stormwater drainage systems and eventually flows to lakes, ponds, rivers and streams. This is called nonpoint source pollution. Nitrogen and phosphorus can also be transported to water bodies through septic systems and seepage from soil.
In addition, erosion from lawns and landscaped areas can carry sediment into streams and other water bodies. This can clog storm drains and cause other problems in waterways. Well-managed grass and shrubs help to prevent this by holding the soil in place, reducing wind erosion and providing a natural filter of stormwater runoff.
It is difficult for most residents to balance their desire for a beautiful landscape with the need to limit water pollution from lawns and landscaping. Educating residents about alternatives to chemical fertilization and pesticides, avoiding soil disturbance and mulching grass clippings are ways that they can minimize their environmental footprint. Pollution prevention programs should continue to make a strong connection between the yard, street and stream and stress that a low input lawn is best for water quality. (See Toward a Low Input Lawn, Article 130 in The Practice of Watershed Protection)
Health
Lawns provide a lush space that is great for playing games, relaxing, and spending time with friends and family. They also improve the aesthetic value of a home and increase its curb appeal, making it easier to sell when you decide to move.
Besides being beautiful, healthy lawns have many environmental and health benefits. They help fight air pollution by absorbing and releasing carbon dioxide through photosynthesis while also producing oxygen. They can also help control erosion by holding soil in place. On a hot summer day, a densely covered lawn can be as much as 30 degrees cooler than asphalt or concrete surfaces. They can also trap pollutants that would otherwise be released into waterways and prevent them from entering sewer systems.
In addition, the roots of a healthy lawn help improve soil quality by adding organic material that helps retain nutrients and moisture. This is important because many people use their lawns for food production, and nutrient-rich soil is essential to healthy crops.
A well-maintained lawn is also a haven for wildlife. Birds, lizards, and other critters love to hide out in thick grass or under leaf litter. Lawn care services can help you create the perfect habitat for these creatures and encourage them to stay around by providing the proper conditions.
Having a healthy lawn also decreases the amount of pollen in the air, which is a major benefit for those with allergies. Allergies cause noses to run, eyes to water, and throats to dry up, which can lead to loss of sleep and even higher risk of heart disease. A lawn with fewer weeds and more grass means less exposure to irritating allergens.
Another way that a healthy lawn is good for the environment is by helping to reduce noise pollution. A lush lawn acts as a natural sound buffer, reducing the volume of noise from neighbors, cars, and maintenance vehicles. This can make a world of difference for those who live in urban areas. It is also known that spending time in nature (like looking at a nice yard) can decrease stress levels, which is an added bonus.