No Mow!
Gardening is a great escape for some people, to plant, to nurture, and for some, to harvest. You reap what you sow. We’ve heard that saying for years, but do you want to put in the work of planting, watering, maintaining, fertilizing, etc.? Looking for ways to lower your carbon footprint at home? First, you might want to know how we’re not being so ‘green’, the pros and cons about lawn care and what we can do to help and some tips to keep a low maintenance yard.
Did you know that a standard lawn mower can emit the same amount of air pollution in 1 hour as driving car 550 Km? That’s a drive from Hamilton to Ottawa!
Did you know the energy cost for an electric lawn mower is no more than $5/year to operate? A typical 2 stroke lawn mower is $500! Mow lawn with electric rechargeable mower, leaving grass at least 5cm long. To reduce that even more, you can replace grass with perennials or eco-lawn, or buy a push mower. Push reel mowers available today are lightweight and GREEN? They’re only 16-30 lbs and run on 100% green energy — YOU! Reel mowers cost about $125-180.
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Another easy way to help reduce carbon emissions is to grow your own vegetables! You can always replace the lawn with an organic vegetable garden. They produce 0 carbon emissions and 100% healthy food for you and your family while saving hundreds of $ at the grocery store each year.
[/two]Top 3 plant suggestions for your carbon-reduced front lawn:
Choose solid blocks of plants to create a quilt of colour and texture and reduce your carbon footprint:
[two]1. Select clump-forming grasses like Panicum Virgatum ‘Blood Brothers’, Festuca ‘Blue Glow’ and Carex ‘Milk Chocolate’.
2. Choose fleshy plants such as Sedum ‘Mr. Goodbud’, ‘Postman’s pride’, and ‘Elsie’s Gold’.
3. Plant mat-forming plants like Leptinella Squalida ‘Platt’s black’, Thymus ‘Elfin’ or Juniperus ‘Icee Blue’.
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