Home Lawn Care – and Then Some!
Home lawn care – and then some!
By Gosia Barrette, Master Gardener
I wrote an article for the May 2023/3 newsletter about recent changes to provincial legislation around the use and sale of cosmetic pesticides (you can read it here: https://www.mgmanitoba.com/2023/04/26/the-gardener-and-the-law/).
In that article, I made a commitment to provide an update on how I incorporated the recommended methods for chemical-free lawn care based on the research I did for that article and to improve my front yard this season. It has been seven years since we moved into this house and this summer, we finally decided to tackle the front yard and spruce up its curb appeal, and this was our project!
The first thing my husband and I did was to de-thatch the grass. We tackled this while the weather was mild and before summer’s hot sun made the task harder. This was an excellent recommendation from the research I did as de-thatching rid the lawn of old grass growth and rejuvenated it. To my surprise, the task was quite straight forward and only involved taking time to rake the old grass. There was a lot of dry grass that had collected under the lawn for years and I was surprised by the amount.
Gardening at USask provides in-depth information for gardeners on this topic and recommends de-thatching should only be done if the layer of thatch is more than 1.5 cm (1/2”)1.
According to Gardening at USask, the process of de-thatching is best done by using a machine specifically designed for the task. It looks (and sounds) like a typical lawnmower with a series of rake-like teeth (“tines” or springs) underneath that spin to comb through the grass and remove all the built-up old grass and debris.
We were lucky to have access to an industrial machine, but I later found out that machines can be rented or alternatively one can purchase a de-thatching blade and attaching it to a lawnmower. De-thatching can also be done by hand as I did at first (with a standard hand-held rake), but it requires some strength to dig deep into the lawn for optimal effectiveness of removing the debris. To achieve the best results, Gardening at USask[1] recommends that, prior to de-thatching, cut the lawn to about 5 cm (2”). If attaching a de-thatching component to a lawnmower, set the mower to the lowest setting.
One observation – and maybe just a coincidence – was that, after the de-thatching, I saw larger and more aggressive weeds popping up throughout the summer. Was it possible that, somehow, the de-thatching brought the deeper-lying weed seeds to the surface? I am sharing as an observation that I was not expecting. I ended up pulling the weeds out to avoid further spread. After the de-thatching, we followed up by laying down some topsoil and overseeding some bare spots in the lawn. I also threw handfuls of clover seeds into the lawn seed mix (I used white clover – common no. 1) just to see how it would take. The clover grew in patches so hopefully it spreads more across the lawn in 2024. My hope is to slowly add more clover each season. The front lawn did well throughout the summer and de-thatching is a practice that I will definitely use again.
PHOTO: Courtesy of G. Barrette. Frontyard planter.
My house faces south and, due to this, an area right under the bay window could never keep grass. Thus, the second project was to finally decide how we would cover this section of lawn. One of the recommendations from my research was to consider areas around the home where a lawn would not work and to replace it with something else. This patch of lawn definitely met this, and we opted for something as a focal point. We decided to build a planter box where I planted some alpine currant shrubs that I hope will spread to create a hedge. Behind the alpine currant, I planted hydrangeas and echinacea. These will of course take some time to develop, but I am happy with the results so far – for the front yard, that is.
Let me turn to what happened in the backyard – a very different and unexpected turn of events. My original goal was to update the results of the front yard project but, ironically, what happened this season in the backyard put my research skills to the test as well. I was met with something we have never experienced, and honestly it made me question whether having a lawn in the backyard was even worth it. It was vole damage! Apparently, this was common and, this year, almost everyone I spoke with had the same issue.
PHOTO: Courtesy of G. Barrette. Backyard vole damage, May 2023 (aerial view).
Having no experience with what vole damage looked like, I was quite puzzled when the snow began to melt, and I saw these patches around the lawn – a neighbour confirmed it was voles. Once the lawn was completely dry and I cleaned up the debris left behind, my husband de-thatched the lawn. We then laid down topsoil and over-seeded quite heavily with a recommended seed mix (with part clover mix) that I got from a garden centre to cover the patches where there was vole damage.
Surprisingly, the lawn recovered but it made me think about the process we went through to bring it back to its original state. During the summer, I reflected on the possible changes that could be made to the backyard and whether we would be happy to rid ourselves of the regular maintenance that a lawn requires. We very much enjoy being in the backyard throughout the summer and maybe this experience with voles was enough to reconsider the need for a backyard lawn.
I’ll probably spend the winter months pondering a long-term plan to replace the lawn.
Featured Photo: Courtesy of G. Barrette. De-thatching.
Sources
[1] https://gardening.usask.ca/gardening-advice/sorted-by-plant/lawns.php#Newlawns