Landscaping Naturally

Natural, varied vegetation requires much less care (water, herbicides, fertilizer) than lawns do. If you do wish to have a lawn, you don't necessarily need to fertilize it.

When applied at the wrong time or in the wrong amount, fertilizers can pollute local waterways, promote algal blooms and harm fish populations. They can also cause disease and poor root growth in your lawn. Remember that algae and aquatic plants use the same food your lawn does, so you might be feeding them and not your lawn.

You can grow healthy, productive plants by preserving the soil's fertility and enhancing its ability to absorb rain. By reducing erosion and eliminating the use of synthetic fertilizers, you will also be protecting local streams and lakes from excess sediment and nutrients.

What You Can Do

• Mulch your garden to add nutrients, reduce the need for water and make soils more workable. Mulch can be straw, grass clippings, wood chips or leaves.
• Compost your yard leaves and food waste for vegetable and flower gardens to minimize the need for synthetic fertilizer.
• If your garden is located on a slope, plant across the slope, not up and down the hill so that each row acts as a ridge to trap rainfall, soil and nutrients.
• Rotate crops so that the same (or a related) crop does not occupy the same area every year. Repeated plantings can reduce certain nutrients in the soil and encourage insects to multiply. Crop rotation minimizes the need for fertilizers and pesticides.
• Do not overwater your lawn. Two and a half centimetres (one inch) of water in dry weather will wet the soil to a depth of 10 to 15 centimetres (four to six inches). For more lawn care options check out the wave program.
• Do not cut grass too short. Ttaller lawns (about 6.5 centimetres or 2.5 inches) require less watering.
• Leave your grass clippings on the lawn. Cut grass acts as a biodegradable mulch and dramatically reduces the need for fertilizers.
• Replace large stretches of lawn with different groundcovers that require less maintenance.
• Leave natural, undisturbed wooded areas (buffer strips) along the lakeshore and/or streambanks. They act as a sponge, intercepting runoff from disturbed areas. This reduces the amount of sediment and nutrients going into our watercourses and Lake Simcoe.
• Plant a mix of native species along shore lines, streambanks, and road ditches. Plant roots stabilize the shoreline, reduce erosion and absorb nutrients before they reach the lake.
  

Native Species that Enhance Wildlife Habitat and Improve Water Quality