Officials, groups unite in guide on limiting water, chemicals on lawns

A reference guide mailed to homeowners in 11 communities south of Boston suggests ways to spend less time working on the lawn without worrying about it.

The Greenscapes Program -- an effort by environmental groups, state government, and local communities -- asks homeowners to look at their yards and landscape practices with the idea of using less water and fewer chemicals.

Implicit in the Greenscapes point of view is that homeowners might be better off without a turf grass lawn altogether. The program recently mailed its reference guide to 70,000 households in time for Earth Day, April 22.

The 16-page guide includes advice on how to water and mow lawns less frequently and more effectively; how to care for them without chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides; and how to replace grass with plants that require less water. It suggests natural products that will kill crabgrass and recommends ground covers that can take the place of grassy areas.

''We're concerned over how people take care of their landscapes, because of the potential impact on water quality and quantity," said Wendy Garpow, Greenscapes program manager.

Eleven towns are participating, and contributing toward costs, in collaboration with regional environmental organizations such as the North and South Rivers Watershed Association, for which Garpow works, the Jones River Watershed Association, and the First Herring Brook Watershed Initiative in Scituate. The towns are Cohasset, Duxbury, Hanover, Kingston, Marshfield, Norwell, Pembroke, Plymouth (including the Pinehills development), Weymouth, Hingham, and Hull. Coastal Zone Management gave the program a $35,000 grant, and the Department of Environmental Protection granted $22,773.

Last year the Greenscapes Program debuted with a smaller mailing that went out with water bills to customers in about half the number of communities.

Water conservation is an important regional message, Garpow said, because failure to conserve takes more water out of the ground and harms rivers and ponds. She cites the example of the Ipswich River , which has run dry because of excessive water use. Curbing watering is a message that runs against the common misconception that watering your lawn recharges the ground water, Garpow said. In fact, almost all the water you put on your lawn is used by the grass or evaporates.

Chemical lawn care products degrade the environment by washing off during rainstorms and polluting local ponds or inlets, Garpow said.

''Fertilizers get into a pond and do what they do best, feed plants," she said. ''People add fertilizer, and the lawns can't absorb it, and it just washes off and pollutes our water."

The resulting excess of algae is visible in water such as Billington Sea in Plymouth.

The Greenscapes reference guide includes advice on how to tell if a lawn needs to be fertilized and recommends ways to treat it without using chemicals, including the liberal application of organic products such as lime and corn gluten, which prevents crabgrass from seeding.

TruGreen, the world's largest lawn care and landscape company, did not respond to a request for comment on the use of chemical lawn treatments.

The Greenscapes guide also recommends watering only when necessary. To see if a lawn needs water, walk on it. If the grass does not spring back, the lawn is thirsty. If you do water, do it deeply, training the grass to grow deep roots. Also, water at dawn to reduce evaporation.

Other Greenscapes recommendations require bigger changes, such as replacing sections of the lawn with lower-maintenance, drought-tolerant ground covers and shrubs.

While it's unlikely that most homeowners will give up grass lawns altogether, some local nursery owners have seen a trend toward organic rather than chemical lawn-care products.

Organic lawn treatments ''are the hottest subject of the spring this year," said Pat Greggo, owner of First Parish Garden Centre in Scituate. A few years ago, he said, environmentalists were telling people to eliminate their lawns, a nonstarter with most homeowners. ''We want to do what the customer enjoys," Greggo said.

Greggo said his garden center still stocks and sells big name lawn-care products, but customers who want to keep up a turf grass lawn can do it with organic products if they are willing to pay the higher costs. Greggo recommends using grass varieties such as tall fescue grass, which has deeper roots, requires less moisture, and stays green longer during summer droughts. In addition to fertilizers, organic products will control weeds and insects gradually.

The switch to organic lawn-care products is becoming mainstream, said Walter Morrison, owner of Morrison's Home and Garden in Plymouth. ''In the last five years, the number of people who come in to ask for organic means to have a lawn has just exploded," he said.

Greenscapes' call to avoid chemical lawn care products and grow less grass is not a threat to the lawn-care industry, Morrison said. ''I don't see it as negative," he said. ''We have to meet customers' needs."

For homeowners who want a surface that will withstand badminton or playing children, he said, turf grass is still the best bet. In other situations, groundcover such as pachysandra and myrtle are a better choice.

Robert Knox can be reached at rc.knox@verizon.net.