Thatch and How to Manage It

Thatch in lawns is often misunderstood; both its cause and control. Some lawns have serious thatch problems while others do not. Thatch is a layer of living and dead organic matter that occurs between the green matter and the soil surface. Excessive thatch (over 1/2 inch thick) creates a favorable environment for pests and disease, an unfavorable growing environment for grass roots, and can interfere with some lawn care practices.

The primary component of thatch is turfgrass stems and roots. It accumulates as these plant parts buildup faster than they breakdown. Thatch problems are due to a combination of biological, cultural, and environmental factors. Cultural practices can have a big impact on thatch. For example, heavy nitrogen fertilizer applications or overwatering frequently contribute to thatch, because they cause the lawn to grow excessively fast. Avoid overfertilizing and overwatering. Despite popular belief, short clippings dropped on the lawn after mowing are not the cause of thatch buildup. Clippings are very high in water content and breakdown rapidly when returned to lawns after mowing, assuming lawns are mowed on a regular basis (not removing more than one-third of the leaf blade).

Aerating a lawn allows essential nutrients such as Oxygen, Phosphorus and Potassium to better penetrate the roots of grass. The process involves mechanically poking thousands of holes in the ground, using an aerator machine.

Here are three signs that it could be time to aerate your yard:

Your lawn is thinning. If your yard seems to be thinning and you can’t trace any other obvious cause, such as a new source of shade or watering changes, the reason may be soil compaction.

Lawn fertilizer doesn’t do much good anymore. When soil is highly compacted, the lawn fertilizer nutrients are unable to reach the roots of grass. If you fertilize but don’t see much in the way of results, you may have overly compacted soil.

You have a lot of runoff. Overly compacted soil doesn’t absorb water as well as soil with space between particles. If you’re starting to see more runoff than normal, and more rain or irrigation isn’t the cause, you may need to aerate.

Did you know . . .

Well cared for lawns can significantly increase your property values.

A healthy lawn is of utmost importance to our environment. A 50-foot by 50-foot lawn produces enough oxygen for a family of four!

Lawns cool the atmosphere. Eight healthy front lawns have the cooling effect of 70 tons of air conditioning, which is enough for 16 average homes.

Grass converts carbon dioxide to oxygen, a process that helps clear the air.

Dense, healthy grass slows water runoff, removing contaminants and trapping soil. Fresh, filtered water returns to the underground water supply.

Green Gardening And Landscaping

What exactly does that mean? Green landscaping and gardening? You might be  sayin’ “Isn’t all gardening…..green?”. Maybe we just need a definition of sustainability and “green”. My own first thought was 100% organic and it’s even beyond that.

While going green applies to all areas of our lives, I thought I would keep this post within the realm of sustainable and green gardening and landscaping. There’s simply too much concerning environmental responsibility to fit into one category.

In my own quest to be informed, and after sifting through a few thousand blogs on the subject, I’ve saved back a few that are really exceptional. These blogs are captivating and entertaining as well as informative.

Green Gardenista
This is actually the first one I found worth reading.

Sustainable Gardening
I think these folks have braggin’ rights to to their name.

Gardening Nude
While the name of this blog might get you there, the content and information will keep you there.

Earth Wise Life Wise
A little more than landscaping and gardening. This site will get you thinking in a lot of different directions.

This should keep you reading for a while. Like I said, there’s a lot more about living a green environmentally responsible lifestyle than gardening and landscaping.