Because it’s early spring and ads telling us to “green up” our lawns are starting to proliferate, it’s time for some expert lawn-care advice from people who give a damn about the environment. Do less and have a healthier lawn and garden by following Cornell’s low-maintenance lawn-care advice, which I first wrote about in this post five years ago. Susan
Lawns have been attacked for some years now, with claims that they require obscene amounts of water, fertilizers, pesticides, and gas-guzzling mowing, so of course the only responsible thing to do is to get rid of it all, right? But lawns are so useful they’ll always be with us, and are the criticisms even warranted? Or do Americans just need to change their lawn-care practices and expectations of golf-course perfection?
Now Cornell, long-time leader in lawn research, is out with a terrific new Turfgrass website, plus the easy-to-follow “Lawn Care: The Easiest Steps to an Attractive Environmental Asset“(also available in free ebook). It’s the work of Extension Associate Lori Brewer, who told me that with her environmental background, she wanted to “change the world” by promoting better lawn-care practices and attitudes.
Responsible lawn care is so very important, yet the topic of lawns was very polarizing within the Master Gardener groups she works with in New York. Many were not equipped to answer questions from the public, and lawns are the most asked-about subject.
So she decided to boil down the information into its simplest, essential form – “Just do these most important things” – and the message had to be conveyed with very limited sources. Thus, online and in a multi-media e-book.
With major headings like “Do Less,” you know it’s not going to be your grandfather’s lawn-care advice, but it’s also not going to be the total condemnation seen from some quarters. It takes the more enlightened position that “A well-managed lawn is an environmental asset” because it aids in erosion control, improves water quality, and filters air pollutants. Lawn alternatives are recommended for spots where lawn doesn’t grow well.

Lori Brewer and Frank Rossi.
Cool-Season Lawn Care
So if you have a cool-season lawn (these species), read on to find out how Cornell (and increasingly, other Extension universities) recommends that you care for it. They bust some myths in the process.
Lori worked with Cornell’s famous lawn expert Dr. Frank Rossi and others, boiling their wisdom down to its essential bits, a task that Rossi knew wouldn’t be easy because “It requires more than 140 characters.”
Water Less
Conventional wisdom is correct that grasses need about 1 inch of water per week, but only during periods of active growth. That means spring and fall, when there’s usually ample rainfall, anyway.
Then during the heat of the summer, cool-season grasses slow their growth and may even turn brown but are probably not dead. Studies show that as little as 1/4 inch of water over a three-week period can be enough to keep the sod alive. (Use a rain gauge to measure your rainfall. )
Feed Less
“Most home lawns with modest expectations do just fine with a single late-fall fertilizations mid-September to mid-October.” So for what Cornell calls “highest quality” turfgrass, several feedings are needed per year but for most homeowners, one application is plenty. Americans, does your lawn really need to look like a golf course? Time to adjust your expectations!
(Feed again in the spring only if the lawn is thin or winter-damaged, but wait until the soil has warmed up to 55 F.)
Are Organic Fertilizers Better?
Well, the evidence sure doesn’t support any claim that they’re better for turf. They do introduce organic matter into the soil, which is a good thing, but synthetic fertilizers offer some advantages over organics: you know exactly what’s in them, including zero phosphorus to protect waterways; they’re cheaper and easier to apply (because of the smaller quantity of product needed); and they can be applied at lower soil temperatures.
More important than the source of the fertilizer is whether it’s released slowly enough to protect the waterways from fertilizer pollution. So just choose a fertilizer that’s at least 30 percent slow-release (water-insoluble Nitrogen) for normal soils or 60 percent for sandy ones.
Weedkillers are Probably Not Needed
The good news, according to Rossi, is that the majority of public with lawns use NO herbicides at all. But if hand-weeding isn’t doing the job he recommends selecting an herbicide that poses the least risk, as spelled out by the EPA in their list of over 100 herbicides.
The best defense against weeds, of course, is following sound lawn-care advice to produce a nice thick lawn and patching the bare spots, too. (I was surprised that Cornell’s lawn-patching video doesn’t mention covering the seed with straw, but Lori says it’s really not needed.)
Cornell also invites us to change our expectations for uniformity and just live with some weeds. They even suggest it’s time to rediscover the virtues of white clover – that instead of a weed, it converts Nitrogen in the air to a form the plants can use. So having clover means less need for supplemental fertilizer.
Mow Right
Cornell makes a big deal out of mowing correctly because it’s essential to preventing disease. They even go so far as to suggest that if you think your lawn needs a whole renovation, try mowing correctly for a year first because that may correct the problem.
So it’s about sharp blades, mowing high, and rather than the usual admonition to never remove more than a third of the blades at one time they recommend following the much easier “clump rule.” “Mow often enough to avoid piles of grass clippings. This might be every 5 days in the spring or not at all during summer drought and every 7-14 days the rest of the season.” See, that advice I could follow.
What’s Next?
Rossi believes that if lawn-care professionals were trained in these practices it have a enormous impact. What’s needed is a tool for evaluating and certifying them, which would incentivize them to adhere to best practices. And with funding, he and others at Cornell could produce such a tool in about 18 months. (Hint!)
This is SO true! Lawn is not the problem. It’s what we choose to do to them.
I don’t have a lawn and few of my neighbors do in drought-stricken California, but there are places where lawns are needed, such as playing fields, parks, and cemeteries. They are much more beautiful and interesting when dotted with dandelions, clover, and English daisies.
We don’t need to get rid of lawns where they are functional. We just need to change our attitude toward them.
I do little to my lawn other than to weed-whack it when it looks too tall.I’ve been neglecting it for six years now. Despite the lack of attention it gets, it looks okay. I don’t worry about weeds taking over either. There are a few living in the lawn, but so what? If it died tomorrow, I’d be okay with that too. Lawns just aren’t my thing. In contrast, my former neighbor slaved over his lawn, and yes, it looked pretty with copious amounts of weed and feed and lots of water…but I’d rather play with my perennials than with my lawn.
I left a portion of my lot as native prairie, and started the practice of mowing along the property line to keep it contained on my side. After about a year, my neighbor asked me to stop mowing and let the prairie grow over onto their land in hopes it would replace some of their lawn. It did … and the prairie is getting larger every year!
I call my lawn, and I use the term loosely, The Freedom Lawn. No herbicides or pesticides. I do sometimes apply milorganite which has the added benefit of discouraging deer.The crocus tommasinianus are currently blooming with abandon in the ‘lawn’ and that would not be possible with selective herbicides in a 4 step program. Most of the time it is green and imperfect but perfect for dog, kid play and keeping critters at bay. If you live in the desert, a lawn may not be appropriate but here in New England, it is easy peasy if you let it be.
Good advice, thankfully, delving deeper, but not deep enough.
SOIL, WATER, POLLINATORS ARE IN CRISIS.
Cornell is still advocating fertilizer. Which is toxic to soil life & water.
Emissions from lawn mowers are OFF THE CHART. Lawn mowers toted around town on a trailer, pulled by a truck, to mow on contract. Make more money: add fertilizer, weed killer & pruning. How many use insecticides too? Mosquito killer on contract? What else does it kill?
Before Jesus Christ, lawns were global, gifted from Providence. Why be so narrow? Before humans arrived, lawns were functioning in tandem, richly, effectively, with Nature. Ask Jack Kramer.
“Rossi believes that if lawn-care professionals were trained in these practices it have a enormous impact. What’s needed is a tool for evaluating and certifying them, which would incentivize them to adhere to best practices. And with funding, he and others at Cornell could produce such a tool in about 18 months. (Hint!)”
“When bodies keep floating downstream in the river, how do you fix the problem? You go upstream, to find the cause.” Lawn-care professionals are not the cause of problems. They are paid to do their work, by LAND OWNERS.
If it’s not illegal, Home Owner Assoc./Deed Restriciton, use the lawn Jesus, and dinosaurs, walked on, TARA TURF. Local flora, its mix of flowers, herbs, etc. Formed across millions of years, in tandem with local soil, bushes, shrubs, flora, fauna, including humans.
Have you ever considered the serotonin & dopamine you need to thrive? Know where it comes from? Yep, the GARDEN, plants/soil/microbes/pollinators. It’s in your GUT, those amino acids making you/me, who we are, from TARA TURF. By DESIGN.
TARA TURF is bedrock to POLLINATOR HABITAT, a healthy EARTH, & HUMAN HEALTH. Doug Tallamy writes beautifully about this process, https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Best-Hope-Approach-Conservation/dp/1604699000/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=doug+tallamy&qid=1616416005&sr=8-1 .
TARA = Earth , “The more dynamic goddess, Green Tara is the “Mother Earth”, and a fierce goddess who overcomes obstacles, and saves us from physical and spiritual danger.” Odd, now, knowing serotonin/dopamine, our emotions, regulated by the health of our soil. Myth vs Truth. Sacred vs. Profane.
Pics of TARA TURF, http://landscapeinventor.blogspot.com/2009/03/tara-turf.html .
Jack Kramer, thrilling story, your prairie grass, how you’ve used it, and your neighbor wanting it too !!!
How to make this Cornell salvo, better? Full Monty, prescribe TARA TURF.
No worries, taking links in article, worth your time, I know they will be at TARA TURF, in my lifetime.
Been creating TARA TURF since my 20’s, now 60. Hoping not more decades before seeing TARA TURF, thriving in its Providential realm.
Garden & Be Well, Tara