Skip the cookie cutter, hyper green lawn by catering towards what is natural and traditional for the Rappahannock region. Surround your home with native trees and shrubs, and fill your garden with beautiful native flowering plants and grasses to create a soft, healthy, inviting landscape that is lower maintenance and healthy for the River.
Make sure you check out this Bay Friendly Lawn Guide published by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for a complete guide to having a Bay and River friendly lawn!
For now, the most important things you can do are:
- Hold off on fertilizer until fall to avoid creating weak roots. Excessive fertilizer won't help your lawn; it will weaken it and send runoff into the River and Bay, where crabs and oysters are already at risk.
- Add more trees and shrubs to break up the dull expanse of lawns and add more color and variety. That will create a more eye-pleaing aestetic, provide more natural shade, help prevent the runoff that threatens the seafood, and mean fewer Saturdays with your lawnmower.
- Consider landscaping alternatives that reflect the Rappahannock tradition, with native plants, planting islands, rain gardens and natural shade for the patio or deck. These lower cost or lower maintenance alternatives to the typical lawn are bound to suit any lifestyle.
- Aerate your lawn this spring, rather than fertilize.
- Have your soil tested to figure out what your lawn really needs to be healthy.