Taking care of a lawn organically leads to, not only a beautiful and healthy lawn, but also one that is safe for your family and pets.
Americans have a love affair with green and lush lawns, and many use various products to achieve them. Awareness is, however, growing regarding the environmental damage, and health risks that arise from the various chemicals spread across their yards each year. This has led to more lawn owners switching to organic lawn care methods and making organic lawn care a viable business opportunity.
A normal suburban lawn, compared to a normal agricultural field, requires three times as much chemical herbicides, fertilizers, and pesticides per acre.
Among the thirty most common pesticides applied to lawns, thirteen have links to birth defects, nineteen contain carcinogens, and twenty-seven are irritants. Herbicides and pesticides are particularly dangerous among pets and children because of their smaller physical sizes. Applying pesticides on gardens and at home increases childhood leukemia risks by as much as seven-fold, while dogs exposed to lawns treated with herbicides double their rate of canine lymphoma infections and bladder cancer chances rise sevenfold.
A need to make that switch to organic lawn care procedures does not rest on health risks alone. Chemical fertilizers tend to contaminate surface and groundwater supplies and remain a major cause of pollution in the water today. Harmful insects are the principal pesticide target, but beneficial insects die too, and so do creatures such as mammals, amphibians, and birds. Furthermore, organic lawns tend to consume lower amounts of water, thereby making savings on water bills.
Taking care of an organic lawn represents a win-win situation for the lawn-care service provider, the property owner, the lawn itself, and the environment. Since organic lawn care procedures focus on attacking the core problem rather than using chemical shortcuts, organically managed lawns are greener, healthier, and more lash over time compared to conventional lawns.
For an entrepreneur on a budget, an organic lawn care business is a great business opportunity since it needs relatively low starting capital. To start an organic lawn care operation may simply involve taking your lawnmower around to your neighbors, friends, and relatives’ lawns and asking them to make recommendations to their respective neighbors, relatives, and friends.
Numerous options exist for incorporating green procedures into a lawn care business besides avoiding harmful herbicides, fertilizers, and pesticides.
For small yards, you could help in reducing carbon emissions through using electric or the old-fashioned reel mowers. In addition, using electric mowers reduces noise pollution by as much as seventy-five percent compared to gas-powered mowers while rotary powered mowers go even further in reducing noise.
An organic lawn care enterprise, besides lawn care, has other services to offer such as landscaping. A commitment to green gardening may be enhanced through offering xeriscape design services, butterfly gardens, rain gardens, and habitat restorations all of which would provide fascinatingly beautiful surroundings for visitors while conserving water, giving food to and sheltering wildlife, while reducing urban heat island effect. Furthermore, you could make contributions to local food movements through assisting property owners design beautiful and edible landscapes.
Numerous institutions provide accreditation and other diverse services for those who practice professionally in the organic lawn care industry. Founded by Paul Tukey, the author behind The Organic Lawn Care Manual, SafeLawns is an organization focusing on the organic lawn care industry. For the aspiring organic lawn care professional, their website provides an avenue for listing and approval. NOFA, The Northeast Organic Farming Organization is another institution offering accreditation and classes for professionals in the organic lawn care industry, via their program on Organic Land Care, in addition to an enlistment in their accredited professional and searchable directory.
Based in Wells, ME, TLC for Safe Lawns offers a full set of services in lawn care. TLC for Safe Lawns begins by testing the soil, thereby determining from the onset the specific requirements for a lawn, and proceeds to apply customized mixtures of organic manure onto a lawn making it the best it can be. Other services offered by TLC for Safe Lawns include regular lawn pest inspections and tick, deer, over-seeding, and core aeration control.
Soil Alive from Texas has a service on offer called Its Possible Soil-Building program that covers scheduled liquid compost treatments, regular inspections, and an entirely organic weed, disease, and pest control. In addition, Soils Alive provides soil management services that enable plants to develop healthy and deep root systems needed by plants to survive Texas hot summers, while making savings on water bills through prevention of overwatering.
Clean Air Lawn Care operates offices powered by wind, and its lawn mowers are powered by solar or biodiesel. All grass clippings and various other organic waste is composted at local composting venues or on site, while all herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers are entirely organic and natural. Clean Air Lawn Care was founded in Colorado, and its services are available in several other states, such as North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, Washington, California, and Oregon.