In praise of that darned grass!
If you take a stroll through your neighbourhood on a Saturday morning in the spring or summer, you'll see homeowners busy trimming or fussing over the green carpets of turf around their homes. Why do we tie ourselves to these seasonal chores? What do our lawns give back?
Exercise and relaxation
As a form of exercise, gardening is good for the body, whether you are pushing a lawn mower, raking the lawn, or weeding the flowerbeds. Caring for your lawn keeps you outside and involved in physical activities. It's also a great way to switch your mental focus by concentrating on your gardening tasks instead of the stresses of the day.
Green gardens help healing
Just a view of the garden may be all we need to feel better. Some research shows a strong correlation between wellness and a scenic view. Patients in the same hospital, recovering from the same operation, recovered more quickly when their rooms overlooked a park. Nursing homes also use gardening programs, both indoors and outdoors, to help residents retain a sense of purpose and accomplishment, and to provide the same mental challenges that appeal to gardeners of all ages.
Please play on the grass
Lawns and turf playing surfaces that are well designed and properly maintained help to reduce sports injuries. The turf provides a firm, level surface for the foot. It also provides better traction, and helps to cushion the impact on athletes' feet, ankles and legs.
In one American study, a dozen eggs were dropped from a distance of 11 feet onto a dense 2 inch thick playing field. None were broken in the fall. When a second dozen was dropped from the same height onto a thin turf, two-thirds of the eggs were broken. When a third dozen was dropped from a height of 1.5 feet onto an all-weather track, all of the eggs were broken in the fall.
Lawns are oxygen generators
A healthy lawn, commonly measuring 50 feet by 50 feet (15m by 15m), generates a significant amount of oxygen, and the better the condition of the turf, the more oxygen it will produce. The trees and grass that line the interstate highways in the US produce enough oxygen for 22 million people.
Lawns are air purifiers, too. Dust and dirt released into the atmosphere by cars and industry are trapped by grass and leaves of other plants. These trapped particles are washed off the leaf surface by rain and water condensation, and return to the living soil.
Staying cool
On a hot day, the surface temperature of a lawn remains at approximately 75o F (24oC), while the temperature of the sidewalk or street may be well over 100oF (38 oC). It's not hard to see why it is much cooler to walk on a lawn than on pavement on a hot summer's day. The front lawns of just eight average homes will cool as much outside air as 70 tons of air conditioning, or about 18 to 20 average-sized central air conditioners.
Lawns reduce noise pollution
Lawns, trees and ornamental shrubs have a noticeable effect on noise levels in our environment. Blades of grass and leaves of different shapes, sizes and densities act as filters to absorb the sound around us. In one study, one variety of bluegrass was shown to be better at absorbing sound than a heavy carpet on a felt pad. Another study showed that grass planted on an upward slope, leading away from a freeway, can reduce the noise of traffic from eight to 10 decibels.
Lawns filter water
Lawns act as a sponge, and actually hold the water that falls as rain or is applied through a sprinkler. According to research done by Dr. Thomas L. Watschke, professor of turfgrass science at Pennsylvania State University, turf can absorb all applied water until it was applied at a rate of six inches per hour.
Even at this extreme rate of precipitation, the runoff contained almost no detectable levels of the nutrients used to fertilizer the turf. The thatch layer and the root zone of the lawn trapped the fertilizer that had been applied, and prevent it from being washed away. Based on this evidence, Dr. Watschke concluded that fears of water pollution from careful commercial or home owner lawn maintenance are unfounded. His studies showed that the chemical analysis of the runoff water from a healthy and well-maintained lawn is generally equal to that of the tap water of many cities.
Maintaining a healthy turf is one of the best methods of preventing water and wind erosion, and while the grass is soaking up water, the roots are conditioning the soil below. Fertilizing your lawn, following label directions on the product package, will provide the nutrients your lawn needs to grow at a healthy rate and resist disease.
A lush green carpet of healthy turf not only beautifies our homes, but it improves our living environment. Feed your lawns and gardens; take care of them and enjoy them, and try not to complain so loudly when it's time to cut that darned grass . . . again.
|
» Crop Inputs Home
|