Although there is a growing trend towards alternatives, lawns remain the dominant landscape feature of many Canadian homes. Lawns provide open views and a wear-tolerant soft surface for active recreation and they are relatively inexpensive to install.

However, lawns can be a lot of work. You can reduce time, cost and environmental impacts of lawns by reducing the amount of lawn in your yard, choosing a low-maintenance lawn or doing both.

This About Your House (download pdf) tells you about the benefits of low-maintenace lawns and provides tips on how to plant and maintain them.

Topics discussed are:

• What is a low-maintenance lawn?
• Benefits of low-maintenace lawns.
• Selecting suitable species.
• Chart for Comparision of some low-maintenance lawn species
• Installing a low-maintenace lawn
• Converting an existing lawn
• Maintenance
• Mowing
• Fertilizing
• WateringRedefining Weeds
• Controlling pests
• Overseeding, dethatching and aerating
• Other alternatives to conventional lawns
  

Photography by Derek Pantling - copyrighted work, all rights reserved
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