Yard Care Maintenance

Yard Maintenance Tips

These tips below, offer insights for creating more drought-resistant landscapes, optimizing water use, and contributing to a healthier environment for our community. 

Tips To Help Grass Thrive

Studies have shown that watering less creates stronger grass but some other tips for great grass are:

• Only water when you need to. An established lawn only requires about one inch of water a week.
  TIP: place a Frisbee® upside down on the lawn and only water until it’s full.
• Leave grass 3” long to prevent scorching and water evaporation
• Grass-cycle – mulching leaves your grass clippings on the lawn, providing extra nutrients and helps to retain moisture.

Leave Grass Clippings on the Lawn (PDF) 

Leaving grass clippings on the lawn after mowing is the natural way of breaking down grass, also known as grass-cycling or grass mulching. The next time you mow, try leaving clippings on the lawn for a natural way to get a green and lush yard.

It’s Good For Your Lawn:

• Short clippings will quickly break down, returning nutrients to the soil.
• Clippings help protect the soil and increase soil health by keeping moisture in the ground.

It's Good For You:

• Save time and energy by not collecting and disposing of clippings in the green bin, bagging in paper yard waste bags and lifting bags of grass.
• Save money by reducing the need for paper yard waste bags.
• Save water and fertilizer, as your lawn will stay more hydrated from the clippings.

It’s Good For The Environment:

• Saves space in your green bin, so the bin doesn’t fill up as quickly and reduces the need for paper yard waste bags.
• Reduces the amount of waste put out for collection and processing.
• Grass clippings are accepted in the compost facility but are even more beneficial when left on your lawn.

How To Leave Clippings On The Lawn:

You don’t need a special lawn mower – just remove the bag and mow to leave clippings on the lawn.
Cut grass when the surface is dry and keep mower blades sharp. Follow the 1/3 rule: mow your lawn often enough so that no more than 1/3 of your grass is cut. You may need to raise the height of your mower. This frequent mowing will produce short clippings that will break down quickly.

Mulching mowers cut grass blades into small pieces, allowing the clippings to settle into your lawn without clumping. They are sold at most yard and garden stores, nurseries, and home supply stores.

Put grass clippings in your green bin for composting.

• Put grass clippings in loose in bin; or
• Use a paper yard waste bag to prevent clippings sticking to the bin.

Be a Pollinator Pal (PDF)

Consider being a pollinator pal by employing some or all the suggestions listed below:

1. Plant flowers that bloom throughout the spring and summer and into the fall.
2. Plant flowers and shrubs to create a green corridor connecting with your neighbor’s plantings or natural areas. Even plants in pots on balconies and decks will work.
3. Provide nesting sites such as bare soil, rotting wood, stacked rocks, even water, to encourage pollinators to move into your yard.
4. Reduce or eliminate pesticides and herbicides. If you must use them, spray pesticides at night when pollinators are less active.
5. Mow less! Consider leaving a portion of your landscape untended to act as a natural area for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife.
6. While out in nature, act with care. A misplaced footstep on bare ground or in fallen leaves can destroy a nest and its inhabitants. If you pick up a rock or log, put it back where you found it; you'll be putting the 'roof' back on something's home.