On Your Turf: 5 Small Space Urban Garden Lawn Care Tips

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In urban areas with limited outdoor space, you won’t typically find front gardens carpeted with the large, uniform, smooth lawns more commonly found in suburban neighborhoods. But a small area of lawn could work.

Why have lawns gotten a bad rap the past few years? A Science study found that households in arid regions of the U.S. direct 75 percent of their water use to watering the lawn. With the impact of climate change, we collectively pay a price economically and environmentally for maintaining these lawns. Does that mean you need to totally eliminate turf from your landscaping scheme? Maybe not. Balance is key.

As an alternative to the complete ‘lawnscape’, consider a garden plan that includes beneficial and sustainable plants complimenting your grass patch. Perhaps allocate space for a vegetable garden, plant a prairie garden with some native plants and ornamental grasses such as blue fescue (one I particularly like), designate an area for compost, and keep a portion of the garden for the lawn. Such a plan also addresses efforts toward conserving bees and monarch butterflies and helps maintain a healthy biodiversity in the garden.

But even the smallest patch of lawn can make gardeners anxious. Homeowners know they need to mow the lawn but don’t want to do it. Many don’t really understand how to care for that patch of turf, and busy urban dwellers are worried that maintenance will consume a lot of their free time even with a small lawn.

Like many things in life, a little planning will go…a lawn way.

1) Have the Right Equipment
Begin with the right tools. First on the list, of course: a lawn mower. With a small urban garden, a push-behind mower will be adequate. A riding mower may be tempting for those with a medium to large yard, but a self-propelled mower might also meet your needs. Chances are you don’t have the kind of sprawling lawn and mixed terrain that requires a lawn tractor.

You’ll also need a string trimmer (commonly known as a weed eater) to do edging work around fences, sidewalks, walls, and garden beds. You can minimize the amount of edging work by installing mowing strips. If you’re planning on fertilizing or spreading any grass seed, you may want to get a spreader. Other tools to consider include a rake for leaves and soil, spade, garden hose, sprinkler, and pruning tools if you have trees or shrubs.

2) How to Mow
Lawn care isn’t as simple as just cutting the grass. There’s a right way and a wrong way to mow and knowing the difference can save your grass (no near pun intended.) Never mow your lawn while the grass is wet because it makes it more susceptible to disease (and it can be slippery and dangerous for you). Never cut more than a third of your grass’s length. If your grass is really long, you can set the mower on the highest setting, and then do another pass a couple of days later to get it down to its normal manicured length.

3) Plant Right
You probably already know that flowers and vegetables in prepared beds will grow best with healthy, nutrient-rich soil. Minimize the amount of gardening work by planting perennial species. Prune your spring-flowering shrubs and trees right after they stop flowering, and your summer-flowering shrubs and trees in the late winter and early spring. Cover freshly seeded areas with a thin layer of soil or stray (not hay, which can contain seeds of its own). When planting outside of prepared beds, try to keep soil disruption to a minimum, since it can encourage weed growth. Top weeds before they seed to gradually remove them from your lawn.

4) Establish a Seasonal Lawn Care Schedule
A seasonal lawn care schedule is a gardener’s best friend. Overseed in the spring to treat bare and thin patches. Aerate the soil yearly to help roots grow deeper and make the grass stronger. Fertilize in the spring and fall. Rake leaves in the fall and uses them to make leaf mold for your vegetable and flower beds.

5) Keep It Simple
Don’t go overboard. Spend the first season getting to know your grass and thinking about where you want to put new beds. If your grass goes brown during the hottest part of the year, it’s a sign that you’re growing cool-season grass that should be replaced with a warm-climate variety, like St. Augustine. Pay careful attention to which parts of your lawn get the most sun and which parts might be better suited to shade-loving plants.

Test your soil to understand its pH and health better. You may want to amend the soil. Just as you’re limited to growing plants, grass and shrubs that will thrive in your growing zone, the same goes for growing a species of grass that will do well with your soil type.

Some Cool Resources
Consult the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone map to find out which grasses, perennials, trees, and shrubs thrive in your area.

The American Horticulture Society’s Plant Heat Zone map indicates the average number of days each year that a given region experiences “heat days”–temperatures over 86 degrees (30 degrees Celsius.) The zones range from Zone 1 (less than one heat day) to Zone 12 (more than 210 heat days). A “heat day” is when plants begin suffering physiological heat damage.

All images, Robin Plaskoff Horton.