Fall is upon us and the kids are back in school. The days are shorter, the schedules are stricter and summertime freedom is a recent memory that seems long ago.
In my mind’s annual passing of time, fall represents the most significant season of the year to implement change. My kids will be challenged with a new level of academic courses and athletic competition, while we all prepare for winter as the days become shorter and colder, and our lawns and landscapes drift in and out of dormancy.
I consider myself an idiot savant when it comes to raising my kids. I have this innate sense of when and how to react to their emotional, mental and physical needs without doing the work for them. I simply provide a balanced environment that allows them to fulfill their own potential and hopefully to become independent, self-sustaining adults who won’t be living at home when they are 30.
When it comes to taking care of my lawn I simply consider myself an idiot. There is nothing savant about the way that I have approached lawn care in the past.
So what would happen if we all used some of the same healthy techniques that we apply to raising our kids and used them on our lawns? Sound crazy? Let me explain.
I learned a long time ago that each of my three kids are very different and need to be raised with slightly modified approaches based on their individual needs. I now know how to handle my interactions with each of them and hopefully help them mature in an individual way that best fits their needs.
Finding out how to care for your lawn is not nearly as complex. While you may need outside help that costs $100 an hour to find out how to deal with your child’s personality, a simple soil test costing $10 to $15 through your local cooperative extension can tell you exactly what your lawn needs to be as healthy and self-sustaining as it can be.
Sometimes your kids will hang with people you feel are not good influences on their behavior. Don’t be fooled by what other people say about those kids. Get to know them and form your own opinion. If they still don’t pass your individual personality test don’t be afraid to weed them out!
The same goes for your lawn. If you like clover or other so called “weeds” that mass marketing campaigns from chemical companies have led us to believe are bad, then please, let them stay! If there is a plant that you don’t like your lawn hanging out with, you have every right to use an organic herbicide to get rid of it or pull it out by hand.
While my kids run cross country in the fall to improve their aerobic capacity, your lawn can breathe easier by aerating. Roots require oxygen to grow and absorb nutrients and water. Compaction reduces total pore space and the amount of air within the soil. Lawn aeration involves the removal of small soil plugs or cores out of the lawn allowing the roots to breathe and absorb nutrients. You can rent a lawn aerator from your local rental or hardware store. Have your kids do it. They’ll have fun and get some exercise.
New growth is important for all of us and especially for kids. I love introducing my kids to new experiences and ideas. Timing is important. The more open they are to the experience the more accepting they’ll be and they will learn more.
Fall is the perfect time for new growth on your lawn. Your lawn wakes up in the fall after those long, hot August days. The cool autumn allows new vitality and it is the perfect time to over seed.
Good healthy food will improve the growth and the productiveness of your kids. Your lawn is the same.
Our kids will inherit this earth. I believe that our generation is better informed in the parenting process and if we use this information we will raise strong, healthy proactive kids who will make this world a better place.
We can also make this world a better place by buying and using only organic products on our lawns. The long-term effect of chemical fertilizers can be harmful, not only to your lawn but also to your kids as they play on the lawn and to the environment as those chemicals run off into our waterways.
