With no end in sight to the current housing market contraction, anyone looking to sell a house is under increased pressure to make the property stand out in a positive way in order to improve the chance of getting a decent price for it within a reasonable time. At the same time, measures taken to achieve that goal must not be too high of an investment to make if they are to generate the desired return.
Despite the dismal economic climate, many people are getting passionate about wanting to live in a harmonious, ecologically sound, and healthy environment. They are still willing to pay a premium to get it.
It is possible to do a number of low-cost tweaks on a property that give it a dose of green credibilty and make it more appealing to those home buyers. The landscaping is the easiest area to achieve an immedate impact. Standard property management practices tend to make a place look ugly, barren, and cheap. Without spending much more, your home could get a smart, chic, luxuriant look that draws the attenton of potential buyers.
If the property is still to be renovated before putting it on the market, there are also many ways to breathe some life into the house itself, both inside and out, to make it virtually shout healthy, wholesome, and ecofriendly, and again, the expense need not exceed that of a conventional approach.
If you are a homeowner or real estate professional needing to sell, does this sound like something that could be of help to you? Does there seem to be a demand for homes with “green curb appeal” in your market? Have you had any experiences, whether positive or frustrating, with selling into this niche? Would you be interested in learning how to tweak properties this way? Or how to develop new ones from the ground up with this factor in mind?
Due to the ways in which lawns have been conventionally designed and maintained, much doubt has been cast on their place in the sustainable landscape. Let’s examine just what the boo-boos are in the typical picture and explore different ways of doing things that could restore green credibility to the lawn, a landscape element much loved by many people all over the western world and beyond.
The biggest concern is turning out to be the use of pesticides and herbicides as part of regular lawn care. More and more people are becoming aware that the chemicals used to make their grassy patch inhospitable to weeds and insect pests are making those same areas hazardous to themselves, and especially to their children and pets.
Then there is the issue of energy consumption, pollution, and noise from lawnmowers and other maintenance equipment, as well as the low-quality care resulting from the widespread incorrect use of such tools.
Lawns are widely used as a default option for lack of better ideas, covering huge areas of land that has potentially more profitable and/or ecologically sound uses or is simply not well suited to sustaining a carpet of grass. On top of that, the species of grass for the seed mix may have been carelessly chosen and not a good match for the location and purpose of the lawn. In their layout, lawns often have complicated plans with nooks and crannies that are awkward and time-consuming to maintain.
So how do we going about creating and caring for a lawn that can hold its own as an ecologically conscious landscape feature? First, if you haven’t yet read the article series about soil conservation, do so now, as it contains some valuable hints on how to determine where on your property to site your lawn and how much of it to create. Basically, the function of a lawn is a combination of recreational space and visual foreground to other landscape elements and to buildings. Keep the shape of the grassy area simple, make it serve its main purposes well and don’t add unnecessary complications.
Grade and cultivate the area thoroughly and choose a seed mixture that is well adapted to the temperatures, moisture levels, and light intensities prevalent at the site, as well as the use to be made of the lawn. Use compost as a soil amendment, avoid chemical fertilizers. Once the grass has started growing enough to be gently walkable, go through regularly to rogue out anything that looks like it doesn’t belong there. If you pull out weeds early, they will be much less of a problem later on. Do not apply any herbicides.
Once it is time to start mowing, avoid the single biggest mowing mistake made by almost everyone – don’t cut the grass too short. Most lawn grasses do best when cut to about 4 inches, definitely no less than 3 inches. Cutting it shorter only stresses out the root systems, making the grass more vulnerable to drought, erosion, pests, and diseases. Take off a small amount more often rather than a big chunk once in a while. Use a type of mower that’s appropriate for the size of lawn and the type of terrain. Reel-type cutting mechanisms give a higher quality result than the familiar rotary-type mowers, and come in all sizes, from the humble hand-operated push mower to self-propelled walk-behind, and all the way up to tractors. There are cordless electric mowers available today that are powerful enough to take care of almost anything short of a football field. This is the path I would recommend taking if you have too much grass for a handpushed reel job.
It is especially important to resist the temptation to use herbicides for maintaining the edges of your green carpet. This practice causes severe erosion of the border line and on top of that it looks just plain cheap, dumb, and ugly. Much nicer is to have bedding plants and shrubs, or at the very least mulch, meet the grass at the edge, which should be kept cut with a weedeater and/ or edge trimmer.
If you follow the basic advice found in this post and the rest of this blog, you will be able to enjoy the best of both worlds – a lush green carpet to relax and play on that is clean and ecologically integrated into the wider landscape – earning you double bragging rights.
