As a person of Irish descent, March is truly a special month. It is a time I can celebrate my heritage with all my fellow Irishmen and women. After all, the saying goes, everyone is a little Irish on St. Paddy’s Day. The month is full of green, like the patchwork of the Irish countryside: green cabbage, green shamrocks, and green beer!
March is also the month we look to our lawns to start greening as a herald of spring. Before you rush to the call and purchase all of the lawn chemicals the commercials tell you are necessary for a green lawn, know this – your lawn will come back and will give you the glow of healthful green without a heavy inoculation of your favorite bagged fertilizer. To improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay, changes in regulation no longer allow the application of phosphorous. Don’t panic. Your lawn won’t miss it. However, nitrogen, while still allowed for casual lawn use, should be handled with equal care. Our proximity to the Chesapeake Bay puts our waterways at great risk from the over fertilizing that homeowners so often do to achieve that healthy green glow. Much of the fertilizer applied in the spring is washed off in the early rains and ends up not feeding our lawns at all. Instead it serves as the food source of those detrimental algal blooms that develop in warmer weather. The best time to fertilize is after a soil test tells you it’s necessary. Visit askhrgreen.org/fertilizing-in-hampton-roads/ for more fertilizing tips.
This March, relax and let your lawn come in on its own schedule in its own time. Instead, sit back in your favorite chair and pour yourself a green beer to toast the season! Slainte!!
Article written by askHRgreen.org guest blogger Helen Kuhns, Education & Outreach Coordinator, Lynnhaven River NOW