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 GREEN
THUMB/GREEN PLANET
CAROLE RUBIN
Jun 16 2006
Carole Rubin has graciously allowed us to put the
following information on our website. If you have to grow a lawn here
are some great tips to keep it healthy. EarthCare supports the transition
to using native plants and reducing the amount of lawn to water. We
encourage you to read Carole’s books. They are loaded with lots
of great information.
IF YOU MUST HAVE A LAWN, HERE’S HOW:
a. Feed a soil, starve a pest: 6”-8” of humus-rich soil,
organic slow release fertilizers and compost,
3 times a year
b. Select a blend of pest-resistant Kentucky
Blues (20%) perennial Ryes (40%) and fescues (40%)
c. Set new tolerance levels: will a few dandelions
kill us?
d. Maintenance!
*mow high and SHARP: 3” tall AFTER cutting
*leave clippings as natural compost
*water infrequently/ longer: 1” every 10 days
*aerate three times a year, compost & overseed
*immediately after fall aeration, compost,
over-seed, fertilize with organic *fertilizer as required (soil test)
*de-thatch only if thatch is more than ¼ in fall.
*when all else fails: go clover or native
e. Monitor your yard, make sure there is a
pest & identify it
f. Find out why ‘pest’ is there. Poor Maintenance? Poor
selection?
g. Purchase and grow resistant varieties of
plants. Grow Clover. Go native.
INSECTS, WEEDS & DISEASE AS INDICATORS:
All broad-leaf weeds are indicators that your
soil and climate are more suitable to their needs than the needs
of the plants you are trying to grow. Usually, nutritionally poor,
compacted, dry soil. Diseases, molds and fungi, thrive in snow sitting
on turf grasses that are not hardy to start with, or watering on
hard-pan soil. Insets are attracted to stressed plants. You can improve
your soil base and select a blend of the grass cultivars listed below.
Better yet, consider clover, or go native. You’ll be saving
precious drinking water.
BEST COOL SEASON GRASS CULTIVARS:
KENTUCKY BLUES: BARITITA, DRAGON, EAGLETON, BARONIE, KENBLUE, SOUTH
DAKOTA, PST-B9-196, BAR VB 6820
PERENNIAL RYEGRASSES: ROBERTS – 627, PST 2BR, APPLAUD (PENNINGTON
11301), AMAZING (B1) PIZZAZZ, GATOR 3, ALL STAR 2
TALL FESCUES: KITTY HAWK, APACHE II, RENEGADE,
OLYMPIC GOLD,
REMBRANDT, WOLFPACK, REBEL 2000, PLANTATION
(PENNINGTON 1901), AFT-257, MILLENIUM, CU9502T, PIXIE E+
THE WHITE CLOVER LAWN: PURFECT!
Dutch White Clover is: low growing, heat and cold resistant, drought
resistant, likes poor soils, fixes nitrogen in your soil, traffic hardy,
pet hardy, stof and green.
Cheap, too!
NATIVE OR HARDY PLANTS FOR KELOWNA AREA:
GROUNDCOVERS: Dutch White Clover; Stonecrops/Hens and Chickens (Sedum
divergens, stenopetalum lanceolatum), Wild Straberry (Fragaria virginiana)
MEDIUM FLOWERS AND GRASSES: Bitterroots (lewisa
rediviva; columbiana); Sages; Fleabane (Erigeron linearis); Western
Blue Flax (Linum perenne); Yarrow; Penstemons; Phloxes; Bee Balm; Asters;
Blanket Flower/ Brown-eyed Susans (Gaillardia aristata); Pearly Everlasting
(Anaphalis margaritacea); Scarlet gilia (lpomopsis aggregata); Lupines;
Blazing Star; Sideots Grama Grass (Bouteloua curtipendula)
TALLER SHUBS: Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus spp.);
Big Sagebrush; Juniper; Woods Rose; Saskatoon berry; Mock Orange; Blue
Elderberry; Blue & White Clematis (Clematis hirsutissima); Creeping
Oregon Grape (Mahonia repens)
RESOURCES:
National Turfgrass Evaluation Program
www.ntep.org/contents2.shtml
B.C Government
Water, Land & Air Protection
Pest Management Branch
FREE excellent on-line manuals for professional
lawn and garden care alternatives.
www.gov.bc.ca/
click: Ministries & Organizations, click Water Land & Air Protection,
click: Integrated pest management, click: Publication and resources,
click: IPM manuals
Society For Organic Urban Landcare (SOUL)
www.organiclandcare.org
Native Plant Society of B.C (NPSBC)
www.npsbc.org
Common Sense Pest Control, 1994, Olkowski & Darr, Taunton Press
Excellent for a indoor & outdoor ‘pests’
How To Get Your Lawn & Garden Off Drugs, Second Edition, C. Rubin,
2003, Harbour Publishing
How To Get Your Lawn Off Grass, A North American Guide To
Turning Off The Water Tap And Going Native,” C. Rubin, 2003, Harbour
Publishing
The Wild Lawn Handbook, Stevie Daniels, 1995, Macmillan
Trees, Shrubs & Flowers to Know in British Colombia and Washington C.P. Lyons, Bill Merilees, 1995, Lone Pine
Requiem For A Lawnmower, Sally Wasowski, 1992, Taylor Publishing
Noah’s Garden: Restoring the Ecology to Our Own Backyards, Sara
Stein, 1993, Houghton Mifflin
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Canadian EarthCare Society
Street Address:
702 Bernard St.
Kelowna, BC
V1Y6P5
E-mail: info@earthcares.org |
