March is the Time for Lawns... If You Must

False Lily-of-the-Valley (Maianthemum dilatum)
Now Blooming in a forest near you.

Gardening work started early this year in Vancouver; we were full time back to work February 1 instead of easing into it part time. When spring comes early, the early tasks all seem to need doing at the same time. Perhaps going away in January was a mistake this year? The fruit trees usually get pruned at a leisurely pace in February; it's usually a couple weeks work at best and pleasant because of that. In the city we try to get the fruit trees sprayed at least once with a dormant oil/lime/sulphur combination that gets at the overwintering pests without being nasty to the environment. One needs a sunny day in February before the flower buds open for this so it's always pleasant being out on a sunny day in February, climbing and pruning fruit trees. Could we have a nicer job? But this year, we had to race to get the trees sprayed and pruned before the blossoms opened, and then the lawns and weeds started growing too! So all of a sudden it was spring lawn care, first garden weed and fruit trees all at the same time.

Lawns are a beast that we seem to have grown attached to in Vancouver that actually require quite a bit of care to keep healthy without chemicals (and we don't like chemicals, do we?). I have heard that of all the plants in existence in the world, grass is the newest (I think horsetail may be one of the oldest, which doesn't surprise me. I have clients with prehistoric horsetail, I am sure of it). We get a lot of rain in Vancouver, so in shady spots, growing grass can be a challenge, where moss is the indigenous ground over. People go to great lengths to maintain that expanse of green lawn, including spring aerating, mowing weekly to within a centimetre of its life (whether it needs it or not), twice annual applications of lime (to combat our naturally acidic soil), chemical fertilizer, moss killer, broadleaf weed killer (legally applied only by licensed professionals now), replacing lawn torn up by crows and raccoons, application of nematodes to combat the European Chafer Beetle now rampant in our city and regular edging and trimming. Yikes. It's a wonder anything lives. We have a different approach to lawns and I am pleased my clients respect and favour this. The first question of any new client is usually "Can we do away with some or all of this lawn?". It is a growing trend for residents to replace lawn areas with other ground cover that can take some foot traffic. There are a lot of options out there that bloom, smell nice, don't need mowing and chemical warfare, and won't have chafer beetles. If someone really wants to keep a lawn, our prescribed spring treatment involves aerating, power raking out the moss and physically removing it, top dressing the lawn with rich sandy compost soil and seeding new grass in bare spots. We weed by hand (sometimes accepting weeds) and cut the lawn less frequently and leave it longer to promote health. This year, we will also be spraying nematodes on those lawns affected by the chafer beetle in July. Next year I'll ask the question again "Can we do away with some or all of this lawn?".

We're eliminating lawn slowly but surely. More flower beds or vegetable gardens anyone?