1. Mow your lawn with an electric mower.
2. Stop applying water (yes, you read that right), fertilizer, pest control chemicals. This will keep pollutants out of the air, water, and soil. The lawn will adopt the normal life cycle of grass. It will be green in rainy seasons and brown in dry, hot weather. Also, here in Wayland, those lawn chemicals flow into our drinking water wells, and not watering will take pressure off our drinking waster supply.
3. Add other short plants to your lawn. After adopting the practices in #1 and 2., add other plants that will look green when the turf grass is brown. Popular lawn companion plants include Clover, Self Heal, Violets.
4. Replace lawn area that is not needed for play space with a native plant garden. Read about a local effort here.

Need help?

1. Seeking advice about ecologically healthy gardening practices? Contact our coach, local volunteer Native Plant Ambassador, Jean Milburn. Jean is Wayland’s representative to the MCA Native Pollinator Task Force.
2. Give Lady Fern Farm a call. Lady Fern Farm consults and is specialized in native pollinator plants.
3. Visit the Eco Landscaping Association (ELA) Directory  and type MA in the State search box, and any specialties you are looking for. There are many ecologically educated landscapers in the neighborhood. The ELA  educates them and holds them to high standards.

As always, let us know how it went by leaving a testimonial to the section below. We are always looking for vendors we can recommend.