By Lorenza Zebell

Sustain Dane is a resource for your sustainability-related questions. Businesses and individuals often email our team. This year we are adding a new article section where we will share questions that have come from the Sustain Dane community (and the answers we provide) in our newsletter. Feel free to send in your question to hello@sustaindane.org

Q: How can I prepare my lawn/yard for spring?

A: The warm weather we’re having is turning my mind towards the outdoors as well! Below are some tips for prepping your yard and lawn in a more sustainable way. The rules of thumb that can help you remember what to do are “keep the rain where it lands” and “only rain down the storm drain.”

Keep the rain where it lands

To prevent overwhelming the stormwater system and flooding, we can do our part to help keep the rain where it lands on our property.

1. Consider installing a rain barrel to save rain to water your lawn and garden
2. Plant native plants in your garden, as a rain garden, downspout garden, or even just along the edge of your lawn before your driveway provides a barrier to soak up more rain before it runs into the street

Only rain down the storm drain

Our storm drains run directly into our lakes and streams, so make sure only rain goes down them.

1. Skip fertilizer altogether if you have healthy soil, or at least in spring, which can harm lawns by promoting more top growth than root growth
2. Skip the herbicide which will likely wash into our waterways with spring rains, and opt to hand-pull weeds when they pop up
3. Wait on aerating and seeding your lawn until the weather is less wet to prevent soil and seeds from washing away
4. Cover piles of soil with tarps to prevent it from blowing or washing away until you are ready to use it

Promote a healthy lawn

Healthy lawns soak up more of the rain and prevent runoff into our lakes.

1. Leave some of the leaves – they will break down as it gets warmer and will add nutrients to your soil but rake up excess leaves that might prevent your soil from breathing and getting sunlight
2. Test your soil to help you know whether you need to add nutrients for a healthy lawn

Reach out for more resources on these tips. I’d love to help you complete a lawn or yard-related project.