It’s gardening season, and at Paul Henry Landscaping Service, demand is through the roof. “We’re getting about 100 calls a day,” says owner Paul Danylewich. He says the best time to start cutting your grass is at the end of April. The next best time is today. “[Grass] should be at least two inches. Don’t cut it lower than that. If you cut it lower than that some bad things happen. The first bad thing that happens is that your grass will start to die,” Danylewich tells CTV. There’s a cheat code to having a green thumb: First, keep your grass higher and thicker. Higher and thicker blades of grass have better root structure, which can prevent browning in dry months like July. Second, keep your grass cold and damp. It grows best when watered in the early morning or at night. Third, cut your grass roughly every 15 days in the summer. But certified horticulturist Ian Capstick says he’s more interested in a low-mow lawn. “Why would I want to mow the lawn and water the lawn and do all of that? That’s a lot of resources when I don’t really have to,” Capstick says. Instead, a combination of crops called the St. Lawrence Lowlands Mix is what you’ll find in his front yard. It includes bird’s foot trefoil, white clover, and yarrow - a mix that thrives in the eco subregion, which runs from Toronto to Montreal. Capstick says, “it takes 70 to 90 per cent less water, and it’s going to provide a lot of habitat for pollinators and other beneficial insects. [...] My husband is from this neighbourhood and he used to talk about fields of milkweed for those monarch butterflies. If we don’t plant the milkweed now, then we won’t have any habitat for those animals.” If a lawn that requires mowing two to three times a year is still too much, you can try a no-mow lawn made of leaves, log pieces or subsidized trees. That is, much like the DIY forest in Capstick’s backyard. “Nurse logs as well will decompose over time. [...] There’s little holes in them and evidence that animals and beneficial insects and other things are using this as a home. And then, as well, as the plant matter in the log decays, it’s going to really feed this entire small ecosystem we’ve created in this swampy, marshy land,” he explains. It’s a perfect answer to sections of yards that flood.
