Tired of algae blooms overtaking Straits Pond and producing foul odors?
The Cause: Nitrogen rich fertilizer used on lawns runs into our watershed and provides harmful algae blooms with all the nutrition they need to keep blooming.
Help us keep nitrogen out of the Straits Pond watershed by using” slow release” fertilizers on your lawn.
The Ocean River Institute of Cambridge, MA has done extensive research on lawn fertilizers and their effect on our ecosystems. Their research into the many causes of fertilizer led them to our area where The Cohasset Healthy Lawn Project was born. Its purpose is to advocate for the use of “slow-release” fertilizers.
SPWA has done a fair amount of research on the availability of “slow release” fertilizers for your lawn and Milorganite can be purchased in our area.
After visiting a number of store locations in the Cohasset, Hull and Hingham areas, we determined that they ALL carry Milorganite. The prices range from $33 for a 32 pound bag (covers 2,500 Sq. ft of lawn). That might sound expensive, but if you fertilize twice a year, it’s cheaper than 4 quick release fertilizer applications.
Note: In order to find it in the store, you’ll have to look behind the walls and shelves full of the major brands “quick release” fertilizers.
Milorganite can be purchased at these locations:
- Aubuchon Hardware – Cohasset (they also have a slow release product called Ecoscraps www.ecoscraps.com which is made from recycled food waste.
- Cohasset Village Greenery – (They also carry a large selection of organic products, and their staff can explain everything you need to know about growing healthy organic lawns and gardens).
- Amazon – usually includes free shipping, have it delivered right to your door
If you use a lawn service talk to them and ask for a “slow release” fertilizer to be used.
If you want an alternative try seeding your existing lawn with white clover. This plant fixes nitrogen in the soil and better yet, this is free eco-friendly fertilizer and naturally crowds out weeds. That’s right, that expensive spray on polluting stuff your landscaper wants you to use can be entirely replaced with a perpetual fertilizer that taps an inexhaustible supply right out of the air.
Have you heard the BUZZ…..
To help save the bees and other pollinators a new initiative is trending called “No Mow May”. It started in the United Kingdom in 2020 and is now in full swing in North America too. Places like Appleton, WI and Ann Arbor MI have adopted the initiative.
By not mowing your lawn for the month allows wild flowers (typically identified as weeds — including violets, white clover and dandelions)— to bloom, providing nectar for the bees and other pollinators emerging from hibernation.
Benefits include saving money on fertilizer and gasoline while having more time to relax and enjoy the beauty of the flowers. Using no fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides helps to keep nitrates out of the environment.
If you want to permanently turn your boring old lawn into a little piece of ecological heaven, consider a phased transition to a meadow. The transition to a meadow means seeding your lawn with native annual and perennial wildflowers. This can be a no more mow ever again option that is both beautiful and the ultimate in ecological landscaping. Seeds are available at several web sites but this one seems to be the most comprehensive.
SPWA encourages you to sit back and watch the grass and flowers bloom this coming May!