How An Early Spring Impacts Our Water System

From Butler Associates:

With an unseasonably warm winter nearing an “official” close and temperatures hovering in the 70’s this March, more and more people have begun looking ahead to their home gardening and landscaping efforts.

The American Dream of homeownership also carries with it the responsibility of making our home lawns and landscapes pristine. In some Fairfield County communities, having the best looking landscape on the street has become a competitive sport.

“The early arrival of warm weather signals the start to planting, pruning and garden grooming season,” said Armando Esteves, owner of Trumbull, CT based Nature’s Choice Lawn Care, which serves nine Fairfield County communities. “Because of the warm weather over this winter, many plants’ biological clocks may have been disrupted. This may cause them to sprout prematurely in some cases or take longer to blossom, if they do at all, come spring.”

In too many cases, getting a yard ready for spring and summer can mean the use of chemicals, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers. According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, each year Americans will use approximately 80 million pounds of pesticide ingredients to fertilize their landscapes.1 These ingredients can be harmful to people, family pets as well as the environment.

The Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection advises that pesticides can “kill good organisms that help produce the nutrients plants need to grow and weaken grass.”2

Mr. Esteves says, “The hardest part of tending to the landscape environment that our children, grandchildren and family pets inhabit, is managing the use or potential overreliance on yard chemicals.”

He notes that when young children are playing on a lawn sprayed with chemicals, their skin and clothes get exposed and the same goes for family pets. Any chemicals or toxins can also leech from the surface of homeowners’ yards into ground water, local streams, ponds or even the Long Island Sound. It’s something he says his customers are both concerned about and able to avoid.

This recognition has led to a growing market use of natural and organic lawn products, which have expanded 4.4% annually since 2010, according to findings by market research publisher Packaged Facts.3

The company serves nine Fairfield county communities including: Trumbull, Fairfield, Westport, Southport, Easton, Monroe, Newtown, Shelton and Stratford, offering businesses and homeowner’s organic fertilization methods to feed both plants and soil, keeping them healthy, while being a safer alternative for children, pets and the environment.

Photo caption: Armando Esteves, owner of Fairfield County based Nature’s Choice Lawn Care urges caution in the use of chemical fertilization and pesticides on lawn and landscapes, as they can expose young children, family pets and our homes to unnecessary toxins.

SOURCES:

1 http://www.ehhi.org/reports/lcpesticides/summary.shtml#use

2 http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2708&q=382644

3 http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/packaged-facts-in-6-billion-lawn-and-garden-supplies-market-demand-for-organic-products-on-the-rise-300133591.html