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Gardening

Why Green Matters: The Value Of Grass In Your Yard

Posted: 12/8/2011

A lush lawn is not only lovely to look at, it can help increase your health, wealth and happiness.

(NAPSI)—When the grass is greener on your side of the fence, you and your family can benefit in ways you may not even realize. Here are a few of the many reasons why green matters, and they are happening right outside your back door.

Green space improves the health of your environment—including your home.

Green spaces that have grass, trees and shrubs are always at work for the environment. They act as filters for pollutants and dust, and provide shade and lower temperatures in the summer. Just ask Project EverGreen, a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve and enhance green space in communities for today and future generations. Project EverGreen reports that 2,500 square feet of turfgrass-like the grass in your yard—absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releases enough oxygen for a family of four to breathe.

Well-maintained turf cools the environment.

According to the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, a well-managed backyard lawn—meaning those that are cut regularly to the appropriate height, fed with nutrients and watered in a responsible way—helps cool the environment around you. Lawns can be 30 degrees cooler than asphalt and 14 degrees cooler than bare soil on hot days.

What can you do to make your lawn work for you?

Homeowners can “grasscycle” by leaving grass clippings on the lawn when mowing. The clippings quickly decompose and release valuable nutrients back into the soil to feed the grass, reducing the need for nitrogen by 25 to 50 percent. Modern mulching lawn mowers, such as those from John Deere, a supporter of Project EverGreen, make “grasscycling” even easier. Homeowners can reduce their mowing time by 30 to 40 percent by not having to bag clippings.

Having green can mean saving green.

Green space can also improve property value. SmartMoney magazine indicated that consumers value a landscaped home up to 11.3 percent higher than its base price. Another study by the Aspen Environmental Companies found that a landscaping investment is nearly always recovered and can help reduce time on the housing market.

More Information

Learn more at www.projectevergreen.com and at www.opei.org.

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