Vineyard Lawns

Spring 2024: Come learn about Vineyard Lawns in person! Our “Love Song for the Vineyard Lawn” presentation is going on tour across the Island Libraries this winter and spring. See our Events page for details.

For those who love the Vineyard and call it home (or home-away-from-home), part of the unique charm of the island is the very fact that it doesn’t look like everywhere else. A large reason for that is natural history: the island’s glacial history, the ecosystems that evolved within it, and the large amount of conserved habitat that allows those species to flourish. However, another important difference can be found in the human environment – in particular, the land right next to our houses.

The ubiquitous suburban lawn – that emerald green, weed-free monoculture – has never been the ideal here. In fact, for many of us, it’s not even desirable. Instead of seeing a safe and inviting extension of our homes, we’re thinking of downstream consequences of chemical perfection. The fertilizers used for monoculture turf contribute significantly to the nitrogen pollution that has our coastal ponds frequently closed to swimming and shellfishing. The pesticides and herbicides used to kill bugs and weeds also kill native biodiversity and threaten our drinking water. Even the watering needed to keep a lawn artificially green in summer is a sad waste of groundwater during the most droughty season.

Luckily there’s a better alternative: the Vineyard Lawn, which uses no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers, and only occasional watering if truly necessary. Mixed grass varieties and native plantings are hardier, better adapted to local conditions, and require less time and attention. And a Vineyard Lawn will always be safe for kids, pets, and wildlife – no need to check product labels and Google for the latest news on potential health effects.

It’s easy to get started. First, and most important, make the total grass area as small as possible. Preserve as many of the shrubs and trees as you can – the birds will appreciate it, but the lawn will also benefit because the root systems of these woody plants bind the soil and prevent erosion and nutrient runoff. Then plant a mix of seeds adapted to our soil and climate – fescues, rye, and clover are much hardier and more drought-resistant than the notoriously fussy Kentucky bluegrass found in many seed mixes. Set the lawnmower’s height at 3 – 3.5 inches and let the clippings remain where they fall to return nutrients to the soil. For more general tips, see further down this page and this handout.

Through mowing higher and avoiding herbicides a wide diversity of wildflowers, grasses, and lichens can flourish in your Vineyard lawn. Have you ever looked closely at the flowers of so-called weeds? Their shapes, colors, and textures are beautiful – and left alone to flower and set seed naturally, they’ll provide habitat and forage for butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. The island wildlife will thank you for sharing your Vineyard Lawn!

Bare feet and bugs belong on a Vineyard lawn

Attention Neighborhood & Road Associations!

Are you interested in having VCS bring the Vineyard Lawns message directly to your neighborhood/road/homeowners association? If so, please contact us. We are happy to work on setting up a presentation for your members, and we have flyers and other materials to share if we can’t be there in person.

Lawn Care Tips

Choose a grass seed blend that is compatible with the Vineyard’s natural environment. Perennial ryegrass and fine or tall fescues are good; avoid bluegrass, which is fussy to grow, requiring more nitrogen and water.
Use the highest deck setting on your lawnmower, never removing more than a third of the shoot growth per mowing.
Don’t bag grass clippings. Set the mower to “mulch” and leave them where they fall; the clippings are a natural source of slow-acting nitrogen fertilizer and protect against drought.
Topdress the lawn each spring by adding 1⁄4” to 1⁄2” of loam, until soil is 6” deep. This will help reduce nitrogen leaching into the groundwater.
Once the topsoil is well established, consider adding another 1⁄4” of compost each spring.
Test your soil’s acidity and add lime if you need to bring the pH up to 6.5. This will help the grass make better use of the nitrogen that is naturally in the soil.
Don’t overwater – it’s unhealthy for the grass, but also increases nutrient runoff.
Pull weeds by hand instead of using chemical herbicides.
Finally, the simplest but most important of all: Reduce the amount of lawn area in favor of low-maintenance plantings, gardens, and native vegetation.

Lawn Fertilizer Regulations

The excessive use of fertilizer is the second greatest source (after wastewater) of the nitrogen pollution that threatens the health of our Island’s coastal ponds¹. While responsible fertilizer use is essential to our Island’s agricultural tradition, curtailing the heavy inputs of nitrogen deployed in pursuit of suburban-style monoculture lawns represents one of the best “low hanging fruits” for restoring our critically imperiled ponds.

The bylaw, intended to protect our waters by reducing nutrient pollution, was created by the MV Boards of Health incorporating input from the MV Commission, other elected officials, local landscapers, golf course managers, UMass Extension scientists, and many members of the community, including VCS. While the new rules are thorough and well-considered, and not especially onerous in what they restrict, they are also not necessarily simple to understand for the average homeowner.

That’s why, during the 2014 Town Meetings, voters of all six Island towns approved a new bylaw that would regulate the sale and use of lawn fertilizer. Importantly, the regulations apply to everyone – homeowners as well as professional lawn care companies.

Therefore, to help spread the word about how to comply with the new bylaw while maintaining a healthy, non-polluting lawn, VCS has prepared an informational brochure. Look for it in Island garden supply stores, or check it out online. Also, please do let us know if you would be interested in helping spread the word around your neighborhood; we can provide as many copies of the printed brochure as you need.

But wait! Didn’t you just say “no chemical fertilizers at all?”

At VCS, our dream would be to see a Vineyard Lawn replace every single monoculture lawn across the Island, and that will continue to be the focus of our advocacy. But we recognize that ideal remains a long way off. Support for the Boards of Health’s efforts to regulate and limit fertilizer use is an essential step in getting there, as well as a powerful move toward addressing nitrogen pollution today.

Resources

VCS Print Guide

Background on the Vineyard Lawns program and a variety of useful tips and other into can be found in this 3-page document. Feel free to print and distribute!

MV CYANO