Your Lawn, the Unsung Hero

A beautiful lawn is something which most of would love to have. What's more relaxing than walking barefoot across the grass or laying a blanket out for a picnic on the soft grass (or a nice nap), or letting the kids play in with the sprinkler without creating mud puddles in the backyard and tracking mud through the house! Yes, there are many reasons to want a lush turf around your house. Most of us don't realize the environmental benefits of grass, though. Here are several lesser known benefits to grass.
Water Quality

• Grasses trap the rainwater to keep runoff from washing away valuable soil. It stops erosion and also keeps the soil for running into storm drains.
  
• As an additional benefit, microorganisms that live in the topsoil and thatch of your turf break down impurities. They basically act as a water filter in our lawn to reduce pollution by purifying the water as it passes through the turf's root zone.

Air Quality

• Turfgrasses produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide emissions, thereby helping to give us the air we need to live. 2,500 square feet of turf (that's just 0.06 of an acre) absorbs enough carbon dioxide and produces enough oxygen for a family of four to breathe.
  
• They also reduce heat in urban areas where the heat from the sun bounces off concrete and asphalt raising the temperatures. This is called the "heat island effect". The Lawn Institute's website tells us that "On a hot summer day, lawns will be 30 degrees cooler than asphalt and 14 degrees cooler than bare soil." That's significant!
  
• Lawns trap and remove dust and dirt from the air. Removing these pollutants improves the air we breathe.

So not only will a beautiful landscape increase curb appeal and add as much as 15% to the value of your home, it will help our environment and improve the world we live in. AA Tex Lawn has a variety of services for your turf. To Unlock Your Lawn's Potential, call our office at 704-821-0708 or see our website at www.aatexlawn.com.


Resources:
http://www.landcarenetwork.org/legislative/watertext.pdf
http://www.thelawninstitute.org/environment/?c=184513