Page 14 - Overview Winter 2017

OVERLAND PARK’S INTO ECOLOGY
Winter 2017
Excellent extravaganza turnout; get ready for spring event
The Recycling Extravaganza held in October on the campus of Black & Veatch was a tremendous success, with nearly 100 volunteers working hard to unload recyclable and reusable items from numerous vehicles.
While cloudy skies threatened rain for most of the day, it fortunately remained fairly dry and warm. Vehicles were directed from one unloading point to another, and along the way you dropped off more than 105,000 pounds of electronics (equal in weight to 30 cars), 62,000 pounds of paper (equal to nearly six million pages), two semi trailers of housewares, clothing, furniture, and books; two truck loads of building materials; more than 400 pairs of glasses; 18 band instruments; three van loads of pet supplies; more than 150 bicycles; 900 pairs of shoes; hundreds of pounds of fabric and more than 80 mattresses.
The next Recycling Extravaganza is scheduled for Saturday,
April 21, on the campus of Johnson County Community College. Volunteers are the key to successful events. Scouts, students, church groups and others looking for community volunteer hours are encouraged to contact Jim Twigg, environmental programs coordinator, at 913-895-6273 or [email protected]
Turning your autumn leaves into a healthy lawn
Your lawn and landscaping could likely use some TLC before the cold days of winter. Fortunately, taking the easy way out when cleaning your yard this fall may help it recover over the winter and prosper next year.
Regrettably, too many residents use their precious recreational and rest time raking leaves into piles and bagging materials for collection. Instead, consider mulching them back into your lawn.
Mulching your leaves, shredding and leaving them on your lawn will:
Help increase the moisture level in your soil over the winter, which will help your lawn green more quickly in the spring.
Increase the water holding capacity of your soil, which is especially useful for absorbing rainwater runoff.
Help to lighten heavy clay soils.
Increase nutrient and organic content in the soil.
Increase the activity of earthworms, microbes, and other beneficial soil organisms.
Contrary to popular belief, mulching in your leaves will not smother your grass. Studies have shown that hundreds of pounds of leaves can easily be accommodated on a typical suburban lawn, resulting in turf that will green up
earlier in the spring and be healthier throughout the year.
What kind of equipment do you need to make this happen?
Your lawnmower. Its blade can easily shred whole leaves into pieces approximately one-tenth of their original size. Your once-daunting bounty of leaves will disappear into a layer of particles easily digested by worms and bacteria.
Begin leaf mulching when leaves are relatively dry and before they are too deep. Set the mower to a normal three-inch height. Remove bagging attachments and block off the chute on a rear-discharge machine. Walk your mower slowly over the lawn, giving the blade plenty of time to shred the leaves. If your mower has a side discharge chute, you will probably want to begin on the outside edge, blowing chopped leaves onto unmowed areas, and continue mowing inward.
If your first pass over the lawn has left a significant quantity of whole leaves, repeat while mowing at a right angle to the first cut, perhaps walking slower. Leaves, especially damp ones, take more work than grass. As with grass mowing, you’ll need to do this more than once, but it will take less time and your back will thank you for avoiding the rake.
While your yard won’t be as green immediately after mulching, the leaves will protect your lawn, decompose over the winter, and slowly release nutrients your lawn will need once winter retreats for another year.
14