Autumn lawn care

AS the days cool, the leaves turn and the golden hue of autumn brightens the shorter days, it’s time to think about revitalising your lawns after the ravages of summer.

Autumn and spring are the two critical times of the year to fertilise your lawn and will green them up ahead of winter, building protection against the extreme cold and frost.

Although counter-intuitive, watering your lawn this time of year is also a must, as windy conditions can dry your lawn out just as much as the heat.

While your lawn stores energy for winter, mowing will become less frequent, however, it is prudent to treat your lawns with a quality weedkiller in autumn as bindiis grow and spread in readiness for flowering in summer, dropping nasty prickles.

Shopping responsibly and in particular, minimising single-used items, will make a significant impact on the amount of waste your home produces. Sustainable shopping includes consideration of the way your food and other purchases are packaged.

According to Sustainability Victoria, Australians throw away around 1.9M tonnes of packaging each year – enough to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground nine times over.

Households can avoid unessential packaging by growing their own food, cooking at home, using reusable packaging where possible, making a shopping list to reduce food and financial

IT IS JUST SO IMPORTANT... to recycle, and as changes to kerbside collection are being rolled out, it is now more important than ever to get ahead of all the tricks to minimise your wastage. Photo: Supplied waste, choosing items with little or no packaging, and saying no to straws and plastic bags.

For more sustainability tips, visit www. sustainability.vic.gov.au