Grounds Care & The Environment: How To Make Greener Choices

Commercial landscapes are just as important to the environment as residential gardens and public green spaces. Although it may be easier to adapt domestic and publicly owned landscapes to the needs of local wildlife, commercial spaces have the space and potentially the budget to make a real difference when it comes to supporting biodiversity in the surrounding area.

Many businesses, educational centres and sports facilities will have a professional grounds care team that is in charge of their green spaces. These outdoor areas are usually maintained in a way that utilises a minimum amount of time, effort and money, in accordance with strict company budgets.

But many commercial venues may also be interested in environmental stewardship, where small changes to their approach to grounds maintenance can make a big difference when it comes to supporting local wildlife and improving sustainability. Read on to find out more about how grounds care practices can be tweaked to benefit the environment.

What Is Grounds Care?

Grounds care or maintenance refers to the regular work that is undertaken to keep outdoor spaces clean and in good condition. Often commercial buildings will have large green spaces that need to be cared for to maintain a professional appearance, whilst sports facilities feature outdoor fields and tracks that need regular attention to keep them at a usable level.

This maintenance work can include mowing, pruning and general landscape design, where many large sites will team up with a professional contractor to meet the needs of their site. Other venues will complete their grounds maintenance with the support of an internal team, where both of these approaches can allow for the site to appear well looked after at all times.

Landscaping & The Environment

Landscaping and grounds care work naturally involves green space and plant life, but that doesn’t automatically mean that this work is wildlife friendly. Often corporate gardens, lawns and sports facilities create a desert environment for local species, where these spaces are devoid of variety and flowering plants. As such these areas can interrupt migration patterns of birds, insects and small animals, which can have a widespread impact on biodiversity in the area.

Fortunately there are many different ways that grounds care can be made more environmentally friendly, where diverse planting and the use of natural fertilisers can make a big difference. Sustainability also comes into making grounds care greener, where maintenance equipment could be operated via electric power rather than diesel, or grounds space could be optimised to generate renewable energy for the site.

A Green Approach To Grounds Care

On a practical level, there are lots of small everyday changes that can be made to a grounds care regime in order to make this more environmentally friendly. The benefits of implementing these sustainable strategies are wide ranging, where the advantages can go beyond simply supporting local biodiversity.

Switching to sustainable alternatives can help to save your company money in the long run as utility bills spike, whilst making a public commitment to environmental care is also a great way to attract new customers and investors.

Changing just one area of your grounds maintenance plan can make a real difference to your business and to local wildlife, where some sustainable methods are discussed below:

Mowing

A big part of grounds maintenance is usually lawn mowing, where this keeps grass in good condition and helps to make a landscape look professional. Commercial sites often utilise heavy duty ride-on mowers to complete this task, where these vehicles can consume large quantities of petrol or diesel. Investing in an electric mower is a simple swap that can help to reduce the carbon footprint of your site, where these are available in a range of sizes.

A low maintenance alternative to mowing your entire lawn would be to allow some areas to be rewilded. You could let natural seeds germinate into areas of authentic growth, or you could plant and cultivate a wildflower meadow. This could be restricted to one area of your site to maintain a tidy feel whilst still offering support for vital pollinators in the vicinity.

Grit & Gravel

If your site is particularly vulnerable to ice build up in the winter months, then you may have to employ the help of a gritting service in order to make driveways and paths accessible. Excessive gritting can harm local vegetation and contaminate water sources, so you should always follow local guidelines when it comes to promoting responsible gritting practices.

Often, gravel and other aggregates are used to form protective driveways, car parks and pathways across your site. Consider investing in sustainably sourced gravel to minimise your carbon footprint, or swap artificial gravel for an eco-friendly alternative such as natural stone or porous asphalt. Choosing a sustainable gravel option is often better than paving over your site with concrete, where this more drastic solution can expose your site to drainage problems.

Pressure Washing

Pressure washing is another grounds maintenance technique that allows a site to look clean and well cared for. This is usually done to clean paving, pathways and buildings, where some washers can help to uproot weeds and lift longstanding dirt. As such, this equipment can use lots of electricity whilst inadvertently harming surrounding wildlife habitats.

These washers can be made more environmentally friendly if they are used in a low pressure setting, where biodegradable cleaning products can also be used to avoid harming local species. In addition to this, waste water can be stored and recycled in order to reduce excessive resource consumption across the site, where this can help your company to save money on utilities.

Mulching

Mulching is a great way to recycle green waste across your site, where these materials can be gathered together in a specialist container in order to decompose out of sight. Using mulch to enrich your soil means you can save money on buying in compost or fertilisers, whilst improving the nutritional value of your soil.

Your homemade mulch will also help your soil to retain moisture, so you won’t have to waste resources watering in excess. It will also help to suppress weeds, acting as a natural weed killer that doesn’t harm the environment. In a similar way, organic mulch can deter some common garden pests, saving you the expense and environmental harm of dealing with this problem using man made chemicals.

Weed Management

Like mowing, weed management is a common grounds maintenance task that helps a site to look well cared for and professional. Weed killing with chemicals can be an expensive solution, where these man made treatments can also harm local wildlife and contaminate nearby water reserves.

As discussed above, using a homemade mulch can be a good alternative to this. Additionally, weeds can be smothered using a ground cover during quiet periods, or hand weeding can be implemented over smaller areas. Allowing a wildflower meadow to grow can also be a wildlife friendly and low maintenance alternative to weed killing.

Sports Grounds & Fields

Sports grounds can create an area of deprivation for local wildlife, where large fields, courts and stretches of man made surfaces can be harmful for biodiversity. This can be counteracted by using real turf wherever possible, where lawns should be managed with natural fertilisers.

Beyond this, sports facilities can work to incorporate flowering plants and rewilded borders into their site design to counteract the effects of monoculture sports fields. Some sites may also be able to make the most of flat roofs and large expanses of ground in order to invest in solar panels that could contribute to the site’s energy provisions.

GMCB: Responsible Grounds Maintenance For Your Site

At GMCB we can take care of all your grounds care needs, where we offer slope mowing, commercial pressure washing and specialist tree surgery services. We can also take care of your sports ground so your facilities remain in top condition all year round.

Beyond this, our expert team can also provide wildflower meadow care, so you can achieve a low maintenance site solution whilst benefiting local wildlife. Simply get in touch with us today to find out more about how we can help.