This post was sponsored by the makers of REACTINE®. Thoughts and opinions are my own.
You know what they say about changing the world—start with your own backyard. Or front yard. Allergy season may be upon us, but that doesn’t mean that everything past the back porch has to become a no-go zone. Here are a few simple ways to make your yard your own once more.
1. Pick the Right Day
Is it a warm, dry, windy day? Stay inside—pollen levels are at their highest. You want to get outside right after a long soaking rain when the pollen has washed away, or better yet, after the snowmelt but prior to summer. Check your pollen index too. Or REACTINE®’s pollen forecast.
2. Trim Your Lawn Low
Keep your lawn under two inches and you’ll be cutting the tops of flowers before they pollinate and ruin your day. Better yet, pay a neighbourhood kid to do it. That’s right, Timmy, no one wants your watery lemonade—now hop to it.
3. Better Yet, Ditch the Lawn
And why are we spending time on friggin’ grass anyway? As we see it, you have three options. Option one: plant a non-traditional lawn. Obviously this depends on your specific allergy, but look into mosses, creeping thyme, and bugle flower. Option two: fake a lawn. There’s a reason more and more nylon grasses are popping up. Option three: no lawn. Your yard can be a rockscape, cedar chips, brickwork . . . really, who says you need somewhere that’s green?
4. Get Smart about Gardening
Or maybe you do want green space. In that case, educated yourself. The book Allergy-Free Gardening by Thomas L. Ogen can help you figure out what to plant and what to skip.
5. Get a Fire Pit
Or a pool. Or a bigger deck. Reduce the space available to allergens and increase the space available to your awesome hobbies. We’re pretty set on the fire pit—there’s no scientific evidence that the smells of cooked meat drive away pollen, but they can’t hurt, right?
6. Plant (Female) Trees
Trees reduce the space available to other plants, they look great, they add value to your home, they’ll go well with non-traditional lawns, and best of all, you just need female trees to defeat your allergies. It’s the male trees (those jerks!) producing pollen—female trees are the low-maintenance ones (protip: you want to avoid attempts at comedy when selling this plan to the missus).
7. Take a Reactine
While you’re getting your fantastic new yard together, fortify yourself with a REACTINE®. REACTINE® is over the counter, can start to work in twenty minutes, lasts for twenty-four hours, and is non-drowsy. Also, they have this pretty neat guide to understanding your allergy, which is worth a read for both the information and coupon. So go forth and reclaim your yard!
