Why is site preparation more important when planting native ecosystems as compared to traditional lawns?
When planting a lawn, you are planting a collection of relatively quick establishing cool season grasses that have been bred to turf applications. The site preparation generally consists of contouring and preparing a seed bed by raking and removing debris and rocks. Since the turf grasses germinate quickly, and can be mowed and supported with broadleaf herbicides, the existing seed bank in the soil is not extremely important. Native ecosystems are composed of grasses and broadleaf plant species. They are slower to germinate and establish than turf grasses. This allows the existing seed bank to germinate and establish at the same time as your native planting. Once you have undesirable species mixed with your natives, it is difficult and time consuming to discriminate between the two. So, site preparation is important to inhibit the existing seed bank.
