The Organic Lawn Care Manual

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The Organic Lawn Care Manual: A Natural, Low-Maintenance System for a Beautiful, Safe Lawn (eBook) Pub. Date: 1/15/2007 Publisher: Storey Books
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The Organic Lawn Care Manual Pub. Date: 1/30/2007 Publisher: Storey Books
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The Organic Lawn Care Manual (1ST) Pub. Date: 1/30/2007 Publisher: Storey Books

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Overview

In the modern suburban landscape, beautiful, green lawns are perhaps the most ubiquitous feature of all. It’s difficult to imagine a friendly neighborhood without broad, clean stretches of neatly shorn grass. More and more in recent years, those lawns are evolving into organic systems as homeowners — concerned about the long-term effects of chemicals on their children, their pets, and the environment — turn to natural methods to keep their yards healthy and inviting, and, yes, still green and lush, too.

Paul Tukey, a self-confessed mowing addict, answers the growing demand for organic grass with a comprehensive volume of natural lawncare information. Step by step, he takes readers through the many elements that work together to form a healthy, organic lawn. Well-treated soil, fed properly with compost and natural fertilizers, is the foundation of every great lawn. Plant it with a grass cultivar matched properly to the climate and sunlight, nourish the soil and grass with the proper amount of water, and maintain the height with a good mower equipped with a sharp blade. A beautiful, naturally maintained lawn can be as simple as that.

An organic, healthy lawn is the best defense against weeds and pests, but when unwanted visitors creep in, Tukey is ready with Weed and Thug ID Guides and advice on dispatching them naturally or learning to live with the benign offenders. Tukey also provides helpful advice for lawnkeepers making the transition from a synthetic to an organic lawn system. It’s all here — everything today’s homeowner needs to keep his lawn off drugs, and make it an inviting living and play area for the whole family.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

For homeowners tired of their chemical-saturated lawns, this book provides step-by-step guidance for "get[ting] your lawn off drugs." Tukey, a lifelong lawn lover, started mowing as a teenager, and as the owner of a successful lawn care company, he was well entrenched in the "weed 'n' feed" method prevalent since the 1940s: "With one pass of a lawn spreader, we could feed the grass" (with chemical fertilizers), "kill the weeds" (with pesticides) "and still have time for a round of golf at the course we so envied"). When, after years on the job, he began to experience nosebleeds and shortness of breath, his doctor ordered him to stop using lawn chemicals, and that was the beginning of his commitment to organic lawn care. His lively and passionate instruction—on soil structure and how to improve it; grass varieties; "starting a lawn from scratch"; natural lawn foods; "watering dews and don'ts"; and how to deal with moles, voles, grubs and bugs—are interspersed with inspirational tales of natural-lawn activists. With an appendix on lawn games, from croquet to badminton, this book will delight lawn fanatics and provide sound advice for those who simply want to maintain their yard. (Feb.)

Library Journal

The popularity of all things organic has made it to the lawn. And award-winning magazine editor/publisher Tukey, host of the HGTV show People, Places & Plants, attempts to bring it to the masses. Rather than stating the dangers of chemical lawn care, Tukey gently eases grass snobs into a new, holistic way of thinking. He offers detailed programs to "Get Your Lawn Off Drugs" by improving soil texture and structure, planting the right grass, and employing correct mowing and watering practices. He also covers new construction, lawn renovation, and the nearly no-mow lawn. His RILE (relax, identify, listen, eradicate) method of weed control may once and for all rid your lawn of the crab grass next to the driveway. Geared to do-it-yourselfers, Tukey's book is more approachable than Barbara W. Ellis and Fern Marshall Bradley's well-noted The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control. Clear photos and illustrations make the instructions accessible; an overview of grasses and a handy weed identification guide also add value. Recommended for all libraries with lawn care collections.
—Tracy Mohaidheen

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781580176491
Publisher: Storey Books
Publication date: 1/30/2007
Pages: 271
Sales rank: 284,705
Product dimensions: 8.50 (w) x 10.84 (h) x 0.63 (d)

Meet the Author

Paul Tukey is the co-author of Tag, Toss & Run with Victoria Rowell, and the author of The Organic Lawn Care Manual. He is the national spokesperson for SafeLawns, a nonprofit advocacy group for chemical-free lawn care. He was formerly host of People, Places, and Plants on HGTV and is an award-winning film producer. He and his family enjoy playing lawn games in their yard in Rhode Island.

Foreword 6

Preface 8

Introduction 11

1 Evaluate Your Lawn Care Needs 14

2 Grass Anatomy 22

3 Building Good Soil 32

4 Grass Is Grass Is Grass? 48

5 Starting Off Right 72

6 Get Your Lawn Off Drugs 104

7 Changing Your Lawn's Diet 122

8 Watering Dews and Don'ts 146

9 Listening to Your Weeds 168

10 Dealing with Thugs 198

11 Mowing and Maintenance 214

12 The Nearly No-Mow Lawn 234

Appendix Playing on the Lawn 252

Glossary 257

Customer Reviews

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Anonymous

Posted December 16, 2007

Recipe for success

Paul Tukey calls The American Gardener's Calendar the first gardening book published in the New World. In 1806, it pushed 'grand and spacious' lawns. In 1830, Edwin Budding invented mechanical lawn mowers. By the mid-20th century, chemical lawn care took off. For synthetic fertilizers and sprays get results now. But in the not-so-long term, their side effects hurt people's health and nature's well-being. And it doesn't have to be that way. For example, visit the organically-cared-only town lawns and athletic playing fields of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Or the compost- and compost-tea-only-fed grasses on the Ross Farm, growers of Texas' organically-cared beef cattle. The author gives a three-year program for saying no to chemicals and yes to aerating, composting, dethatching, mulching, and overseeding. He goes through a yearly calendar, month-by-month. He shows how to fight diseases and pests by weed-reading, soil improvements, plant-based sprays, and good-guy insects. And he summarizes it all in 'one long sentence'. The book is clearly organized and solidly grounded with step-by-step guides, recommended reading, photos, Internet resources, index, glossary, and appendix on lawn games.
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Posted April 27, 2010

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