Archive | July, 2009
Here Are Your Options with Slugs
This is slightly off the lawn topic, since slugs are not a major pest of turfgrass. Given the spring and summer we’ve had in the Northeast, though, the subject of what to do about slugs comes up just about every day. So what do you do? Here are a few ideas: With excess moisture slugs can [...]
Continue reading...Pesticides Harming the Bay
31. July 2009
A new report released yesterday called on homeowners around the Chesapeake Bay to understand the consequences of common household pesticides and to reduce their use of the toxic substances. Here is the text of the release: Pesticides: The Unaddressed Bay Polluter Government and Public Urged to Tackle Chemical Threat For release Thursday July 30, 2009 Baltimore MD, 07/30/2009 – [...]
Continue reading...Wall Street Journal Report on Natural Pesticides
30. July 2009
I’m a big fan of Wendy (or Gwendolyn) Bounds from the Wall Street Journal. I met her in July of 2007 during my first appearance on Good Morning America and we’ve kept in touch in the years since then. She’s a huge advocate of trying anything organic in her yard. Given the fact that she’s: [...]
Continue reading...Organic Lawns Thrive in Texas Drought
29. July 2009
Climate variances never cease to amaze me. As I sit here in soggy Maine with vernal pools that have usually evaporated by May still in evidence as we approach August, I also see on the news that Texas and parts of the nation are experiencing the worst drought in history. Three years ago I was [...]
Continue reading...Lawns: Las Vegas Just Says No
28. July 2009
I always bristle when people claim I’m anti-lawn. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I love lawns; throwing the ball with my teenage son, among my favorite pastimes, wouldn’t be the same without grass to play on. In some situations, though, lawns just don’t belong . . . in Las Vegas for example. The region [...]
Continue reading...Meet Scott Reil: The Helpful Gardener
28. July 2009
I want to do a shout-out to a good friend from Connecticut, Scott Reil. He’s a green industry veteran who has long been bucking stubborn colleagues when it comes to all things organic and sustainable. Scott has been answering gardeners’ questions at http://www.helpfulgardener.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15611 since before I knew the word blog existed. I just discovered [...]
Continue reading...Natural Fertilizer: Part II
28. July 2009
As promised, here is another excerpt from my book, the Organic Lawn Care Manual (Storey Publishing, 2007). This relates to natural products that can be used as fertilizers: Animal By-Products Call me old-fashioned, but I still take all the manure I can get from the local farmers in my town. I grew up on a dairy farm [...]
Continue reading...Natural Fertilizers: Part I
27. July 2009
Wouldn’t it be great if you could feed your lawn and landscape without ever going to the garden center? Nothing against garden centers, mind you. If I have to shop, that’s where I like to go. My point for this post, though, is that you don’t necessarily HAVE to buy bagged products to apply to [...]
Continue reading...Stirring the Lawn Chemical Pot
26. July 2009
(NOTE: This interview was conducted by Canadian journalist Mary Romanowski, who is allowing me to post it here) An Interview with Activist Paul Tukey, Narrator of A Chemical Reaction A new documentary film, A Chemical Reaction, is set to make the rounds at the film festival circuit for the next few months and then be released on [...]
Continue reading...New Jersey jumps on Phosphorus Ban Bandwagon
25. July 2009
The news arrived yesterday that the state of New Jersey is about to enact bans on phosphorus in lawn fertilizer. This will no doubt anger the chemical fertilizer industry, which continues to suffer hit after hit in Canada and the U.S. Their lobbyists will send out all sorts of information to explain why this is a [...]
Continue reading...- Miracle Gro Deal with Wildlife Federation Outrages Environmental Community
- Citing Guilty Plea, Wildlife Federation Ends Agreement with Scotts
- Chemical Industry Convinces Toronto Flower Show to Ban Film
- Researcher: Roundup May Be Causing Miscarriages in Cattle, Humans
- Groundcover Wednesday: Lemon Thyme
- Amidst Wildlife Federation Firestorm, Scotts Miracle Gro Fined $4.5 Million for Toxic Bird Seed, Falsifying Records
- SafeLawns T-Shirts & Lawn Signs Now Available
- Good Morning America to Showcase Natural Pesticides
- Use New Neem Product for Grub Control
- As Wildlife Federation Defends Its Greed, Scotts Continues to Assault Our Sensibilities
- Elisabeth Beaubien: howdy Paul, sodium laurel sulfate... perhaps no...
- Karina Zedalis: Many school & municipal sports fields are heav...
- jack: One sign is not enough. On our soccer fields, the...
- Tom: I just got unwanted service from Scotts. They spr...
- The Weed's Network: Great environmental eductation Paul. Thanks. Dav...
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31. July 2009
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