At the core of transformative learning theory, according to Wikipedia, is the process of “perspective transformation” with three dimensions: psychological, convictional and behavioral. True transformation in this world, according to many sources, is rare.

It has taken place, however, at a magnificent facility known as Glenstone, an art museum in Potomac, Md.

Prior to a phone call to SafeLawns in the early summer of 2010, the 150-acre facility with 16-acres of manicured lawn, functioned on the premise of IPM, known as integrated pest management in everyday landscape vernacular — or “instant pesticide manipulation” to the skeptics. Tasked with keeping the facility as emerald green and weed free as possible, Glenstone groundskeepers fertilized with synthetic chemicals, sprayed weeds and dealt with insects and fungal diseases with chemicals. They also hired outside contractors to spray plants just in case something might happen in the future.

All that stopped in July of 2010. The organization’s founders provided the psychological and convictional impetus that led to a behavioral change among the grounds crew.

It was such a major and sudden shift, I can admit to holding my own breath at times. The conventional wisdom, even among some organically oriented landscape professionals, is that the transition to organics takes three to five years. Many believe going organic is inherently “going ugly,” at least for a while.

Although it was never stated to me, part of me felt like if we did fail to deliver a beautiful landscape at any point in time then maybe that conviction to stay the organic course would be tested. Maybe the facility would revert to IPM, which may often loosely be defined as: “it’s OK to use pesticides as a last resort when nothing else is working.”

Eighteen months into one of the largest organic lawn care transformations anywhere in North America the grounds crew has never even had to consider going back. Given the true convictional transformation that has occurred — among the residents, the staff and the landscape crew — I can’t imagine synthetic chemicals will ever be openly sprayed again.

Just a few highlights of the results:

1) The grass has been green and lush, even in times of drought;
2) The lawn is fertilized with only compost top-dressings and sprays of compost tea, with only a single pound of organic nitrogen (alfalfa-based) fertilizer applied each year (per thousand square feet);
3) The limited weed pressure has been dealt with by spot spraying of Fiesta and other organic products, or by hand pulling;
4) The facility has SAVED MONEY on products and labor due to . . .
5) Vastly reduced mowing and watering, as well as elimination of all pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

The greatest thing about Glenstone from my perspective has been the facility’s willingness, even desire, to share what it’s learning with the world at large. We have hosted group tours with national horticultural dignitaries, held public events for local citizens and, just yesterday, hosted a VIP Open House for the greater DC environmental community. Enthralled attendees reached a unanimous conclusion: Glenstone’s beautiful, sustainable grounds serve as the model for the New American Landscape — where aesthetics and safety can co-exist.

Glenstone is funding research with the University of Maryland’s turfgrass department that is being replicated both at Glenstone and the UMD campus. Within the trials, composts and compost teas will go head to head with synthetic chemical products and results will be made public.

What we know already — stated above — is that Glenstone is saving money, just as any business, municipality or homeowner would if they follow what I call the Glenstone Model: 1) Stay committed; 2) Do it Right; 3) (that means) Don’t be afraid to do things differently.

Glenstone succeeded because it took a leap of faith, even though many of the techniques were inherently different from what had previously given the groundskeepers good results. Remember, Glenstone didn’t change because the grounds looked bad, or because it couldn’t afford the chemicals; Glenstone changed because founders were concerned about human, animal and planetary health within the context of providing a pleasant aesthetic experience to visitors.

I encourage anyone who visits the nation’s capitol to take the time to experience Glenstone, where viewings of the modern art galleries and grounds are arranged by appointment. The place may be the very polar opposite of Disney World, where millions of people visit at once. Glenstone is intended as a serene, intimate experience where the art and architecture integrate elaborately, yet quietly with a grand suburban landscape.

When you’re there, it’s as if you’re a guest in someone’s home — because essentially you are. No money changes hands. No one will try to sell you anything.

That doesn’t mean, however, you won’t leave transformed.

Horticulturists from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and other Mid-Atlantic institutions toured Glenstone in late November.

The SafeLawns Foundation and the Surfrider Foundation share the common goals of keeping the water clean. (Geoff Glenn photo)

If there’s one truism we’ve found as we begin our seventh year at the SafeLawns Foundation, it’s to expect the unexpected. To that end, last week we enjoyed a lengthy conversation with Surfrider Foundation, a group that initially came together in 1984 to protest threats to their local surf break at Malibu Point in California.

These days the Surfrider Foundation maintains more than 50,000 members, 80 chapters worldwide and, as we discovered, one of the most robust standards for earth friendly gardening of any group on the planet.

Homeowners who pledge to meet the proper criteria are allowed to post this sign in their yards.

“Bad lawn and garden practices are especially bad for the oceans,” said Paul Herzog, the Surfrider Foundation’s national coordinator of the Ocean Friendly Gardens Program. “All of that runoff from chemical fertilizers and pesticides eventually winds up in the ocean somewhere. So anything we can do to work together to minimize the impact of lawns and gardens is good for all of us.”

The Ocean Friendly Gardens program includes an ambitious homeowner criteria (below) that addresses everything from downspouts to drip irrigation.

“An Ocean Friendly Garden is a garden that applies CPR — Conservation, Permeability, and Retention© — to revive the health of our watersheds and oceans,” reads the campaign slogan.

An OFG Sign will be awarded to any garden that achieves the organization’s criteria. And it doesn’t matter if you live in Malibu or somewhere in Michigan, Minnesota or Maine . . . these are all good rules to live by in the landscape:

CONSERVATION
Turf Areas
* Climate-appropriate turf grass is limited to 20% of total square footage of the landscaped area.
* Turf grass is limited to only those areas where it serves a specific purpose (documented play area).
* Turf grass is maintained organically without synthetic fertilizers and never over-watered.
* Turf grass is kept away from the perimeter of the garden, where irrigation overspray is hard to control.
* Cool season turf grass is not in front yard gardens in areas receiving less than an average 44 inches of annual rainfall.
* Warm season turf grass, if present, is not over-seeded with cool season grass during winter months.

Irrigation
* No automatic irrigation is utilized OR: Irrigation system is in good repair (no breaks or leaks) with no visible signs from stains on nearby hard surfaces or erosion on vegetated surfaces from repeated overspray or runoff. (See maintenance details below)
* No spray irrigation of any kind is installed in areas less than 10 feet wide OR a total surface area of less than 100 square feet.
* Drip irrigation is ½ inch diameter tubing or larger — utilizing either line source (”in-line”) OR point source emitters (”on line”).
* No 1/4″ diameter irrigation tubing is present, except where needed for irrigating containers and raised beds. (See maintenance details below)
* Hoses have shut-off attachments.
* A weather-based irrigation controller (WBIC) or “smart” irrigation controller is installed OR
* Absent a WBIC, the irrigation controller has a rain shut-off installed.

Mulch
* A minimum of 2 inches to 4 inches of natural woodchip mulch is present in all planted and open areas.
* 50% or more of the woodchip mulch must be smaller than 1 inch in length or diameter.
* Small open mulch-free areas are permitted if they are designated for native bee or insect habitat.

Plants
* Plants are grouped according to plant community or hydrozones including:
* Similar sunlight exposure, water requirements, root depth, soil type, hardiness and
temperature adaptation, and/or size at maturity.
* New gardens are planted with sufficient space between plants to accommodate mature growth without over-crowding, and to minimize pruning at maturity.
* Plants requiring regular shearing are not permitted, unless they are edible or produce edible fruit.

PERMEABILITY
Healthy Living Soil
* Soil health is maintained organically without chemical additives.
* Soil health is maintained by the addition of compost, compost tea, and worm castings.
* Soil is not visible beneath a mulch layer, EXCEPT
* Areas 4 inches-12 inches around the crown of woody plants should remain un-mulched, and
* Areas 12 inches to 60 inches around the trunks of trees should remain un-mulched.
These un-mulched areas should be minimized, but depends on the size of tree/plant crown.

Our choices in gardening products, as well as how water flows in and around our landscape, can have tremendous impact on the water system at large

Permeable Hardscape
* Walkways and patios are made permeable with
* Plants, mulch or decomposed granite in gaps between pavers or other hard surfaces; OR
* Materials that permit water to “flow-through,” e.g., permeable concrete or asphalt.
* Impermeable surfaces or minimally permeable surfaces, such as permeable pavers or decomposed granite, are graded to direct excess surface flow of water into adjacent vegetated areas.
* Existing impermeable surfaces such as driveways or large patio areas have been altered to direct surface flow of water into adjacent vegetated areas or retention/detention devices.
* Plant material is 80% climate-appropriate unless it is edible or produces edible fruit. (Climate-appropriate plant material is defined as plant material with a Species Factor or Crop Co-efficient of 50% or less or is described by reliable local references as a “medium” water-using plant in the particular climate. In California, use www.water.ca.gov/wateruseefficiency/docs/ for Species Factors.)
* Local native plant material is utilized for at least 10% of the visible garden area, whether or not the other plant material is edible or produces edible fruit.
* No invasive species are present. Invasive species are defined as those listed on the local Invasive Plant Council website as invasive or on the “watch list”. (General information at: http://plants.usda.gov/java/noxiousDriver, and in California http://www.cal-ipc.org.)

Water Features
* Water features may improve the habitat of the garden and are allowed within these guidelines:
* Water is recycled by the water feature.
* Open water features are covered at least 50% by vegetation,
* All water features are maintained without chemicals or additives that are toxic to fish.
* Overflow from the water feature drains into a vegetated area.
* Swimming pools and chemically treated water bodies are drained to sewer systems.
* Swimming pools must be covered to minimize evaporation when not in use.

RETENTION
Downspout Re-direct
* If gutters are installed, all visible downspouts are directed away from impermeable surfaces into vegetated areas, mulched areas or retention/detention devices.
* Rain chains and other devices to slow the fall of water are recommended as a replacement for downspouts.
* If gutters are not installed, surfaces beneath the roof eaves are EITHER
* Vegetated with hearty plants that can withstand the beating; OR
* Covered with mulch, gravel or other sturdy and permeable materials, AND
* Hardscape surfaces beneath roof eaves are altered to create areas of permeability and direct surface flow of rainwater into vegetated or mulched areas or retention/detention devices.
* Drains carrying roof runoff or surface drain runoff from back yards or areas not visible to the street are
EITHER:
* Directed into rainbarrels or cisterns at the downspouts to slow and reduce the flow of water into the drainage system, OR
* Disconnected from their overflow to street and re-directed into a vegetated or mulched area.

Sponge Gardens (Rain Gardens)
* The visible garden area has been designed to capture as much of the rainfall from rooftops and other impermeable surfaces as possible.
* The flat areas on the property have been replaced with high and low contoured areas (”graded retention areas”) to prevent rainfall from “sheeting” across the garden and off the property – helping to retain the first 1″ of rainwater after a dry spell: AND/OR
* A dry creek bed or vegetated swale (”bioswale”) captures the majority of the surface flow of downspout water and water from adjacent hard surfaces, creating sufficient area to slow, spread and sink it.
* Dry creek beds or vegetated swales are designed to hold at least 1″ of rain from roof and adjacent hard surfaces, AND
* Rainfall in excess of 1″ or the water-holding capacity of the garden, whichever is greater, is safely directed off-site after having been run through vegetated areas, including bioswales and creek beds, to remove pollutants and retain sediment.
* At least one tree or very large shrub has been planted at its proper distance from hard surfaces and buildings to help naturally store water for the entire garden.

Retention Devices
Rainbarrels or above-ground cisterns are visible and are:
* Installed properly in accordance with any prevailing local building standards or codes,
* Secured for safety purposes, and
* Overflow into vegetated or mulched areas, AND/OR
* Below surface retention areas and devices such as dry wells or cisterns are utilized to do the same.

Maintenance Details
1. Valve assemblies installed properly & in permeable areas (preferably surrounded by mulch or gravel).
2. Irrigation shut-off valves are easily identified.
3. Separate irrigation valves are utilized for each hydrozone (see “hydrozone” description in 4a below).
4. Back-flow prevention and pressure regulation is visible in or at the valve assembly.

Irrigation Details
1. Spray irrigation is matched precipitation, “multi-stream, multi-trajectory.”
2. Spray irrigation requires anti-drain check valves to prevent low head drainage.
3. Spray irrigation heads of any kind are installed at least 24 inches from hard surfaces and buildings.

The SafeLawns Foundation will serve as co-host of the event with Calcium Products Inc., the soil amendment manufacturer from Iowa, as well as the Safer Pest Control Project of Chicago and a local conservation campaign known as Lawn to Lake. Among the scheduled presenters are Paul Cushing, the Assistant Deputy Director of the golf division for the city of San Diego that manages the Torrey Pines Golf Course, along with Jeff Carlson, the superintendent of the Vineyard Club on Martha’s Vineyard. Arborist Peter Wild of Boston Tree Preservation is also expected to talk about stem injection of trees as a defense against exotic invasive insects such as the emerald ash borer.

Presentations on Friday, March 30, will be geared for professionals, while the sessions on Saturday morning, March 31, will be prepared for homeowners. Other sponsoring companies include Milorganite, the long-time fertilizer manufacturer from Milwaukee, and Natural Industries, which makes the nation’s best natural fungicides.

For more information, visit www.lawnandlandscapesummit.com.

The photos, below, emulate many of the steps a homeowner might undertake in a fall renovation:

Dr. Mark Carroll, the project's lead researcher, stakes out the trial area.

Graduate student Siqi Chen mows the grass to 2 inches, bagging the clippings to collect any weed seeds.

Next, Dr. Carroll, left, oversees the aeration of some of the plots; others were left untouched in the study for comparison.

The core aerator made one pass in each direction, pulling up thousands of tubes of soil and turf and leaving holes that compost, air and water can easily enter.

Next, Siqi dethatched the lawn to remove any dead grass and surface roots.

UMD's Peter Flack then raked the thatch off the affected plots. In a home lawn renovation situation, overseeding immediately after dethatching is highly recommended.

UMD's Mathew Kasalaruis spread a carefully calculated amount of compost over each of the plots. Two different types of composts were used — one from leaves and one from human waste (biosolids). And different depths of compost were also applied in various plots so that researchers can evaluate any variability in outcomes. By design, all the products used in these trials will be readily available to the public in Maryland.

Applying different treatments to 36 different 10 by 10 plots took the research team several hours. The crew will return monthly to evaluate differences in the trial plots and, beginning next spring, will apply compost teas to one half of all the plots to evaluate the impact of the liquid.

Meanwhile, the lawn on the Glenstone campus, which has not had synthetic fertilizer applied in more than 15 months, was shimmering green just as the maples were at the peak of fall color last week.

After more than 70 years in business, Milorganite is finding its product illegal as a lawn fertilizer in some states due to the 2 percent phosphorus in the bag. Other organic fertilizers are fighting the same issue.

The coming year is shaping up as a major battleground and your lawn may be caught in the crosshairs of a fight that stretches from Maine to Washington state.

The issue is phosphorus, denoted by the letter P and the number 15 on the Periodic Table of Elements that hung in your high school science class. It’s also the middle number on your lawn fertilizer bag and, if a growing number of lawmakers continue to get their way, that number will soon read zero (0) if it doesn’t already.

“Legislators always seem to like to take things to logical extremes, which results in illogical legislation,” said Paul Sachs today by phone. He has been selling organic fertilizers for longer than just about anyone else in the nation as owner of North Country Organics in Bradford, Vt.

When Great Lakes states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota first began looking at bans on phosphorus in lawn fertilizers a decade ago, environmentalists like us touted the movement as fundamentally positive. Phosphorus that runs off into fresh water supplies can produce massive algae blooms that suck oxygen out of lakes, rivers or streams and leave them as a eutrified, putrid mess. Homeowners and some lawn care operators, who tend to think more is better when it comes to the application of fertilizers and weed controls, were being fingered as the culprits.

And when professor John Lehman’s research started flowing out of Michigan, showing that the lawn phosphorus ban in that state was in fact reducing phosphorus in the lake, his findings gave massive amounts of fuel to the discussion of phosphorus bans. Now, virtually every state from Maine to Virginia on the Eastern Seaboard has some sort of lawn phosphorus legislation already in place or percolating.

So far, so good, most of us thought . . . except for the one massive consequence that Paul Sachs predicted way back in 2007: many organic fertilizers were going to be legislated out of business. That’s because it’s easy to remove phosphorus from the synthetic chemical fertilizers sold by Scotts Miracle Gro, Bayer and others; meanwhile it’s virtually impossible to remove all the phosphorus from many natural organic fertilizers derived from animals and plants.

As one fertilizer manufacturer said in this SafeLawns interview last year, these phosphorus bans “will effectively kill the organic fertilizer industry.”

ALL PHOSPHORUS IS NOT CREATED EQUALLY

As one of the big three macronutrients — nitrogen and potassium are the others — phosphorus is essential for the general health and vigor of all plants. Among the benefits it provides are stimulated root development, increased stalk and stem strength, overall vigor and increased resistance to plant diseases.

Without phosphorus, in other words, we wouldn’t have lawns as we know them. Any grass that did grow would be wispy and of pale, pinkish green in color. Lawns wouldn’t have the ability to make it through any drought stress of summer or long, harsh winters, either, without phosphorus — so it’s traditionally been added to our fertilizer mixes in somewhere between one-tenth and equal measures to the nitrogen that’s included in the bag.

Proponents of the bans state that most soils in the U.S. already have enough phosphorus in place for established lawns and that the only time you need to apply phosphorus to lawns is during overseeding or repairing bare areas. In fact, in the 11 states where phosphorus is legislated, all of them allow for phosphorus to be put down when overseeding.

The phosphorus cycle explains the various ways plants can uptake phosphorus. (UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA)

Though phosphorus deficiency can be difficult to diagnose on lawns, it shows up more visibly on grass's cousin, the corn plant — which shows vivid red blotches when P is not available.

But can lawns really thrive without any additional phosphorus being added? If clippings are left on the lawn, and the lawn is otherwise treated organically so the soil is alive with microorganisms, the answer is most always yes. Mother Nature has the ability to “mineralize” phosphorus from leaves, clippings and other organic matter and turn it into a form plants can use (see chart, at left).

But Paul Sachs says he has customers call him all the time saying their lawn is turning the wrong color ever since they stopped using phosphorus in their fertilizers. Maybe the mineralization process isn’t functioning well, or maybe the homeowners are bagging their clippings.

“The edges of the blades of grass will turn red in response to a phosphorus deficiency,” he said. “The result of a prolonged period without phosphorus will be weaker stands of grass, which ultimately will lead to more erosion of top soil and even more of a nutrient load in the lakes after all.

“The legislators, in other words, will have worsened the very problem that they’re trying to correct.”

Some of those legislators in favor of no lawn phosphorus frustrate organic lawn fertilizer manufacturers in one other significant way: by not differentiating between organically derived sources such as composts and plant and animal fertilizers, or the chemical products that include synthetic forms of phosphorus. The synthetic phosphorus has been treated to be more water soluble, which automatically makes it more prone to leaching during and after a heavy rain event. Within organic fertilizers, the phosphorus is usually bound tightly to iron or aluminum and won’t release and leach readily.

Attorney Tom Crawford has been fighting this battle on behalf of his company, Milorganite, for more years than he likes to count.

“Legislators just don’t want to hear about these differences (in phosphorus) because it confuses them,” he said. “And then there are the lobbyists for the chemical industry who will testify with a straight face that all phosphorus is created equally. It’s a bold-faced lie, of course, but who’s the legislator going to believe?”

The result has been a mishmash of laws. In Illinois, lawn care professionals can’t apply phosphorus to lawns without a soil test that proves the customer needs it — but the rules don’t stop the customer from applying the phosphorus themselves. Four other states, New York, Maryland, Washington and Vermont, effectively make no distinction between organic and synthetic fertilizers in their bans, according to Crawford. On the other hand, New Jersey, Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota all exempt organic fertilizers from their bans — primarily because Crawford personally fought long and hard to make those state officials understand the differences. He has a scientific study from Florida that shows Milorganite — made from composted human waste — is seven times less likely to leach through the soil than synthetic phosphorus. That same study shows that phosphorus bound in compost is also far less prone to leaching than synthetic sources.

That data alone ought to be enough to persuade lawmakers, but as Crawford approaches his retirement next year, he echoes Paul Sachs’ sentiments about illogical legislation.

“After a while, you just shake your head,” he said earlier today. “You just hope that Pennsylvania, which will be next in line with a phosphorus ban, will follow New Jersey and not New York or Maryland.”

The end of Crawford’s career is significant, not just for Milorganite and other biosolids fertilizers companies, but for the organic fertilizer industry as a whole. Few other organic companies can afford to maintain full-time staff attorneys to assure their products’ rightful shelf space. It’s not inconceivable that other states could follow New York’s lead without someone like Crawford to stand up to bad legislation.

THE REALITY ON THE GROUND

Much of the battle is being fought at retail centers where bags full of lawn fertilizer containing phosphorus will either be illegal to sell, or will carry a stern warning label. Since many of the newest laws in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and elsewhere really don’t take full effect until 2012, the entire organic fertilizer industry seems to be holding its collective breath.

“I have no idea how they think they’ll implement this, much less enforce it,” said Sachs, who said his company has seen no drop in sales — yet — related to the phosphorus laws that are hitting like dominos across the Northeast.

A quick Internet search didn’t unearth any prosecuted cases based on the phosphorus laws and reason dictates that the no-phosphorus craze in the U.S. will probably police itself, much like the no pesticide laws have done in Canada. In other words most people will try to follow the law; a certain percentage won’t hear about the law and a few others probably won’t abide it if they do hear.

The bottom line is that reduction of phosphorus in lawn fertilizers is a great intention. Responsible states like New Jersey, that quantify how much can be put down — without eliminating P entirely — have it right. The old days of putting 10-10-10 chemical fertilizer everywhere need to end immediately.

The sad irony of all this, though, is that if everyone simply tended their lawns organically, and let the soil organisms do the work of cycling the natural phosphorus through the system, then green lawns and clear water could easily co-exist. That organic fertilizers are being lumped with their chemical counterparts is an ignorant travesty that’s not supported by sound science.

In the end, our advice is two-fold for both the companies that call us looking for updates and the homeowners who want to know how to be upstanding citizens within the law. First, keep paying attention to these phosphorus bans and make sure organic products like compost, fish meal, chicken manure and alfalfa meal get the exemptions within the laws.

And, second? Overseed your lawn every fall. You should do that anyway . . . and within the letter of law in these phosphorus bans, you’ll be allowed to apply fertilizer containing phosphorus at that time.

Out on the road last week after an extended period at home or in my office, I was reminded that not EVERYONE understands the principles of organic lawn care. It’s often easy to get comfortable in one’s cocoon and it’s useful to be reminded that, many times, new ideas are worth repeating.

So I thought I’d begin this week by trotting out some of the principles of our organic lawn program, beginning with an excerpt from probably the most popular chapter in our best-selling book, The Organic Lawn Care Manual (Storey, 2007).

It’s titled Listening to Your Weeds:

For many of you, this is probably the definitive chapter of the book. When it comes to natural lawn care, the real question isn’t so much about how to grow grass, is it? The real challenge is how to eliminate everything else that wants to grow in your lawn. We have long called these unwelcome plants “weeds,” which in the famous quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson are defined as “any plants whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”

Emerson was clearly from the nineteenth century. In this modern world, in which some of us barely take the time to meet our next-door neighbors, we’re not all that interested in getting to know the virtues of any new plants, especially anything that is roguishly trying to invade our outdoor carpet of green. We’re a society of grass snobs who want every blade in the lawn to look and feel exactly the same. I was one, and still am, to a degree. In this environment, a weed is defined as any plant trying to sneak in a little ethnic diversity.

Traditional lawn care since the late 1940s has feasted on a one-size-fits-all approach to weed control that paints every plant with the same broad stroke. Grass is good; everything else is bad. It’s a simple tactic, requiring as little brain matter as possible on the part of the homeowner, the turf professional, and the marketing industry. It’s also just about the most unnatural thing in the outdoor world.

This chapter, like the rest of this book, will ask more of you. For the minimalists, I’d have you ignore the fact that not everything on your lawn is grass and just mow whatever is managing to grow. That’s natural lawn care in its simplest form. To achieve the greater goal of a natural “weed-free lawn,” however, you may be required to think, to meet some new plants, to occasionally use physical exertion, to learn some new techniques and products, and possibly to look at the world outside your door in a whole new way. And what a blast it is when you do. It’s all about tracking the clues provided by nature, as if your lawn were a giant board game. Colonel Moss. In the shade. With compaction. Mystery solved!

Approximately 1,775 plants in the United States have been classified as weeds, and entire wonderful books have been written on the subject. Weeds and What They Tell, written in the 1950s by a German biochemist named Ehrenfried E. Pfeiffer, is especially enlightening. “Weeds are weeds only from our human egotistical point of view, because they grow where we do not want them,” he wrote in his introduction. “In nature, however, they play an important and interesting role.”

The RILE Approach
In the Weed Identification Guide starting on page 184, I focus on only about 40 of the most common lawn weeds, including what they look like, methods of control and, most importantly, what the weeds tell us about our soil. This Guide is the cornerstone of what I call it the RILE approach to weeds: Relax before you act, identify your weed, listen to your weed and, if necessary, eradicate your weed. If you can develop a basic understanding of RILE, you’ll be well armed against all weeds and off to a great start in your quest for a natural lawn.

Relax
We’ve been masterfully programmed. A devilishly inventive advertisement for a popular synthetic weed killer depicts a man climbing the sheer face of a high mountaintop. After braving the elements and exerting himself to the highest degree, the climber finally reaches his destination and pulls his spray bottle of herbicide from his holster as if it were a six-shooter. Heroically, he sprays the single dandelion emerging from a crack in the granite.

The ad’s message, clever as it may be, is also tragically sad. As this chapter details, many plants actually provide significant benefit to the soil and therefore your lawn. Wide swaths of just turfgrass, if left alone, are dependent systems with no ability to feed or sustain themselves. Add in a little white clover or bird’s-foot trefoil, though, and you’ll give your lawn the tools it needs to take care of itself — except for the mowing, of course.

The best first step in natural weed control is to take a deep breath and make an honest evaluation of your weed population. A rule of thumb is that if you have anything less than 10 percent weeds in your grass, you don’t have a weed problem worth treating. Anything more than 90 percent perfection isn’t even reasonable to expect in a backyard setting. If you have 10 to 60 percent weeds, you may want to take some of the actions outlined later in the chapter. If more than two-thirds of your lawn is covered with weeds, in our lawn-as-a-board-game scenario, do not pass “Go,” do not collect $200, and go straight to jail. You can only come out when you’ve read chapter 5 about how to start over the right way.

Identify
Let’s begin with a primer. On one hand, lawn weeds are generally quite convenient to classify. They are either grasses, such as crabgrass, quack grass, and Bermuda grass, or they are broadleaf weeds, such as dandelion, ground ivy, and chickweed. Botanists will further explain that weedy grasses are “monocots,” meaning they emerge from their original seed with a single seed leaf. Broadleaf weeds are “dicots,” meaning they have two seed leaves at the time of germination. That’s good to know when plotting your natural approach to weed eradication, because you always want to get rid of weeds when they’re small. You also want to know if the weed is an annual, biennial, or perennial in your climate zone, because this will affect your method of control.

Annual weeds germinate from seed, grow, send up flowers, and produce new seed all in the same growing season if we allow them to live that long. They’ll ultimately be killed by frosts. With annual weeds, therefore, careful management of the weed seeds is critical to reducing population of the plant. Never allow a weed to produce seeds if at all possible; mow or pull the weeds instead.

Biennial weeds have a two-year life span. They store food reserves in the roots for the first year and then flower and set seed in the second year. Their control is most closely associated with that of annuals. In other words, if you don’t let biennials go to seed, you’ve got a leg up in the battle.

Perennial weeds also germinate from seed, but they can also populate themselves through runners known as underground rhizomes and aboveground stolons. They won’t die off in the winter, which generally makes them far more of a nuisance to control, even through traditional synthetic chemical treatments. If you simply try to dig them out, and don’t get every speck of rhizome or stolon, they’ll typically grow back even stronger. The best tactics, therefore, involve changing the soil conditions that are allowing the weed to thrive.

If you read about soil in chapter 3 and are beginning to think of your lawn as a living body much like your own, you know that not all plants and soils can be treated equally. Part of the reason so many people fail in traditional lawn care programs is that they attempt to treat the entire yard with the same chemicals, which don’t always work on all plants. Broadleaf herbicides won’t touch weed grasses, for example, and generally do a poor job of eradicating many perennial weeds. Preemergent herbicides, similarly, won’t do a bit of good on a perennial weed that’s already established.

Having said all of this, I should tell you that you can grow a decent natural lawn without ever knowing the name or type of a single nongrass plant. Treat the soil well (chapter 3), pick good grass seed (chapter 4), and generally follow the rest of this book’s advice, and it won’t matter terribly if you don’t know creeping Charlie from bugleweed. But if you’re going to go to war with lawn weeds, it’s imperative to know who and what you’re fighting. To meet some of the likely suspects, turn to the Weed Identification Guide on page 184. Your local Extension agents, most of whom are now online, will usually have fact sheets on other weeds prevalent in your area but not listed here.

Listen
The essence of organic weed control comes down to this premise: Most of those other plants that pop up in your lawn are trying to tell you a story about your soil. Sure, you can kill the messenger by instantly eliminating the weed from the lawn with the right tool. But pulling or spraying the weed doesn’t change the underlying tale that the plant is trying to convey. Just as your grass needs certain conditions to thrive — from a balanced pH to adequate organic matter, moisture, soil life, and fertility — weeds have their own needs, and their presence in your lawn should be seen as valuable indicators.

Have you ever wondered, for example, why crabgrass always seems to crop up right next to the driveway? Maybe you dig up the crabgrass, but then a new batch grows right back? It’s because the crabgrass is trying to tell you the soil is compacted from all the feet, automobile tires, and plow blades that wander off the edge of the pavement. Until the compaction is remedied, you will always have crabgrass — or plantain, chickweed, or knotweed — in abundance. I have a perfectly nice neighbor who has been by a few times to expedite my landscape projects with his backhoe. Bless him. During one recent visit when I wasn’t home, though, he drove the tractor right across my new lawn out front. I’m not generally a violent guy, but I wanted to strangle him. If I don’t aerate the soil under those tire tracks, his visit will be marked by telltale trails of plantain for years to come.

The stories of weeds are many. Before you ever get a soil test, the presence of certain plants can tell you about all of the following: soil pH, soil life, moisture or drought, soil temperature, drainage, organic matter, fertility, tillage, soil structure, and the aforementioned compaction. To learn the story every plant has to tell in detail, I realize, is a tall order for anyone except the most dedicated of horticulturists. I have observed many weed tendencies myself through my years as a landscaper and homeowner, but I have also learned much from the work of others. A special thanks again to Ehrenfried E. Pfeiffer, who was a protégé of Rudolph Steiner, the father of biodynamic farming and gardening, and to people like the late agronomist Carey Reams, who taught us that each weed species is genetically programmed to replace specific deficiencies in the soil. These groundbreaking scientists showed us that nature is always trying to find a balance. They proved that if your lawn is missing nitrogen, nature will often send in clover or one of its cousins in the legume family of plants, which can trap and process nitrogen from the atmosphere (see page xx). If your lawn, conversely, has too much nitrogen, nature will likely give you an abundance of dandelions — and insects — to feed on the excess. Listening to your weeds can be an enormously powerful tool.

Eradicate
My friend Pat Lewis still remembers his first day of classes at the University of Massachusetts, Stockbridge, back in the early 1980s. Dr. Joseph Troll, the renowned instructor, told the would-be golf course greenskeepers “the best tool against weeds is a healthy grass plant.” This is a point on which the traditional lawn care industry and the natural lawn care practitioners agree. A nice, lush stand of turf will resist weeds by blocking the light needed to germinate weed seeds. Getting to that verdant green carpet is where the two lawn care communities differ. Killing weeds by synthetic means often requires multiple applications of chemicals each year, and no one chemical application will work for all weeds. The EPA estimates that only 2 percent of the active ingredients in weed killers, which are called herbicides, ever reach the target plant. The other 98 percent goes into the soil, the groundwater, and the atmosphere, onto other nontarget plants, or elsewhere in the environment.

After many years as a successful superintendent at golf courses in New England and countless sessions dressed as a white-suited spaceman atop the chemical sprayer, Pat Lewis reached a watershed conclusion.

“I thought Dr. Troll was right,” he said. “But maybe there had to be a better way to get the grass healthy.”

Pat proceeded to take the lead in converting his course, the Portland Country Club in Falmouth, Maine, to a natural approach to growing grass. In time, his course became the first in Maine to be certified by the Audubon Society’s Cooperative Sanctuary System, which requires limiting weed killers and other pesticides. Hundreds of other courses around the country are also now certified. I tell you this by way of example. If a golf course can create championship conditions without using weed-killing chemicals, you can certainly grow a nice natural lawn around your home.

Getting Rid of Weeds
If you have relaxed, identified, and listened to your weeds and are now ready for eradication, you have six primary tools at your disposal:
1) total weed wipeout with nonselective sprays or solarizing techniques
2) spot weeding with nonselective sprays, flaming, or mechanical tools
3) preemergent weed control in spring and fall
4) soil modification that gets to the root of the problem
5) overseeding with new grass seed to crowd out weeds
6) mowing at appropriate heights and only occasionally using a bagging attachment on your mower

These are techniques practiced by a growing number of golf course professionals and natural lawn care practitioners, and they are easily emulated.

On Day 2 of the Mid-Atlantic tour an organic landscape roundtable discussion hosted by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society included PHS project managers Mark Paronish and Julie Snell, along with SafeLawns founder Paul Tukey, Glenstone horticulturist Patricia Manke and organic lawn guru Barry Draycott of New Jersey.

I just returned fully energized this evening from a whirlwind tour of three Mid-Atlantic states. The topics at each stop were landscape sustainability and safety and the examples, at dozens of locations, were stunning.

Wednesday evening began with an overview of the Delaware Center for Horticulture with Lenny Wilson, Assistant Director of Horticulture and Facilities at the Wilmington location. The DCH has a clear mandate to care for its property without synthetic pesticides and Lenny offered rave reviews of their progress thus far.

The Delaware Center for Horticulture installed a rain garden at the base of a nearby parking lot in Wilmington to reduce runoff into tributaries.

The occasion for my visit was the organization’s annual Copeland Lecture, an endowed event with the mission of bringing in nationally recognized experts in landscape sustainability to Delaware. The audience included the general public, board members and a surprising number of professional landscapers. The event was even sponsored by the Delaware Grounds Management Association, which invited me back for a roundtable discussion next winter.

I remarked to several members that their openness to organic lawn care would have been unthinkable even a few years ago, but they all commented that their customers were the ones pulling them in the natural direction.

“I don’t want a thing to do with the chemicals anymore,” said one gentleman, who revealed a scar from cancer surgery. “Your book (the Organic Lawn Care Manual) is my bible.”

THE NEXT MORNING BEGAN WITH A MEETING in Philadelphia at the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which also has a mandate to deal with its 80 city garden plots with organic protocols. This is year one, which hasn’t been without its challenges, so PHS asked myself and Barry Draycott of Tech Terra Organics in New Jersey to come by for a consultation. I, in turn, invited Patricia Manke, who is the head horticulturist at Glenstone, the site of our organic lawn research trials in Potomac, Md.

In organic lawn care and gardening, everyone agreed, the issue isn’t getting lawns to be green; that’s easy with organic techniques. The problem can be keeping weeds under control, at least enough to meet aesthetic expectations of an American public that still loathes dandelions. Barry gave PHS an overview of many of the products he carries, including Fiesta weed control — which is made from a naturally occurring iron chelate and sold under various brands. Patricia Manke has been trialing Fiesta at Glenstone and reported good results, especially with dandelions and thistle.

We all reiterated that weeds are messengers sent by Mother Nature to tell us something about the soil. In other words, if you lawn is mostly weeds, it’s because your soil wants to grow weeds and not grass. Weed killers are tools to treat symptoms, but the best way to treat weeds sustainably is to try to manage your lawn’s soil conditions.

PATRICIA WAS THE STAR OF THE SHOW at Penn Hort that day because of the success she is having at Glenstone after 15 months on the SafeLawns program we designed for her.

The lawn at Glenstone, which received its second blanket of compost of the year last week, is magnificently lush and green in its 15th month of the organic transformation. The grounds have only received one pound of organic fertilizer per thousand square feet this season.

I visited Glenstone this morning. The entire 16 acres of lawn were aerated and coated with a quarter-inch layer of compost just last week, then overseeded. The compost takes the place of synthetic chemical fertilizer and the seed takes place of any weed killer. Patricia and her crew have had to spot apply some natural herbicides this season and hand-pulling has been necessary in a few instances, but overall the weed pressure has been manageable — even at a facility that demands near perfection in its appearance.

The crew did learn one lesson in the compost spreading. Apparently it rained heavily after the compost was put down; the excess moisture caused the compost to seal over the lawn in some areas. When the sun did come out the compost trapped the heat, which began to yellow the lawn in a few spots. The crew quickly took action by using blowers to break the seal of the compost and the affected areas were well on their way to recovery as of this morning. If you look closely at the photo, above, you can see a few impacted spots.

We’ll be sitting down with Patricia and her colleagues in the coming weeks to do a full assessment of the first full year, including the financial impacts to the property. She gave me these general pros and cons of going organic so far:

PROS
Safety — “I feel so much better about coming to work,” she said.
Reduced Watering — About 75 percent less for the season than previous years
Reduced Mowing — About 50 percent less than when the property was maintained chemically.
Pesticide Elimination — Two years ago the facility spend tens of thousands of dollars on a routine pesticide maintenance program on lawns and trees; that’s gone entirely.
Appearance — When a fusarium outbreak threatened to overtake the property, an application of compost tea wiped it out almost instantly. The lawn has looked consistently green, even through the hottest parts of the year.

CONS
Weed Management — Some hand pulling and overseeding is required, rather than blanket spraying of a chemical.
Additional Labor — Spreading the compost over a lawn that had incredibly poor soils (less than 1 percent organic matter) is a lot of work; we estimate that by the end of next year the compost top-dressing will no longer be necessary.

Overall, said Patricia, there’s no turning back to the old ways.

“We spray compost tea everywhere, on the lawns, the trees, the pachysandra,” she said. “The plants are clearly responding. It’s a real story to tell.”

Early in October the University of Maryland researchers will be on site to begin a 30-month research project that we co-designed and Glenstone funded. The goal is to come out with a peer-reviewed research paper that states what the property is already showing us: ORGANIC LAWN CARE WORKS!

This is the compost tea brewing station at Glenstone, which includes a 250-gallon brewer, at right, and totes for fresh water. Keeping the tanks elevated allows the spray truck to back right up to the valve and, once attached, gravity feeds the compost tea into the spray tank.

A worker at Glenstone sprays compost tea into trees. At peak season, the crew brews three 250-gallon tank loads per week.