Organic lawn care doesn't really conform to a step-by-step process, but here are all the points to consider when you plan out your organic lawn makeover: ...

This is the third installment of Rethinking the Traditional American Lawn, a four-part series by High Country Gardens Founder and Chief Horticulturist, David Salman. Salman also writes The Xeric Gardener. [caption id="attachment_2853" align="alignleft" width="533" caption="Sweet woodruff"][/caption] News Flash: Groundcovers Grow Where Grass Won’t Groundcovers like sweet woodruff form a weed-resistant canopy ...

SafeLawns Objects to New Protocols for Exotic Invasive Insects [caption id="attachment_2810" align="alignleft" width="555" caption="Soil drenching of toxic pesticides should never be allowed (forestryimages.org)"][/caption] The existence of exotic invasive insects presents one of the biggest dilemmas of our time. When foreign creatures like the emerald ash borer, hemlock wooly adelgid or Asian longhorned be ...

Though the list is expected to evolve continually as it has for the past five years, the SafeLawns Foundation is delighted to announce the initial 2011 list of Approved Contractors and Products. All of these entities have pledged not to utilize or sell any synthetic fertilizers or pesticides in their formulations or services (SafeLawns makes no income from the sales of the products from these companies, alt ...

[caption id="attachment_2591" align="alignleft" width="533" caption="This lawn was by a walkway was ravaged by excess applications of rock salt in winter."][/caption] STEPPING OUTSIDE IN MAINE today the walkway and driveway were literally glare ice, to the point where it would have been safer to lace up the skates than to walk in boots to the car. I'm personally stubborn with winter; I do keep the pathways ...

[caption id="attachment_2437" align="alignleft" width="504" caption="This area of the Rose Kennedy Greenway in downtown Boston has not received any applications of synthetic fertilizers or herbicides — only applications of compost tea provided by Boston Tree Preservation of Woburn, Mass., as a part of ongoing organic lawn trials."][/caption] Granting a favor to a Maryland non-profit institution that is in t ...

Felder Rushing from Mississippi is one of the nation's pre-eminent gardening communicators. I happened to catch his weekly column today: http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20101117/COL0702/11170305/1020/feat/Meadow-lawns-deserve-recognition ...

[caption id="attachment_2299" align="alignleft" width="716" caption="The lawn on the left received applications of high-calcium limestone and gypsum; the lawn on the right did not."][/caption] For years I've seen what the additions of high-calcium limestone can do for a lawn to decrease weed pressure and create overall soil health. To help explain the process in depth, I asked agronomist Craig Dick of www.N ...

With Columbus Day here, folks in the most northern states in the U.S. and much of Canada are running out of time for overseeding the lawn. Late summer and fall is the best time for this activity in general, but the clock long ago started ticking on the ideal window. The issue is that the young grass plants need time to establish themselves before it gets bitterly cold. Any seed mix you put down now should p ...

Here's a link to an article from a woman from the Desert Horticultural Society with the right idea: http://www.mydesert.com/article/20101008/COLUMNS26/10080301/New-definition-of-lush-in-desert-landscaping This article, from California, describes what some residents are doing with tax incentives offered for lawn reduction: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2010/10/long-beach-drought-tolerant-gardens. ...