Lawns - particularly organic lawns.

For me, moving to organic lawns was about finding a way I could roll on the lawn with my kids and dogs without worrying about chemicals and making the important people in my life sick. It was a comfort to know that not only could my kids steal veggies out of the garden for snacks (they ate most of their peas that way) they could also roll on the lawn and play any game out there with the same level of assurance. Here's where you can get basic information and your questions answered and you've come to the right web page. Without further ado - let's start.

Three Tips for Great Organic Lawncare





Weeds

Dandelions

gardening pots Why does everybody hate dandelions? Here's how to eliminate them from your lawn

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Crabgrass

outdoor lighting Crabgrass is an annual grass the drives people nuts so here's the easy organic remedy

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Creeping Charlie

garden mulch Another weed that bedevils our lawns and here's how to control it

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Landscape Contracts

landscape contracts When you're presented with a landscape contract, it's important to know what it says and this is the non-lawyer presentation on things you need to look out for (and why they're in the contract)

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Pests

June Beetles

June beetles thwaking off the screen door indicate their white grub larva are in your lawn - here's how to decide if there's a problem and/or what to do.

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Japanese Beetles

Japanese beetle adults aren't a major lawn pest (they just eat most everything else) but their larval form lives in your lawn. Here's how to control them.

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White Grubs

You have them, you have no idea which beetle they are but you want to control them - here's how to do it organically.

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Chinch Bugs

The larval form of this small fly can create big brown patches, here's how to identify it

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Voles

Voles (starts with V for vegetables) eat lawn roots and destroy lawns - leaving tracks in the lawn after the snow melts.

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Moles

Moles (M is for meat-eater) eat worms and ground beetles but carve big tunnels under your lawn.

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Care Tips


Dog Damage

How to distinguish dog damage from grub damage and what to do about it

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Spring Lawn Care

Spring lawn care tips and hints for a healthier, greener lawn

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Fall Lawn Care

Fall lawn care is equally important as spring lawn care in the organic world

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Lawn Rolling

Never roll your mature lawn unless you want to create more problems than you solve

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Grass Clippings

Grass clippings contain 20% of the Nitrogen you put on the lawn, here's what to do with them

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Moss on Lawns

Moss on lawns isn't hard to deal with if you solve the underlying problems

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Poor Lawn

I have a poor lawn - what do I do?

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Grass Whistles

Every kid should know how to make one of these and it's your job to teach them.

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Got a Lawn Growing Problem?

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See What Others Have Asked

Click below to see plants that we've identified for other gardeners.

Best grass seed  I have a partial sun lawn that my greyhound likes to run through, tearing it up. What would be the best, toughest grass to plant there?

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Doug ...

moss as a lawn  I have moss growing in place of grass,I like the moss. How do I enhance and keep the moss. My yard is small with trees surrounding the yard. I live in ...

very late seeding  This is a new lawn. Can we spread grass seed in late fall in northeast Ia and not water and expect the snow to keep the seed protected until it germinates ...

sparse grass in shade  We laid new sod last June..it was beautiful until end of July when it all turned brown..have been told too much shade..so went and bought a few weeks ago ...

Trumpet vine seedlings  My back yard has a trumpet vine growing on a fence for 15 years. For the past 6 years small trumpet vine plants have continued to sprout up in the summer....

Grass that will grow in the shade  I have a very shaded piece of property but would love to plant grass throughout. Is there any type of grass seed that will thrive in full shade to partial ...

Earth Worms  How can I get rid of earth worms that are under my lawn and are destroying it. The lawn has lumps all over and is difficult to walk on without shoes, and ...

converting to a moss lawn  Hi Doug,
My front yard lies on the north side of the house. I have rather huge and healthy spruce trees that further shade the property and ferns that ...

lumpy lawn  Yes my lawn is full of weeds and moss, but I'm getting those under control. what I can't control is the extreme lumpiness! There are some serious dips,...

How to get rid of lawn mushroom?  My front lawn is infested with mushroom now. I am desperate for a solution from you, Doug: Do I have to remove all the lawn which is $1000 square feet,...

Rejuvenate old uneven lawn  Hi Doug,

I asked this question 10 - 12 days ago and have not found an answer - maybe I am not looking in the right place or --- you just have not had ...

start a new lawn from scratch or try and renovate current mess?  My lawn has been damaged by leaves that I didn't rake and grubs/moles. It is squishy,lumpy,bare in some areas. I am just not sure what to do. If I should ...

Bare spots  It's April 19, and I have lots of bare spots in my lawn.
What can I do to have grass growing in these spots instead of weeds?

Doug says to use a little ...

do you roll a new lawn before or after seeding  I have a veg. garden space i am converting to a lawn. it has been plowed and leveled. Do I roll the ground before or after seeding. Or not at all?

Doug ...

Top Dressing Poor Lawn  Hi Doug. Happy Spring!

I have very poor lawn. Your website says I can use 1 large bag of peat with 2 bags of compost. You didn't say how big the ...

I have two questions from your book Successful Lawns  I have the Successful Organic Lawns E-Book, you list the nine steps to a successful lawn does it matter the order of the compost and corn gluten as I aways ...

What grass in no light, too much water  What type of grass seed grows best where drainage is poor, sunlight is limited, and there is too much natural water from slope drainage and rain.

Doug ...

Lawn alternative  A couple of us in Maine are using white clover instead of grass as a lawn cover. It mows really well, is soft when walking barefoot on it and looks nice....

wrong soil  When we put our lawn in they got me to put in Pebble dirt, which is 1/2 dirt and 1/2 pea gravel. The dirt has washed away in some places and grass not ...

No sign of new grass  Last fall I top dressed my lawn with grass seed. I could see the grass starting to come up after a week or two, so far this year I don't see too much of ...

environmentally friendly roundup  What can I use to control weeds on my interlocking brick patio. I used to use roundup. Is there a alternitive to prevent weeds from growing in the cracks ...

Lawn Drainage  We have a large 12 month old lawn, which is very wet in patches. The builder / landscaper reckoned we have underground springs that prevents the ground ...

care of existing lawn in southwest florida  What products do you use and when and how do you apply them? We want to start organic on our lawn and shrubs/flowers Our lawn is small at about 2500 sq ...

Sowing grass seed in fall  Hi Doug,

I read your Fall Lawn Care page and you mention sowing grass seed is a good way to thicken up the turf for spring.

I'm wondering how exactly ...

when is it best to start a new lawn?  I am ready to give up and start over, adding loam and sod. Should I do this in fall or wait till spring?

Doug says that fall is a good time to start ...

Bent grass in a Blue grass lawn  How do you get rid of Bent Grass (zone 3) in a lush Blue grass lawn? We have talked to several golf course turf guys and they all say remove all lawn and ...

how to get a new lawn on stripped topsoil.   What is left is hard pan and small rocks, nothing will grow except weeds.

Doug says that grass requires at least 2-3 inches of topsoil if it's going ...

patches of brown surrounded by dark green grass  My lawn has patches of dead grass surrounded by a beautiful green colour grass. The surrounding grass grows taller and faster than the rest of the lawn....

corn gluten and grass seed  Hi Doug
I have planted grass seed but it is not sprouting. I seeded the area 5 days ago and nothing is happening. But, I think I know why...I spread corn ...

circles of long thicker grass  When we resodded our front lawn we noticed the following year that there was circles all over the lawn. These were different kinds of grass we assumed ...

laying sod and bonemeal  We are about to lay new sod and I am first spreading some corn gluten before the new sod goes down but should I also add some bone meal?
Thanks for your ...

growing grass under a large maple tree  We have a large maple tree in our large and have very little luck growing our lawn under it. Last summer we laid down fresh soil and shade grass seed. this ...

lawn watering  I live in Zone 5, in Illinois. We have an irrigation system, and my question is , what is the appropriate (approx.) time and amount of water necessary ...








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