Every spring the smell of fresh-mown lawns wafts through the air. Which signals time to fire up the mower, buy the synthetic lawn care products to fill into the spreader, and have at the season long battle against nature.

Or not. Because if you’re tired of your chemical-saturated lawn maintenance routine maybe it’s time to get your grass off performance-enhancing drugs. Turning instead to more sustainable methods to achieve a lawn that’s still perfect, the envy of the neighborhood, yet eco-friendly too.

Now organic lawn care begins with the grasses you plant. It also involves watering wisely, feeding sustainably, mowing right, while dealing with weeds or pests organically. Let’s briefly learn what each entails and then some.

Going Native When Deciding Which Grass to Plant

Grasses local to your area are more apt to thrive without a regular dose of pesticides. Because they are better able to fend off pests on their own without chemical assistance. For that reason you want to plant warm season grasses if you live in the south, cool season varieties up north and go with transitional strains if you live somewhere in the middle.

Feeding Your Lawn the Organic Way

If your lawn is brown and drab, it can be easy to chalk it up to a lack of water or proper fertilization. You might even be convinced that insect pests have infested your yard. However, while all of these scenarios are possible, they’re far less likely than you might think. What your lawn might truly need is aeration. Lawn aeration is nothing more than the process of punching holes (or removing cores) in the soil, in order to allow more water, air and fertilizer into it.

If your lawn requires some help, you will find that there are several different types of aerators that can offer a helping hand. Aerators with gas-powered engines are often used to help remedy this problem. They might also be called corers or plug-aerators in your area. These devices utilize long, hollow tines that each remove a core from your yard as the tine punches into the turf. That said, these are large machines, better suited for large yards than for smaller areas.

Question: How much should I water my grass exactly?

Innocent enough question. But one with a myriad of answers really. With the best one being “It depends.” Let me explain.

The rule of thumb you see most often shared is to water an inch a week. But what happens is that rules of thumb are all too son taken to be iron clad rules by some. Chiseled in stone as it were and to be adhered to at all costs.

Yet the answer to how much and often to water your grass is really dependent on a variety of factors. Simply spouting a rule of thumb and being done with it won’t cut it for that reason.

For starters you need to know how often it rains. Pretty obvious, yes. But I had to point it out.

Related to that last point is you only want to water when your lawn needs it. And it’s not like it has a calendar counting down the days to the next water-fest. But if it looks weak and limp (under stress) and when you walk on your grass you can look back and see footprints because it doesn’t spring back like it should, well, it’s fair to say that it’s time to water.

What comes to your mind when somebody tells you to think of cranberries? A good number of people will think of a fruit that is delicious and juicy and is fresh. Now when you are told to think of a cranberry girdler, what comes to your mind this time? There are people who would believe that it is some kind of food that has to do with the cranberry. But it sure is not. This cranberry girdler is the actual opposite of the things that you would describe the cranberry.

So what exactly are cranberry girdlers? These are actually insects. They may look like your normal worms but they are more than that. They come in a grayish or dirty white color and has a head that is brown-orange. It should be just around 3/4 inches in length. It has no distinct markings to differentiate it from the rest of the insects. Small is what they are but they are not harmless. They can bring a lot of destruction to your lawn or your garden. You do not want that to happen. Not at all.

Over the last several years, a variety of alternative lawn care methods have been sought by those looking for another solution. These products are unique because they do not have chemicals in them. This makes them eco-friendly. Experts say that the use of chemical based fertilizers, pesticides and other products can not only poison your lawn, but affect the health and well being of your family, too. Most often, you will not notice these adverse health effects on your family. Yet, if you have pets and children, they are especially at risk for these effects. Being careful with the use of these products is a must.

Additional Risk

As well as harming your health, these chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides can also hurt the fragile Earth’s environment. In some studies, evidence has been seen of these chemicals altering the soil in various ways and then contributing to polluted ground water. The fact is, with all of these potentially dangerous risks evident, it is important to consider alternative lawn care methods.

Products To Consider

What fish and parts of the fish are used for making fish fertilizer? By-products or waste materials from various types of fish are used. And although technically several varieties of fish can be used, mostly Menhaden fish that contain few amounts of meat and used for making animal feed are used.

The first step is to cook the fish and to squeeze its juice and oils by pressing. The oil is removed while the leftover solids can be ground and baked into protein meals and fed to animals. The juice of the fish is brought to a boil until it becomes more concentrated and results in a fish emulsion.

To hinder fermentation and extend its shelf-life, phosphoric acid is added to the emulsion. The percentage of phosphoric acid in the solution should be under 1% to meet the USDA criteria for organic products.

Although formulations vary, fish emulsion liquid fertilizer typically contains approximately four to five percent nitrogen (N), two percent phosphorus (P), two percent potassium (K), and trace elements. Trace elements, also called micronutrients, are chemical elements that plants need in minute quantities in order to thrive.

Lawn aeration involves puncturing holes into the soil so that the soil can have a good prospect of receiving principal water and sunlight.

Whether or not the soil where you live is to a considerable degree compacted then the lawn could in all likelihood benefit from lawn aeration more often. Lawn aeration is a technique that may be critical to having a nice lawn and yet is a technique that a great deal of persons overlook. Frequently, lawn aeration may quickly and effortlessly take care of lawn difficulties. whether or not you live in an area where sandy soil is prevalent then theres a good prospect that you wouldnt require lawn aeration as much as you would Whether or not you lived in an area where the sun had some clay.

It could be that this is not the case. Lawn aeration may equip you with a great deal of gains. Still, even sandy soil may gain from lawn aeration and had better be aerated once a year or so. In areas where the soil is comprised of heavy clay and/or where the soil is to a considerable degree compacted, it can be advantageous to aerate the soil several times per year. Whether or not you have noticed that you have serious difficulties with weeds that you have not been competent to get under control then utilizing lawn aeration can be competent to support.

In order to have the most beautiful and eye catching lawn there are several things you need to know about how to care for it. You will soon discover that there are many situations you are going to encounter in which a lawn has to be handled in exactly the right way to look at its best. If your knowledge of caring for your lawn is limited such situations are going to prove to be difficult and burdensome tasks. For this reason you need to know you are doing things just right as far as taking care of your lawn is concerned.

Begin by evaluating your lawn at the earliest possible convenience. Have a good look at what you can see growing there and if you have grass where it should be you are already well on your way. If you have a few areas where patches of grass are missing you will probably want to plant new grass and allow it to grow. Needless to say, if weeds are in abundance, you are likely to have your work cut out for you. However, weeds can be eliminated by using a natural weed killer. Once these tasks are completed, you can get on with taking care of your lawn and keeping it in good shape.

When you are considering landscaping your Tampa garden one of the first things you need to decide, is just what you want done. The next decision you need to make when landscaping Tampa gardens is how much you are willing to spend on the project.

It is also crucial that you plan the project before hand so that you can then see if you are going to stay within the confines of your budget. Plus you will also have to make sure that the Tampa landscaping service you choose to use will adhere to your requirements perfectly.

One of the first things that you need to determine when you set your landscaping budget is will you actually be able to do everything you want straight away. Sometimes you may find that because of monetary constraints certain parts of the project may need to be delayed until funds become available. Certainly once your budget has been set then it is important that you adhere to it.

When you are devising your landscaping budget there are certain hidden costs which need to be taken into consideration and where you may find yourself not budgeting enough for them. Below we take a look at just what some of these hidden costs are.

Let’s say that your property is on the average North American sized lot – either 33X100 or 50×130. For homes this size, you really don’t need anything else but a walk behind mower. Properties larger in size would do well to handle a riding mower for sure.

In 2009, Consumer Reports produced the largest ever study on all kinds of lawnmowers. This study reviewed up to 50 of the most common types, sizes and brands of mower. They looked at how well grass was cut, track width, useability and maintenance records from their readership.

Many people have said online that this was the best study ever done on lawnmowers – even though no study or review is perfect; including this one. The biggest complaint was that CR failed to talk about the noise levels of the lawn mowers or which ones meets California’s very strict new emissions requirements.

What they found (and you don’t have to go and find the article) is that price isn’t a major factor when it comes to reliability! Big surprise – because the old adage that you get what you pay for doesn’t seem to be a consideration here.