However, with increasing concerns over the environment, the general public is focusing its attention on this fixture of the urban landscape, and most of it is not good. Fertilizer runoff poisoning rivers and lakes, pesticides and herbicides harming birds, animals and children, and long-term degradation of the environment are leading many to question the cost of keeping lawns looking perfect and orderly. You yourself may be questioning it.

Kicking the Chemical Addiction

Fortunately, it is not too difficult to reduce your lawn’s reliance on chemicals and herbicides. In fact, with a small change in how you look at your lawn and garden, you will realize that many weeds, pests and plant diseases are actually caused by all these chemicals in the first place.

It all has to do with your soil. Organic gardening is all about the soil. If it is poor, plants will be weaker and susceptible to disease and weed infestation. Your lawn, full of synthetic fertilizers, is slowly becoming poorer and poorer. It is time to change that!

Understand that healthy soil is due to microorganisms that feed on organic matter. Rich, dark earth is a great indication of these active microorganisms. These tiny critters help create the nutrients that your lawn uses to stay healthy. One of the richest sources of food for them is actually all those grass clippings you previously threw out!

Grasscycling

Grasscycling is a word that’s slowly coming into common usage. Basically, it’s the practice of leaving your grass trimmings on your lawn. Gasp!, I hear many of you say. That’ll cause unsightly thatch build-up! Actually, this is not true. Thatch is the roots and stems of grass and other plants.

Your grass trimmings are actually a valuable organic fertilizer for your lawn, the equivalent in nutrients to a bag of 4-1-3. After you mow, the trimmings quickly lose their nitrogen content into the soil. Because grass is over 75% water, it will quickly shrink into your lawn and decompose into the soil.

There, a lazy way to cut your lawn! No changing bags, and less unnecessary garbage in the landfill. Whoever thought that doing less actually did more?

Here’s a couple things to keep in mind:

• Keep your lawn mower blade sharp – a dull blade shreds the grass, damaging the plant in the long run.
• Cut your lawn at a higher setting – your grass will be thicker, crowding out weeds and helping the soil retain moisture better.
• Grasscycling is not good if you have long grass – It will take a lot longer to decompose, and it’ll form ugly clumps. Have no fear, recycle this longer grass using a composting bin.
• Use a mulcher, for greatest effect – A mulcher has a special blade that will cut the clippings further, allowing them to decompose and disappear into your lawn even faster.

Other Tips For a Healthy, Organic Lawn

You now know that organic lawn care is simply a combination of grasscycling, keeping your grass higher, and of course not using chemical fertilizers or herbicides. Weeds will come, but they will find it harder to take root, because your grass will now be thicker and healthier. There are organic herbicides available to help you out.

Here’s a couple other tips:

• Fertilizer – Along with grass clippings acting as a constant source of soil renewal, in the spring and fall you will want to use an organic protein-based fertilizer such as seaweed, plant meal, crushed beans, or even dry dog food! Commercial organic fertilizer is now widely available, and the price is nearing the level of traditional chemical fertilizer
• Soil conditioner – Every spring or fall, work in a 1/4 inch layer of finished compost, composted manure or other fine organic matter. This will help enrich and loosen your soil.
• Check your soil pH (ask your local garden center or agricultural extension service) – If you find that dandelions are overrunning your lawn, it’s likely because the soil pH is out of whack. Many weeds thrive in different pH levels, while grass thrives in a more neutral 6.0 to 7.0. This is also why grass often dies near pine trees – the falling needles decompose and change the acidity of the soil.
• Water deeply and infrequently – this encourages your grass to develop deeper and stronger roots, and conserves water.
• Aerate – If you see puddles remaining on the ground, there is too much thatch. Use a garden fork to punch four-inch deep holes to loosen and break up the soil. Also, rent an aerating machine or hire a professional to aerate your entire lawn once every couple years.

Enjoy a chemical-free, healthier, less expensive and environmentally friendly way to care for your lawn. Now go convince your neighbors!

Contributed by GoOrganicGardening.com, a blog on home gardening tips and techniques. Learn more about healthy organic gardening, composting, and how to learn and properly use organic fertilizers.

St Augustine grass happens to be one of the most sensitive types of grass. That being the case, it’s important to know exactly how to dethatch St Augustine grass before you get started. If you’re wondering what thatch is please read our article What is Lawn Thatch? We’ve also written a general article on dethatching, Thatch Removal – Dethatching, which is also worth a read if you’re considering undertaking this lawn maintenance chore.

Specifically related to St Augustine you need to consider a few different variables.

How do I know its time to dethach my St. Augustine grass?
If you have more than a half an inch of thatch, or decomposed plant material, its time to dethatch.  If you examine your grass you should be able to determine if the grass is growing on soil or thatch.  If its that latter you know what to do.

Do I need special equipment for St Augustion grass dethatching?
Yes!  The power tool you rent to dethatch should have vertical blades.  Its also critical you find vertical blades that are adjustable left to right, so you can put at minimum of 3″ between the blades.  This ensure that the stolons aren’t cut permanently damaging your lawn.

When should I dethatch?
Only dethatch when your St Augustine is growing vigorously.  This is usually in the June to July time frame.

What should I do after I’m done dethatching?
Once you’re done dethathing give your lawn a healthy dose of fertilizer and water as its been traumatized and needs some extra nutrients to recover.

Now that the thatch has been removed your St Augstine grass should flourish.  All the restriction of air, water, and fertilizers are removed.  Get that lawn mower blade sharpened!

If you’ve ever walked through your local home improvement store you’ve seen the racks and racks of fertilizer.  There are many brands and many types and each uses a slightly different blend of nutrients to arrive at the final fertilizer.

A few of the nutrients used to formulate bermuda fertilizer are urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphate, urea formaldehyde.   Each of these chemicals provide a quick shot of nitrogen which thick lush bermuda lawns need more than phosphorus and potassium.

Nearly every fertilizer you find on the shelf these days will be in a granular form.  This allows quick application to the lawn with a broadcast spreader and will last up to 3 months before another application is necessary.

The First Application

Bermuda grass goes dormant during the winter months.  It won’t come out of dormancy until the ground temperature hits a balmy 65ºF.  It’s likely that your grass will be about 50% greened up at this point for a visual reference.  This is the perfect time to drop your first application of fertilizer on your lawn.  It’s likely it mid-April when this first application will be needed as a point of reference.

For this first application you’re looking for a high nitrogen content.  That means the first number should be high like 31-3-9.  However a product that has 29-3-4 is going to give very similar results.  If all the products have a high nitrogen content pick your fertilizer based on price.  The higher premiums you’ll pay will likely add in slow release nitrogen to keep your lawn green between feedings.

Subsequent Applications

Your bermuda grass is going to thrive off fertilizer.  You’ll want to apply another bag of bermuda fertilizer in 6 – 8 weeks (June 15).  Drop a third bag 6 – 8 (August 15) weeks later and you’ll have the greenest lawn in the neighborhood.

Winterizer

Again depending on your area of the country you’ll want to drop a bag of winterizer on your lawn in the mid-September to mid-October time frame.  The idea is to get the fertilizer down and watered in before the grass goes back into dormancy.  This will feed and protect your lawn during those brutal winter months.

Weed Control

One area we failed to mention earlier was about weed control.  Several fertilizer brands out there mix in some weed control products like HALTS.  It’s likely you’ll find a winterizer with a weed control product.  That will be your best bet for the winterizer fertilizer application.  In the mid to late February time frame you’ll want to consider a broad leaf weed controller like HALTS to keep your lawn weed free.  If you’re lucky you can mix this in with your first application if the grass has greened up enough.

A healthy well fed Bermuda lawn is a weed free lawn.

Aeration is the process of poking thousands upon thousands of holes in the soil.  After a years worth of the kids playing and water packing the soil down, nutrients simply can make their way to the roots.  Poking holes in the soil will allow water, oxygen and other nutrients to penetrate the roots of your lawn.

There are two types of aerating devices.  One with spikes and one with plugs.  The devices with spikes are generally pulled by a tractor and do little to penetrate the hard packed clay over much of the southeast.  Ask for a “core aerator”.  These machines have hollow spoons which pull up plugs of soil as the machine moves.

The process is much like mowing the grass.  Twice.  Yes you’ll want to aerate your lawn in one direction and then go back over your lawn at 90º.  This criss-cross pattern should give you the necessary 12 holes per square foot.

Wondering when you should aerate Bermuda?

Aerate in the fall and you’ll have a lawn full of weeds or rouge grass.  This will be a thorn in your side until late in the summer when the Bermuda finally takes back the lawn by force. Therefore, aerate your bermuda grass in the early summer when your lawn is growing quickly.  After aerating an application of fertilizer and a deep watering will help your lawn to recover quickly.

Mowing Bermuda grass is often the most difficult grass to mow.  The reason is because more often than not the wrong lawn mower is used.  Bermuda grass needs to be cut to a height of 1 – 1.5 inches.  Most rotary lawn mowers aren’t capable of mowing that low without scalping the lawn.

Scalping is what happens when a wheel on your rotary mower drops into a small rut and causes the blade to dip down and scalp the grass.  When your bermuda is scalped a half moon shape appears where the blade has torn into the lower section of grass which is quite unsightly not to mention very stressful on your lawn.

To keep your bermuda from getting scalped a reel mower is about the only real option.  If you’re stuck with a rotary mower your only option is to raise the blade.  This will keep your lawn from being scalped but won’t allow you to get the nice low even cut like we enjoy on the golf course.   While reel mowers are more expensive they do provide a much more even cut, lower to the ground (in the sweet spot for bermuda), and will never scalp your grass.

In either case, reel or rotary mower, keep your blades sharp.  You should sharpen your mower blade at least once per year.  This will keep the blades from being ripped which will in turn keep your lawn disease free and use less water.   A dull blade can also cause your lawn to look a bit yellow where the blades have been torn.  What are you waiting for?  Get that blade sharpened!

Mowing Heights Throughout the Year

For the first cut of the year you’ll want to cut off the tips of the grass before its completely out of dormancy.  This will expose the ground to the sun and begin warming the soil.  Scalping the grass to the ground is not recommended nor is burning the dead grass.

A good starting point in the early spring is the 1″ range.  As the summer wears on your may consider raising the blade up to 2″.  It’s critical that you never remove more that 1/3 of the blade of grass, so if you miss a week you’ll need to raise your blade to keep from really stressing out your lawn.  In the fall you’ll want to let your bermuda go dormant without excessive mowing.

Bagging Bermuda Grass

A lot of research has been conducted on whether bagging bermuda grass is beneficial.  It has been shown that leaving the clippings on the lawn will return nitrogen to the soil and eventually save you money on fertilizer.  It has also been shown that your lawn is not any more likely to be disease prone or thatch problems.  Let the clipping naturally decompose.

If your lawn has fallen victim to dollar spot there are a couple of different reasons to consider.

Your nice and hardy bermuda grass is much more likely to develop dollar spot during a drought.  These dry soil conditions are the perfect breeding ground for this fungus.  Even a sufficient source of moisture like a morning dew, fog, or weekly watering will keep dollar spot at bay.

In the spring and fall, when temperature conditions are 60ºF-80ºF, is when disease development is most likely.  Normally the nights are cool and the days are warm when the conditions are just right for this fungus to run rampant.

If you’ve correctly diagnosed the problem the first thing to try is watering the grass.  Be sure to water the grass early in the morning so it will dry quickly.  This will give the bermuda or zoysia ample water to grow and reduce the severity of the disease.   If after 2 weeks your lawn isn’t recovering it’s time to move on to a fungicide.  The chemical for the job is Daconil 2787.  Be sure to read all safety labels and follow them closely.

To keep your lawn from getting dollar spot in the first place be sure to fertilize your lawn and irrigate deeply at least once per week.  Since dollar spot thrives in the absence of nitrogen it’s ideal to get a hardy dose of fertilizer on your lawn.  This should already be in your yearly lawn maintenance schedule.

Dandelions are some of the toughest weeds to control because of two main factors.

1. Kids love to pick them up and blow 100′s of seeds into your grass.

The wind will pick these seeds up and carry them across your neighborhood infesting everyone with their share of dandelions. It won’t take long for these seeds to propagate and the cycle to start over.

2. A 10″ taproot.

That’s right. The majority of those seeds will find their way to fertile soil and sprout a 10″ taproot. If you try pulling this taproot it will likely fracture leaving just enough in the ground to regenerate another pesky dandelion.

So now that you know a little about the dandelion lets talk about the best ways to control and kill them.

Control Dandelions by Pulling Them

As I mentioned you’ve got to pull a 10″ taproot in order to get rid of the dandelion forever. If it ends up fracturing you can expect to see it again in a few weeks. There are several special tools available for getting at the tap root to essentially loosen up the soil to ensure the taproot comes out cleanly. If you’re looking for a step by step on pulling your dandelions check this out:

• Attempt to pull your dandelions after a good hardy rain or heavy watering. This will facilitate loosening up the soil around the taproot and make it much easier to get the entire taproot out.
• Using a knife, screwdriver, or fancy dandelion pulling tool make a small incision next to the base of the dandelion.
• Wiggle your chosen tool around to loosen the soil.
• Ruffle up all the leaves around the dandelion and use them as a handle. Apply even pressure, wiggling the dandelion. If its not moving use your tool to loosen up the soil a bit more. Eventually, the dandelion and its taproot will come out cleanly.

Killing Dandelions with Herbicides

If you’re lawn is riddled with dandelions and pulling them isn’t an option you’re interested in you better consider a herbicide before they really get out of control. Killing dandelions is only going to get more difficult, if you don’t get control of them.

Fortunately dandelions are a broad leaf weed and there are some really easy herbicide solutions like Weed-B-Gone. Weed-B-Gone will not only take out dandelions but any broad leaf weeds you may have. Depending on the number of weeds you have you can spot treat or use a hose attachment to cover large areas.

If you’re looking for a natural alternative to herbicides, you might consider vinegar. The acetic acid in vinegar is what kills the dandelions or other broad leaf weeds. The problem is you may need to boil the vinegar down to make it potent enough to actually kill the weeds. It may also pay to shop around as different vinegars have different levels of acetic acid, so read the label.

The last herbicidal solution is roundup. Roundup and vinegar will kill anything it touches so be careful not to get it on surrounding grass or garden plants. The Weed-B-Gone is selective only targeting broad leaf weeds and is the most popular choice when killing dandelions in your lawn.

Dandelion Prevention – The Ultimate Dandelion Control

The healthier your lawn, the less weeds you’ll have. If you’re already in a situation where you have dandelions in your lawn, apply your selected method to kill the dandelions. Apply your herbicide a 3 days before you plan on mow your lawn. The bigger the dandelion the better, so the surface area is maximized.  The 3 days gives it plenty of time to get the herbicide into the root system to guarantee you’ll never see it again.

Once you get rid of your dandelions and you want to keep them from coming back next year, apply a broad leaf weed control in the early fall. Normally dandelions die back during this time and all the nutrients in their leaves are transfered to their root system. Remember this is not only good for dandelions but all broad leaf weeds, so it really helps even if you don’t have a weed problem today.

Keeping your lawn healthy and green requires some amount of water. Whether that comes from mother nature or an irrigation system is irrelevant. Of coarse we’d all agree we’d like mother nature to take care of watering our bermuda grass, but it just doesn’t work out that way sometimes. Although when it’s thirsty it’s blades will bow a bit. It’s subtle but if you’re looking for it, you can easily spot a bermuda lawn in need of some moisture.

Bermuda grass is one of the more drought tolerate types of grass. If you want to give you grass an even better chance during the next drought than consider only watering once a week.

Watering bermuda grass once a week will force the roots of the grass to dig deeper as the water supply is dried up during the week. The deeper the roots the more likely you are to have a greener healthier lawn during the next drought. Watering once a week isn’t suffiecient if you’re not getting enough water down that one day a week.

In general you’ll want to water to a depth of about 6″. Like we said earlier this will encourage deep root growth which will protect it from the heat, cold, and the next drought. A quick test you can do to ensure you’ve watered to the right depth is to stick a screw driver into the ground. If you can sink it easily about 6″ in the ground you’re there, otherwise you need to put a couple hundred more gallons of water on your bermuda grass.

It’s important that when you’re watering that you don’t allow water to run off your lawn. If you’ve got water run off problems you’ll want to only water until the water start running off, and then move to another zone. If you didn’t get to the 6″ mark you’ll need to come back to that zone after your new zone starts running off.

There are a variety of products that are available to control weeds in ponds and lakes. The specific type of pond weed killer or lake weed killer depends on the types of weeds that are growing as well as the size of the pond or lake. Different products are generally recommended for plants that are growing beneath the water as opposed to those that are growing on top of the water.

The critical determinant of which pond weed killer to use is the type of weed that is the target. One of the more common surface pond weeds is duckweed. Duckweed exists on the surface of a pond and is characterized by very small leaves that measure no larger than ¼ inch. If duckweed gets out of control, it is likely to cover an entire small pond and it can cut off the oxygen supply for any fish that exist in the small pond and result in death for these and other aquatic creatures. While raking of the pond is an option, a pond weed killer may be necessary to control this weed. There are several pond weed killers which when used according to directions are relatively safe. These herbicides act as very effective pond weed killer or lake weed killers and generally pose no extended risk to the environment if used properly.

Two other common surface pond weeds are mosquito fern and watermeal. As with the duckweed these possess very small leaves. Watermeal is the smallest seed-bearing plant in the world and is characterized by leaves that are less that 1/16 inch in size. Mosquito fern bears leaves that are no larger than one inch and the color may vary from green to red. These plants often co-exist with each other and with duckweed. A pond weed killer will effectively rid a small pond of these weeds.

There are a number of weeds that exist in ponds below the surface. Two relatively common weeds are American pond weed and baby pond weed. American pond weed has several leaves on a stem that are about 3-6 inches long. It grows from the bottom of a pond and these leaves can be present on the surface of the pond as well as below. Baby pond weed is a wiry plant that exists below the surface. It is green and has the appearance of tangled string when pulled up. Again a pond weed killer or lake weed killer will be effective in the control of this pond weed.

A critical element to bear in mind when using pond weed killers or lake weed killers is to accurately determine the volume of the water to be treated. Careful measurement is a must when using a pond weed killer to protect the environment while ridding the pond or lake of these weeds.

Everyone these days is trying to do their part recycling or driving slower to conserve on gas. With a Neuton CE 6.2 you can completely eliminate a hundred or more pounds of emmissions that your gas guzzling mower is pumping out every year. You’ll also eliminate half of the noise your current mower produces, and while thats not a huge benefit in your pocket book or to the environment as a whole, it is something your ears and your neighbors will appreciate.

Last month I got the opportunity to try out the brand new Neuton CE 6.2 lawn mower. This is a 19″ wide cut, battery powered, lawn mower able to cut through some of the thickest bermuda grass I could throw at it. While its not meant for the majority of the grasses found in the deep south of the United States the rest of the country can surely take advantage of this latest and greatest mowing technology.

So now that the review is over, I asked the kind people at Neuton Power if I could give it away to one of my readers. They obliged and I am now offering this mower absolutely free (including shipping) to one lucky reader.

Entering the Neuton Mower Giveaway

It’s simple! Really Simple. Almost as simple as starting a Neuton mower

All you have to do to enter the contest is leave a comment on this post.

Winning the Neuton Mower

At the end of the month (August 31, 2008) we’ll number all the comments and use a random number generator to pick the winner.

Specifics

• Only 1 entry per person.
• A valid email must be used for notification purposes.
• U.S. entries only.

It really is that simple. Leave a comment and win a new lawn mower. Good Luck!

Update:  Congratulations Courtney!  You’ve won the Nueton mower.