The Organic Lawn Care Manual: A Natural, Low-Maintenance System for a Beautiful, Safe Lawn
by Paul Tukey
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Book Summary Information
Author: Paul TukeyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-01-30
ISBN: 1580176496
Number of pages: 271
Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
Book Reviews of The Organic Lawn Care Manual: A Natural, Low-Maintenance System for a Beautiful, Safe Lawn
Book Review: Inspiring book, but not a how-to for amateur gardeners
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a full-color, glossy-paged book filled with scores of illustrative drawings and photos. It has a table of contents and an index, so it is easy to search for specific topics. The writing is clear and easy to understand, and the material covered is very educational regarding everything in general someone completely ignorant about the in's and out's of having an organic yard might want to know. It describes how and why chemicals hurt the health of your lawn, your pets and your family. It explains the science of healthy soil, provides information on various types of grass, and offers suggestions on how best to nourish and maintain a lawn undamaged by bugs and weeds without using chemicals. It also suggests methods of landscaping that avoid using grass and are very low maintenance. However, here is the kicker for those of us who are part of a homeowners association which requires particular types of grass, shrubs and trees and specific approaches to landscaping--the only way we can implement the vast majority of the suggestions included in this book would be to convince our homeowners association to change its rules. Unfortunately for me, the odds are very low that I would succeed at that endeavor.
Another issue I personally have with the book is that it serves me poorly as a rank beginner at gardening. The sum total of my gardening skills consists of being an excellent weeder--I thought I knew how to water, but this book says it's a far bigger production than I ever imagined, and my confidence in that area is now officially shot! In my almost complete ignorance of the practical details of lawn care, I found this book utterly intimidating, other than the part of the book dedicated to selling the audience on how great it is to go organic. I was already convinced of that before I picked up the book. It was the main reason I was interested in reading it. What I was hoping for were simple steps anyone could take (even me!) to go green. Unfortunately, I came away from reading this book feeling as if I would need to be a soil scientist with a strong back, tons of time, and lots of expensive equipment to ever succeed at an organic lawn going from the starting point of a lawn whose grass is such a mess that 1/3 of it had to be resodded. The book educated me just enough about organic lawn possibilities, though, that I felt I really wanted one badly. So my next step was to try and find an organic lawn-care service in my geographic area that could implement whatever might be possible of the book's suggestions within the rules of my homeowners association. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any such business anywhere near me which was willing to take on my lawn.
For a person in my position, then, buying and reading this book is like owning a lavishly illustrated travel book filled with exotic locales I have no means to ever visit.
More The Organic Lawn Care Manual: A Natural, Low-Maintenance System for a Beautiful, Safe Lawn reviews:
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Summary of The Organic Lawn Care Manual: A Natural, Low-Maintenance System for a Beautiful, Safe Lawn
In the modern suburban landscape, beautiful, green lawns are perhaps the most ubiquitous feature of all. It?s difficult to imagine a friendly neighborhood without broad, clean stretches of neatly shorn grass. More and more in recent years, those lawns are evolving into organic systems as homeowners ? concerned about the long-term effects of chemicals on their children, their pets, and the environment ? turn to natural methods to keep their yards healthy and inviting, and, yes, still green and lush, too.Paul Tukey, a self-confessed mowing addict, answers the growing demand for organic grass with a comprehensive volume of natural lawncare information. Step by step, he takes readers through the many elements that work together to form a healthy, organic lawn. Well-treated soil, fed properly with compost and natural fertilizers, is the foundation of every great lawn. Plant it with a grass cultivar matched properly to the climate and sunlight, nourish the soil and grass with the proper amount of water, and maintain the height with a good mower equipped with a sharp blade. A beautiful, naturally maintained lawn can be as simple as that.
An organic, healthy lawn is the best defense against weeds and pests, but when unwanted visitors creep in, Tukey is ready with Weed and Thug ID Guides and advice on dispatching them naturally or learning to live with the benign offenders. Tukey also provides helpful advice for lawnkeepers making the transition from a synthetic to an organic lawn system. It?s all here ? everything today?s homeowner needs to keep his lawn off drugs, and make it an inviting living and play area for the whole family.
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