OLC Articles

By Kathy Litchfield

My Landscape Ramblings - by David Sanders

1. Is it possible to maintain healthy turfgrass without pesticides? Yes, but groundskeepers will have to rely more on mechanical treatments and other cultural control methods to grow and maintain healthy grass like they did prior to the widespread use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. These methods include vigorous overseeding, aerating the soil to relieve compaction, adjusting mowing heights, monitoring for pests, and application of fertilizers and other amendments based on soil test results.

http://www.fosterfollynews.com/news/2011Jan4Savemoneybyusingleavesasamulch.php

Save Money by Using Leaves as Mulch

Mulch is any material placed on the soil surface to moderate the soil environment and enhance landscape aesthetics.

Jump down to list of soil test labs...

The first step before implementing any new landscaping should always be to take a soil test. A soil test will tell you exactly what your lawn or garden needs so you can add only those nutrients that are necessary.  You send a sample of your soil to a soil testing laboratory, and they send a report on the chemistry of your soil with specific recommendations of what types of fertilizers and nutrients to add to optimize the soil for what it is you want to grow.

by Andrew Keys

What’s all the fuss about invasive plants? In a nutshell, invasives are plants from other parts of the world that break out of gardens and spread maniacally through our local ecosystems, threatening native flora and fauna, because the things that keep them in check where they grow naturally don’t exist here. And because of that, invasives out-compete whole communities of native plants, replacing ecosystems that support an abundance of life with communities that support little more than the invaders themselves.

Several organic landscaping professionals in the Northeast have reported that they have little to no grub problems in organically managed lawns. Scientists have yet to determine why this is. How do you know if you have a grub problem?

Spring is finally here! Have you been looking out the window and wishing that you were out working in your yard, and being able to smell that nice earthy aroma, and having the warm sun on your shoulders?  To get you started, here are a few tips on spring lawn care.

In an attempt to attain the perfect lawn, Americans are using enormous quantities of water, fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides and fossil fuels to make grass grow more vigorously, then spending time and money on a weekly basis to keep it short.

"Many US cities and some states, even in the Northeast, report that 50% of residential water use goes to lawns and landscapes," says Amy Vickers, author, Handbook of Water Use and Conservation (WaterPlow Press),  "Over 75% of the river drainage basins assessed in Massachusetts are classified as 'flow stressed,'

How wonderful it is to have the warm weather return! But there are three annoying insect pests that often can make the summer less than enjoyable: fleas, ticks and mosquitoes. Happily, there are organic controls that can be applied by the landscaper or the do-it-yourselfer to help eradicate the problem.