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M A N U A L
b 1 I1t 1.1 t n t 1 ;
•
M A N U A L
b t 1 I S F It 111 " I ; S.
A Natural, Low-Maintenance System
for a Beautiful, Safe Lawn
Paul Tukey
Foreword by
Nell Newman
President of Newman's Own Organics
Botanical illustrations by Bobbi Angell
Editorial illustrations by Elayne Sears
W
Storey Publishing
To my mother, Charlotte, the fertile soil so full of life
To Katie, my sunshine
And to Christina, Duke, and Aimee, my roots
The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by
publishing practical information that encourages
personal independence in harmony with the environment.
Edited by Carleen Madigan Perkins
Art direction by Mary Winkelman Velgos
Cover design by Kent Lew
Text design and production by Mary Winkelman Velgos and Kristy L. MacWilliams
Indexed by Susan Olason, Indexes & Knowledge Maps
Cover Photography © Image Source/Getty Images
Back Cover Photography © John Ewing, bottom; © Adam Mastoon, top
Interior Photography © Scott Calhoun/Zona Gardens: 157, 248; © John Ewing: 8, 14 top and bottom
right, 16, 18, 21, 32-34, 36, 37, 43, 45, 48 bottom, 50, 67 left, 69 all except center left, 72 top and bottom
right, 73, 74 left, 77, 79, 82-84, 87, 89 top right, 90, 91 top and middle, 92, 93, 95, 97 bottom, 98, 100-103,
104 left, 109, 112, lIS, 116, 122-127, 132-134, 137, 147, 152, 160-164, 168 bottom, 169, 175, 176, 178-180, 183,
214 top, 215, 220, 222, 224, 225, 226 bottom, 227, 228, 231, 232, 235, 241, 255; Todd Harrington: 233;
© Christine Hoffmann: 88; © Image Source/Getty Images: 48 top; © iStockphoto: Greg Nicholas 23,
Shane Link 147 top, David Elfstrom 147 bottom, Wolfgang Melle 168 top, Melissa Carroll 252, Mitch
Aunger 253, Dan Roundhill 254; © Adam Mastoon: 2, 5,14 bottom left, 22, 49, 104 right, 106, 226 top,
236; © Bill Beatty/Painet: 198 top right; Carleen Madigan Perkins: 80; © Newman's Own Organics/
Nikki Brooks: 7; © Paul Boardway Tukey: II, 13, IS, 20, 27, 40, 52, 64, 65, 67 center and right, 69 center
left, 70, 71, 74 right, 76, 81, 85, 91 bottom, 94, 96, 97 top and middle, 105, 107, 108, 114, 119, 128, 130, 141,
142, 167, 170, 174, 181, 182, 198 top left and bottom, 199-201, 216-219, 221, 233, 234, 237, 242-247, 249, 250;
Paul Tukey, Jr.: 72 bottom left; Katie Hoffmann Tukey: 89 all except top right
Illustrations © Bobbi Angell, pages 25 and 184-197; and © Elayne Sears, pages 30,39, Ill, 151, 153, 158,
205, 208, 210, and 219
Text © Paul Boardway Tukey
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by
a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any
part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other - without written permission from the publisher.
The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made with
out guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connec
tion with the use of this information. For additional information please contact Storey Publishing, 210 MASS MoCA
Way, North Adams, MA 01247.
Storey books are available for special premium and promotional uses and for customized editions. For further infor
mation, please call 1-800-793-9396.
Printed in China by R.R. Donnelley
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tukey, Paul Boardway.
The organic lawn care manual: a natural, low-maintenance system for a beautiful, safe lawn. / Paul
Boardway Tukey.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-58017-649-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-58017-655-2 (hardcover: alk. paper)
1. Lawns. 2. Organic gardening. I. Title.
SB433.T742oo7
635.9'647-dc22
2006033373
Foreword 6
Preface 8
Introduction 11
1
Evaluate Your Lawn Care Needs 14
2 Grass Anatomy 22
3 Building Good Soil 32
4
Grass Is Grass Is Grass? 48
5
Starting Off Right 72
6 Get Your Lawn Off Drugs 104
7
Changing Your Lawn's Diet 122
8
Watering Dews and Don'ts 146
9 Listening to Your Weeds 168
A Dealing with Thugs 198
B
Mowing and Maintenance 214
C The Nearly No-Mow Lawn 234
Appendix: Playing on the Lawn 252
Glossary 257
Recommended Reading 261
Resources 262
Acknowledgments 264
Index 265
TI I consider myself to be one of the waters. Bird and insect populations are
\ lucky ones; I've always felt connected to waning, due at least partially to the
o
our earth and able to live in harmony pesticides people put on their lawns
S with it. My mother, an early environ and gardens in the interest of creating
mentalist, was a big influence for me. "beauty." In an age when we know fos
Q)
We recycled and had apple trees and sil fuel resources are very limited, North
\
kept a couple of chickens. There was a Americans use on average the equivalent
o
river near my house in Connecticut, and, of eighteen gallons of gasoline maintain
LL
growing up, I'd run through the woods ing their lawns each year. For many peo
with my fishing rod, our pack of dogs fol ple, pursuing the "perfect" lawn appears
lowing, and I'd fish and bird-watch all to be an obsession. Good people who
day. The natural world was always part are making unfortunate decisions about
of my life, part of my awareness. tending their grass are contributing to
My interest in organic products prob air and water pollution, global warming,
ably also stems from the fact that I was and, especially, compromised human and
something of an ornithologist early on. I animal health.
was fascinated by birds as soon as I could As credible scientists make direct
walk. I read about the peregrine falcon links between higher rates of child
and was amazed by its qualities, includ hood cancers and increased use of
ing the fact that it can stoop at up to two lawn pesticides, I hope that every state
hundred miles per hour. Of course, in develops laws at least as restrictive as
my studies I also learned that the use of those in Connecticut, where it is ille
DDT has made falcons extinct east of the gal to apply pesticides near schools and
Mississippi. That's a mind-boggling con day care centers. Given that veterinar
cept for a little kid - extinction. ians have proof that lawn chemicals are
These days, disturbing environmen partly responsible for a 30 to 40 percent
tal facts can still boggle the mind and hit increase in the mortality of dogs and
very close to home. I have friends with cats, I can't imagine why any of my fel
mercury poisoning, probably acquired low dog owners would ever risk using
by eating fish caught in contaminated chemicals on their lawns.
6 Organic Lawn Care
This is where The Organic Lawn Care
Manual can help. Author Paul Tukey gen
tly educates us about a better way to
care for our lawns: Using organic meth
ods, we can still achieve great results.
In addition to giving us a great deal to
think about, he gives us the tools to be
successful.
It's an approach that will work. I
know that early on, my dad was skeptical
about organic products and methods. In
1992, during Thanksgiving in Connecti
cut, I decided the proof was in the pud
ding: Without telling him, I arranged for
an organic farm in California to ship to
me a three-pound box of organic salad
greens, peas, and potatoes, and I man-
aged to find an organic turkey as well. I
made Thanksgiving dinner exactly the
I
way Dad loves it - but with all organic
ingredients. Only when he had wiped his
plate clean did I ask, "So, how did you
like your organic meal, Pa?" And he got
the picture, which convinced him that
organics could really take off.
And it can all begin with how we care
for our lawns.
Nell Newman
President of Newman's Own Organics
Foreword 7
(]) It has long been said we learned around her lawn, the daisies and clover,
u
everything we needed to know in kin the orange hawkweed and Johnny-jump
dergarten, yet I suspect many of us still ups of my primitive bouquets.
CD
spend most of our lives trying to figure it Though maybe never a typical teen
I
I
(]) out anyway. I know I have. ager, I did have a typical teenage need:
\ I often joke that I've been at a disad money. So I always mowed lawns, lots
vantage since I grew up in an era - the of them, having learned the work ethic
in the state of Maine, where and technique from Gramp. Mowing
'60S -
kindergarten was not a prerequisite for lawns each summer also helped put me
first grade. My journey in life began on through college, and working with all
a dairy farm in the small town of Brad that equipment, gas, and fertilizer helped
ford, where my hero was my grand maintain my connection to Gramp. Sci
father, a sixth-grade graduate named entists tell us scent is the most powerful,
Henry VanDyne, who milked cows and primal sense, and to this day the smell of
hayed fields for his livelihood. My hero a freshly cut field or lawn reminds me of
ine was his wife, Clarida VanDyne, who that magnificent, gentle man.
grew all the family's food and for whom In a roundabout way, that brings
"store-bought" was a scornful phrase. me to today and the publication of this
By requirement, I rode with Gramp to book about natural lawn care. After
the fields to align his tractors with their many years as a lawn care professional,
trailers, and I shoveled out manure from after another decade as the publisher
his cows' stalls. I lugged Gram's "swill of the gardening magazine People, Places
pails" to the garden and planted her peas & Plants, I considered writing a book
and beans. By the time I was I was primarily about why you should care
10,
mowing the lawn and running the "Tro for your lawn organically. I thought of
jan horse" (our Troy-Bilt tiller).
Amusement, in those days, was sea
sonal and simple. Summer was always
the best. I couldn't wait for June, when
the back lawn by the corner of their yel
low house would come alive with tiny
red strawberries that I could forage while
Gram and Gramp took their afternoon
naps. In the evening, just after the dew
fell, I'd jack the lawn for night crawlers in
hopes that Gramp would take me fishing,
or I'd trap the lightning bugs that put on
their nightly fireworks display atop the
grass. Gram always seemed to appreciate
the collection of flowers I'd gather from
8 Organic Lawn Care
citing myriad scientific studies and other with eliminating weeds from the lawn
alarming information about the convo at a local Maine hospital where recover
luted way we have come to care for our ing cancer patients took a daily stroll.
lawns in the generations since weed 'n' Instead of being impressed with my lawn
feed was introduced in the late 1940S. care prowess, Dr. Churchill scoffed at me
Instead, I have opted to keep the and scurried away.
book simple, presenting straightforward It was the first time anyone had ever
how-to methods for safe, effective lawn questioned my use of lawn chemicals.
care. I could probably write an entire Within a year, my doctor also began
book about why you should avoid lawn asking difficult questions. In 1993, after
chemicals, about all the reasons the time a spring of frequently applying weed 'n'
is right to change your ways. It's prob feed, I began suffering nosebleeds and
ably better, though, to simply give you shortness of breath at the end of each
the tools and information to make the workday. "Do you work with chemicals
change in your own life and landscape. of any kind?" he asked.
The ultimate decision is your own. "No," I replied. "I mow lawns for a
Before I begin, I'll share two more living, the same thing I've been doing off
motivating moments that led me to this and on since junior high school."
book. In the early '90S, when my lawn My doctor immediately ordered me to
care company had grown to 27 employ cease applications of lawn chemicals, and
ees and more than 800 customers, I coincidentally or not, my health prob
was fined by the Maine Board of Pesti lems went away. My company ended all
cide Control for applying the herbicide lawn chemical applications by the spring
Roundup without a license. Who knew of 1994, and it has been part of my mis
you needed a license to apply Roundup, I sion in life ever since to research and
asked? Professionals, I discovered, must present alternatives.
be licensed before they can legally apply As I offer this book to you, my dis
synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and fun claimer is that I'm not a scientist. For
gicides to other people's lawns. the past few years, I have not even been
Passing that lawn pesticide test was a a lawn care professional. What I am is
big moment, meaning I could call myself a gardening communicator, a magazine
a licensed pesticide applicator and charge editor and publisher, a television com
even more money for spreading synthetic mentator, a keen observer, and a passion
chemicals on my customers' lawns. ate backyard gardener who, within rea
The following year was the most son, loves a beautiful lawn. I'm a Little
profitable for my company, but it also League baseball coach who can't wait to
brought another defining moment. When get out in the grass each spring to toss
a new colleague, a Maine botanist named a ball with my son. I'm still addicted to
Dr. Richard Churchill, came to visit me mowing, to the sight of straight-line pat
at a job site, I showed him my progress terns of turf and to the scent of freshly
Preface 9
