Organic Lawn Care Products

The Positives of Organic Lawn Care

The Environmental Protection Agency recommends working with nature to create the best lawn you can. Working with nature to build a healthy lawn, according to the EPA, means, in part, keeping your use of lawn care products with pesticides to a minimum, if you use any.

Organic lawn care products have many positives over traditional lawn care products, the number one benefit being a lack of harmful pesticides.

Sadly, the majority of people do use pesticides as part of their lawn care regimen. The EPA estimates that lawns and home gardens combined use around fifty million pounds of pesticides a year in the United States.

There are over 600 registered pesticides and less than a fourth have been tested for short- and long-term health hazards. Because most pesticides have not been tested, anytime you use a pesticide in your yard, you’re taking a chance at harming yourself or your family.

Pesticides aren’t only an issue if you want your children to be able to run barefoot through the grass. Lawn care pesticides run off into groundwater and pollute the environment as pesticide particles are picked up by the wind. These airborne pesticides can end up anywhere: the rivers, forests, oceans, and in your own house.

Pets and other animals can be seriously harmed by eating grass treated with chemicals. They also run through yards, carrying pesticides everywhere. If you grow your own food with unnatural chemicals and pesticides, then your healthy veggies are not so healthy anymore. The EPA has noted that most pesticides are possibly and or probably cancer causing.

Your lawn is only one lawn, so going organic may not seem like a big deal. However, when you add up all the lawns in the world we’re talking a lot of lawns covering a lot of space. It’s important that everyone works together to create a healthier planet – you can’t think in terms of, “Well, it’s just my one little yard” because your actions do make an impact.

Confusion Surrounding Pesticide Free Products

Beyond Pesticides notes that you may not always know that you’re getting pesticide-laden lawn care products. One major reason: the EPA. The EPA is looking out for the health and welfare of everyone. Much of what you hear coming from the EPA is news such as how to find clean water, how to stay chemical free in your home and other likewise issues. The EPA in fact frowns on pesticide use around humans.

The problem comes in because the EPA is in charge of regulating pesticides. If there’s a pesticide available to buy, say, in fertilizer, then it’s been registered with the EPA. Some people get the regulation process confused with approval or assume that because a product is registered with the EPA that it’s safe. This is not true. Just because the EPA registers a pesticide product does not mean they approve of the product or recommend it over a pesticide-free product.

Basically, the EPA will register a product containing pesticides if there has been shown to be a benefit to using the pesticide such as growing fruit. Growing fruit is a benefit but it’s still better to grow fruit organically to stay clear of pesticides. The EPA always recommends other products over one that contains pesticides, but it is part of their mandate to register chemical products.

If this is all a bit confusing, Beyond Pesticides offers a longer and more in-depth look at this situation.

How to Find and Use Organic Lawn Care Products

Finding organic lawn care supplies has gotten much easier. Most large home improvement centers now carry both traditional and organic gardening supplies.

Following are some organic lawn care products and resources that you may want to consider. All of these will eliminate chemicals and pesticides while still working to keep your yard in tip-top shape.

• Commercial natural fertilizers: These are fertilizers made from organic matter. Depending on the brand, organic fertilizer may be made with seaweed, fish, plants, and other matter that can be composted into rich growing material. One brand you might consider is AGGRAND's Liquid Organic Fertilizers.
• Extremely Green offers an amazing Organic Fertilizer and Soil Amendment Guide. This is one of the best guides and shopping areas around – listing both problems and solutions in an easy to scan chart.
• Use organic gardening mulch.
• Chicken manure sounds icky but actually it’s considered a perfect fertilizer for yards and gardens because of its stellar nitrogen composition. You can buy your own chickens, although what’s more practical is buying chicken manure from your local garden supply center.
• You can make your own compost fertilizer.
• For ridding your garden of mites, aphids, and other annoying critters you can use companion planting or mix up your own chemical-free insect and disease control solutions. You’ll need a good guide book like The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control: A Complete Problem-Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden and Yard Healthy Without Chemicals – long title; but a great book.
• Lastly, try to attend your local home and gardening events and shows. Most of the time extremely useful and free information about organic gardening in your area can be gained simply from attending.