I'm guessing most people have heard of compost and its wonders but how many know that's one of the best things you can put on your lawn? It's easy to romanticize about compost because it's just such an amazing thing. It's the living component of the soil, millions of microorganism eating, digesting, dying, creating nutrients which feed plants, the ground floor of an amazing food web.

With more and more people getting into organic lawn care, compost has taken center stage whether it's applied through topdressing or other means like compost tea. When compost is cooked properly it can reach temperatures of 160˚ Fahrenheit rendering any potential weeds seeds sterile. This makes it ideal not only as a soil amendment but also the ideal seed bed for repairing bare patches.

Applying compost to the lawn provides all the same benefits as when applied to garden or potting but putting it down may be difficult for larger lawns. A reputable organic lawn care service should be ably to provide topdressing applications as an a la carte service if the job is too big or the proper equipment is unavailable.

Read more about compost for lawns.

I reveiwed The Organic Lawn Care Manual by Paul Tukey a while back but it deserves another mention. It deserves constant mentioning in fact. Not only does it contain all the general lawn care knowledge of your standard lawn care manuals, but it teaches lawn care from an organic perspective. You'll still find information like how grass grows, different types of grass, and weed identification, but there is no mention of using synthetic fertilizers or chemical pesticides. It's all natural lawn care, all the time.

Whether you currently maintain an organic lawn or are entertaining the idea, this book is a great resource. Even if organics aren't your thing, the book is still a fantastic lawn care manual, but I challenge the naysayers to read it and not come away with a slight desire for a natural lawn.

Paul Tukey is the authority on organic lawn care and an expert communicator, making The Organic Lawn Care Manual an easy to comprehend and thorough study on the topic. He is the founder of safelawns.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting natural lawn care and grounds maintenance, and a tireless advocate for the organics movement.

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• The Organic Lawn Care Manual by Paul Tukey

photo © Storey Publishing

While I was in North Carolina for a media tour of Husqvarna's new research and development facility, I had the opportunity to demo many of their lawn and garden machines. One that really piqued my interest was the odd looking 356BT leaf blower. It's strange look was due to the innovative noise reduction system including sound dampening materials in the housing as well as a re-designed exhaust system. The result is a truly quiet blower clocking in at a hushed 64 dBA at 50 ft., or just above conversational volume.

Many municipalities are fed up with leaf blowers and are enacting laws to prohibit their use. Some laws are all-out bans but others are tolerant of the new "quiet" technology and place limits only on blowers that operate above 70 dBA. The 356BT quietly passes within the range of most municipal requirements.

The great part is that Husqvarna didn't have to exchange power for quiet. The 3.2 hp engine puts out an air speed of 177 mph, easily enough to be considered a commercial grade leaf blower. With an MSRP of $479.95, it is priced similar to that of it's competitors and other commercial grade leaf blowers. It's also relatively comfortable and comes with Husqvarna's legendary ergonomic features, making it ready for extended periods of use.

Read the full review.

If you're practicing a decent lawn care program, your lawn has not been fertilized since late May. After a summer of stresses like heat and humidity, pressure from weeds, grubs and turf diseases, it's time to replenish the plant a little bit with a shot of fertilizer.

This feeding is often referred to as the "bridge" feeding. Not a full feeding like in the spring or late fall, just enough to maintain color, encourage root growth and build up carbohydrate reserves.

The weather in the early fall is ideally suited for growing grass. The heat of the summer is over and the turf root system is actively growing again, replenishing itself after using its reserves to get through the summer. This feeding ensures that the depletion of the root system will cease and begin to renew itself in preparation for the winter and the following spring.

• Read the article here:

  Late Summer/Early Fall Lawn Fertilizer Application