Create A Safe Lawn

		NEWSLETTER			SUBSCRIBE
		DISCUSSIONS			CUSTOMER SERVICE
		VIDEO CENTER			Marketplace
		IN THIS ISSUE			Promotions

HOME	\|	GROWING A - Z	\|	OG SOLUTIONS	\|	LANDSCAPING	\|	COMPOST & SOIL	\|	ORGANIC LIVING

Lawncare Garden Design Trees & Shrubs Wildlife

FREE Trial Issue!
	test

IN SEASON
	Visit OrganicGardening.com to sign up for our free weekly newsletters: In Season offers timely articles and projects, and Garden to Table delivers ideas and recipes for seasonal produce. Sign up now.

Gardening Events
	A state-by-state listing of gardening events in your area!

:: Home > Landscaping >

Marketplace
	This is the classified ads section of the site. Happy Shopping!

Create A Safe Lawn

For kids, for pets, for birds, for bees...and the frogs, too.



Related Articles

>	A Healthy Lawn, A Beautiful Lawn
>	Great Grasses We Love
>	How to Mow
>	5 Steps to a Better Backyard

Remember rolling around in the grass as a kid? The sense of wonder you felt blowing on a dandelion flower and watching the fluffy seeds float off into the air? Chasing lightning bugs at dusk? And then life got serious. We got jobs and houses and somehow came to believe that dandelions, katydids, and a few wild mulleins were the enemy. After all, don't responsible homeowners beat their happy meadows into manicured swaths of green curb-to-curb carpet?

Respectable maybe, but not responsible. The American obsession with the perfect lawn is both expensive and dangerous. Homeowners apply up to 10 times more chemicals per acre than farmers do. Common lawn pesticides and fertilizers have been linked to various types of cancer, neurological damage, and Parkinson's disease. They're also the leading cause of accidental pet poisoning. Once the stuff is in your yard, your family will track it into the house on their shoes, where it settles into the carpets and cracks in the floor. Atrazine, a popular weed killer, has just been found to cause sexual mutations in frogs at very low doses. What might it do to our kids?

There is a simple solution: Give up the obsession with an emerald green chemical yard. For a naturally healthy and beautiful lawn, set the blades on your mower to a height of about 2½ to 3 inches, mow regularly, and don't rake up the clippings. Let them decompose in place and return their nutrients back to the soil. If you need additional fertilizer, rake in a ¼- to ½-inch layer of compost in spring and fall. With the money you'll save, you can take the kids out for ice cream, bring it home, and eat by the glow of the fireflies.

Save up to 27%: subscribe to Organic Gardening...

PLUS get a free gift and a FREE book! Click here now.

CATEGORIES:	Home Growing A - Z OG Solutions Landscaping Compost & Soil Organic Living
SERVICES:	Discussions Magazine Subscriptions Gift Subscriptions Newsletter
HELP:	Customer Service Contact Us
CORPORATE:	Rodale Inc Advertising Your Privacy Rights
OTHER RODALE SITES:	Bicycling.com Runner's World Running Times Women's Health Mountain Bike Prevention Men's Health Rodale