Detoxing Green Velvet

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How Not to Worry: 8 Steps to Greener Lawn and Garden Care

Don't buy or use synthetic pesticides, including herbicides and insecticides. To safely get rid of them, contact your local sanitation department for instructions on the disposal of hazardous waste.

Use least-toxic pest control: Repel bugs and weeds with homemade mixtures such as hot peppers and water (see Lawn and Garden and Pest Control Product Reports at www.thegreenguide.com/reports) or use beneficial insects to prey on pests (www.thebeneficialinsectco.com). Tackle pesky unwanted plants in a bare spot of lawn by sprinkling extra grass seed. "Be liberal with the seed," says Bill Duesing, coordinator of the Northeast Organic Farming Association's (NOFA) organic lawn-care program, "because if enough grass springs up there, you're not going to get weeds growing too" (for more tips, see organiclandcare.net). Attract insect-eating birds with bamboo houses ($26.51; www.mastergardenproducts.com, 800-574-7248). Keep animals out of your garden with a water-spraying scarecrow ($79.95; www.safepetproducts.com, 877-231-1426).

Use organic compost instead of fertilizer, says Duesing. Use NOFA-approved Intervale ($15/20 qts.; www.gardeners.com, 888-833-1412) or Vermont Compost Plus ($10/20 qts.; www.fedcoseeds.com, 207-873-7333). Or make your own (see Product Report, above).

Choose an alternative lawn cover, like fine-blade fescue, which requires less fertilizer and water than traditional bluegrass or ryegrass, or plants native to your area (see your local USDA extension, www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension).

Grow your lawn at least three inches tall for a deeper, stronger root system; any weeds that do sprout will be blocked from the sun.

Choose tools made from sustainable wood or recycled plastic and rubber, not PVC (see "Picnic Perfect Plastics"). See rain buckets, composters and hose at groworganic. com and Wolf-Garten's 10-piece garden set ($124; www.omygarden.com, 800-692-9501).

Buy garden and lawn furniture made with FSC-certified wood from well managed forests (www.earthsourcewood.com).

Retire your gas-powered lawn mower for a non-polluting hand-powered version ($99.95; www.omygarden.com, 800-692-9501).

Resources

Straight-Ahead Organic, by Shepard Ogden ($24.95, Chelsea Green Publishing, 1999)

Maria Rodale's Organic Gardening ($35, Rodale Press, 1998)

Redesigning the American Lawn, by Bormann, Balmori and Geballe ($18, Yale University Press, 2001)

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