Thank you to Joan Wilson of the Newport Garden Club and Ted Clement of the Aquidneck Land Trust for sponsoring this inspiring lecture held last night (March 28) at the Pennfield School in Portsmouth.
Chip Osborne president of Osborne Organics from Marblehead MA trains and educates landscapers (and the general public) to go organic. "People are interested in doing it - but just don't know how." He stated:
"The best lawn weed killer is a bag of grass seed and a light 1/4" top dressing of compost. Never cut your lawn less than 3" high and always leave grass clippings on the lawn for added organic matter and needed nitrogen." (The high blade height creates grass that shades out crab grass seedlings that will not germinate.)
He also stated that large Land Grant Universities are funded by huge chemical companies to perpetuate the myth that
chemical fertilizers and pesticides are necessary to create and maintain a 'perfect' lawn. (not unlike the workings of tobacco or the pet food industries) He said this was put in high gear in April 1967 during the televised Masters Golf Tournament. Everyone wanted a lawn that looked just like the golf course they saw on TV. He asked us to think about our children and grand children playing on those lawns/fields - esp year after year in repeated sports activities. (Fertilizers are made from ammonium nitrate - the same material used to create agent orange in Viet Nam and bombs during WW II although obviously in lesser amounts.) Chemical fertilizer lawn storm water runoff to Narragansett Bay is also a huge issue creating unwanted high nitrogen algae blooms that kill and deplete fish and other vital organisms.
What does the Town of Bristol use for fertilizer/pesticides on their beautiful sports fields at Town Beach?
Your comments are welcomed.
Go to www.osborneorganics.com or call 781.631.2468 to learn more. If you don't make your own compost it can be purchased locally from Bob Reed of JAM Materials on Aquidneck Island or you can pick it up for free at the Bristol Transfer Station on Minturn Ave off Metacom Ave.
URI Master Gardeners will be having a FREE soil testing day on April 17 at Prescott Farm in Portsmouth. Call them at 1 800 448 1011 for details.
Related Portsmouth Patch article here:
http://tinyurl.com/4bnuc2a
2 comments:
Leave pesticides to the professionals (lawn care companies) and take them off the store shelves. This would reduce improper pesticide use greatly. The people who know pesticides (University of Guelph) say they are safe if used properly. Let's trust them (we have to believe someone) and not the fanatics who use junk science in thier arguement against good products.
I recommend more on natural fertilizers. where the core feature organic fertilizer. is Its very much acceptable to the lawns. For those who make misconception about the care, this is for them
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