Grass Clippings - Lawn Advice From a Team of Lawn and Turf Experts

Could earthworms help us understand rising infertility rates?

A Massey University study using earthworms as a model organism is investigating the impact heavy metals and pesticides could have on our genes, in particular on our reproductive systems and fertility.

For many lawn owners, their lawns are being blighted with their lawn soil casts.

Dr Michelle Thunders, Director of Teaching and Learning for the College of Health has recently returned from a trip to China, where she is working with researchers from the Shanghai Jiaotong University (SJTU) to explore how heavy metal toxins, initially cadmium, can interfere with gene expression in adult and juvenile earthworms.

If Granny had a Leaf Blower....

This time of year I think of my Granny a lot writes Loretta Gillespie, Columists for the Moulton Advertiser of Alabama USA.  I can just see her raking leaves as hard as she could go. She didn’t just rake them for the sake of getting them off the lawn, no, she was raking them into her flower beds and her garden.

There were two gigantic oaks flanking her front yard on East Street. The story goes that those oaks were brought as tiny little sprouts from the Bankhead Forest, back before it was the Bankhead Forest, by my grandparents.

Chafer Beetle Larvae cause havoc on lawns

Unlike many other problems in the garden that often have straightforward solutions, eliminating chafer grubs from the lawn is not simple or easy. The European chafer beetle, also known by its Latin name Rhizotrogus majalis, has become a serious pest in many areas of the Lower Mainland.

Chafer beetles were first introduced to our region in 2001 from a shipment of nursery stock delivered from Eastern Canada to New Westminster. The chafer larvae were living inside the root balls of trees and quickly spread out to Burnaby, Vancouver, part of the North Shore, Richmond, Delta and east into Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody. It was assumed that Vancouver's harbour would prevent chafer beetles from crossing from Burnaby and Vancouver to the North Shore, but that was just wishful thinking.

When to stop mowing your lawn

Grass does not actually stop growing even when it is really damn cold, it simply slows down. 

The question of when you should stop mowing the grass is more a question of the prevailing weather and ground conditions which quite often prevent you getting onto the lawn when you have the ideal opportunity to perform the mowing function. Prey for a dry wiindy autumn day!

There is an Old Wives' Tale about when to stop mowing your lawn in the autumn months.  I think it is actually an Old Granddad's Tale as an excuse to put the mower away in the shed and get the slippers and pipe out in front of the fire with the feeling that the mowing function had been completed for that year!  

Grass does not actually stop growing even when it is really damn cold, it simply slows down. 

The question of when you should stop mowing the grass is more a question of the prevailing weather and ground conditions which quite often prevent you getting onto the lawn when you have the ideal opportunity to perform the mowing function. Prey for a dry wiindy autumn day!

There is an Old Wives' Tale about when to stop mowing your lawn in the autumn months.  I think it is actually an Old Granddad's Tale as an excuse to put the mower away in the shed and get the slippers and pipe out in front of the fire with the feeling that the mowing function had been completed for that year!  

Front Lawn Ban in California

Grass is continuing to go out of style in arid Paso Robles, a trend that may be part of the city’s overall look for years to come.

The Paso Robles City Council of California, USA on Tuesday discussed updates to its landscape ordinance, voting 4-1 to ban grass from front yards on all new residential construction to comply with state turf reduction requirements in Gov. Jerry Brown’s push to save water. The ban would come with some exceptions, though, including the option to add turf to the front of new homes if property owners submit the required documentation.

CastClear Stockists sought

If you are a garden retail outlet servicing gardeners with lawns then you should be stocking CastClear as they will all have a lawn worm cast problem currently.

The natural demand for lawn worm cast control for this 2015 Autumn season commenced at the end of August with lots of worm casts being seen on lawns currently after the recent storms and heavy rainfall.

The peak selling period for CastClear started this year in August and will continue through to April but it will sell all year round on the lawn product shelves.

If you are a garden retail outlet servicing gardeners with lawns then you should be stocking CastClear as they will all have a lawn worm cast problem currently.

The natural demand for lawn worm cast control for this 2015 Autumn season commenced at the end of August with lots of worm casts being seen on lawns currently after the recent storms and heavy rainfall.

The peak selling period for CastClear started this year in August and will continue through to April but it will sell all year round on the lawn product shelves.

World lawn consumables demand set to rise by 3.7% by 2019

Worldwide demand for lawn and garden consumables including packaged fertilizers, pesticides, growing media, seeds, and other products is projected to advance 3.7 percent per year to $19.5 billion in 2019.

Gains in the professional segment will be fastest, supported by robust construction activity and increased investment in the development of urban greenspaces.  Consumer demand will be promoted by the continued popularity of gardening as a hobby in developed regions and increasing numbers of small container or community gardens in developing urban areas. 

Improving economic conditions and a turnaround in the housing market will support gains in the bedrock US market and in other mature markets such as those in Western Europe. In developing regions, continued increases in personal incomes and living standards will support faster gains.

Firework damage to lawns

It's that crazy time of year again.  Time to stay in with the dogs and cope with the wizz and bangs of local fireworks. 

As always the local youths are the worst with their occassional banger or fire cracker.  Not a kill joy but you should own dogs!  Still it is a great opportunity to play rock music loudly, lots of bangs and crashes and the real bangs and wizzes get drowned out!

Spare a thought for your lawn.  The bonfire is an obvious one and also the scorch from it too but do not under estimate the damage from fall out from fireworks landing on your lawn.

Autumn leaves encouraging Earthworm activity

The return of the wind reminded the trees it was autumn, whether or not they were ready to let their leaves fall. The beech stays stubborn, already beginning to gild, but the willow on the stream is shedding nicely, giving us back the mountain’s peak and the rising of the moon.

Some proper rain, too, woke the earthworms deep in their burrows, alerting them to their annual job of pulling fallen leaves down into the soil. I won’t say I’ve actually kept watch for this, Charles Darwin having done it for everybody to write his study The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Actions of Worms, published in 1881.

Spare the Rake and Spoil the Lawn

Raking leaves is an autumn tradition — but is it really necessary?

Recently friends have sent me news columns arguing that removing leaves from the lawn in the fall is less a necessity than a reflection of our own neat-freak tendencies.

Live and let live, these stories say. It’s natural for leaves to fall. Leave them on the ground, and they’ll decay over winter, providing organic matter for the lawn. Everything will be just fine in the spring.

Florida Lawn Mower Man gifted new Truck

An 83-year-old Florida man who pushed his lawnmower more than two miles to work after his truck broke down has been gifted a new car.

John Joyce from St. Petersburg has been mowing lawns as a hobby after retiring 25 years ago.

But when his 1995 Ford F-150 broke down beyond repair - he started pushing it 2.5 miles as he walked from his house just so he could get to work at a couple's home near Gulfport, WTSP reported.