With the summer doldrums upon us now is a great time to take advantage of the fact that the lawns aren’t growing and it’s not a good time for landscape installations and go out and learn something new. A couple of easy things to do for those interested in organic lawn care are to embark on a self study course, take in a seminar, or buy a book and go to the beach and read.
Follow the following for some more specific information:
Self Study
Natural Turf Pro - Professional Organic Turf Training on DVD.
Natural, organic lawn care is the fastest growing segment of the green industry. Across the country, independent landscapers, landscape contractors and turf managers are getting ready to grow their businesses with Natural Turf Pro.
Natural Turf Pro is a powerful video learning tool – OVER FOUR HOURS OF INSTRUCTION ON TWO DVDs – designed to help you get a jump start over your competition in the fast-growing organic lawn care market.
Seminars
NESTMA, the New England Sports Turf Managers Association, is holding a Summer Field Day at Wellesley College on August 4th. The Keynote Speaker, Mr. Dennis Brolin, will discuss common pitfalls of sports field construction and maintenance.
We have encountered a number of poorly constructed sports fields which makes transitioning to all natural turf care all the more difficult. As such we’re curious to hear what Mr. Brolin has to share.
NOFA Organic Land Care is offering its NOFA Organic Lawn & Turf Course on August 5th in Providence , RI. There are also a number of advance workshops being offered at different times and locations throughout the summer.
NOFA Summer Conference is being held August 13 – 15 on the UMASS Amherst Campus. There are 100s of seminars scheduled with many having direct or indirect bearing in the area of organic land care.
Reading Lists
The following is a short list of interesting books that will help in your understanding of organic lawn care:
Andersen, Arden. Science in Agriculture: Advanced Methods for Sustainable Farming, Austin, TX: Acres U.S.A., 2000
Coleman, David C., Crossley, D. A. Jr., Hendrix, Paul F. Fundamentals of Soil Ecology, Amsterdam: Elsevier Academic Press, 2004
Nardi, James B. Life in the Soil, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007
Sachs, Paul. Managing Healthy Sports Fields, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004
Walters, Charles. Weeds Control without Poisons, Austin, TX: Acres U.S.A. 1999