Organic Lawn Care

     This is our first spring here in Mountain Lakes and I'm just starting to learn the quirks of my new yard. I'm told by my neighbors that the previous owner was meticulous about caring for his lawn. I expected to see healthy grass and soil; instead I have thinning grass with shallow roots and dirt devoid of life. This tells me my lawn has been drenched with chemicals for decades. Feeding your lawn chemical fertilizers is like giving your toddler only sweets for every meal--you get a lot of action right away, but there is no nourishment and, ultimately, improper health. For your lawn an improper "diet" just leads to the need for more chemicals and never improves the soil.
     Healthy soil is the basis for organic gardening. When the soil is alive with beneficial microbes and bugs it will feed and protect the plants you want to grow. All we have to do is feed the microbes and they do the rest of the job and these beneficial bacterial and fungi are found in finished compost. For a neglected yard such as mine, it will require approximately 1 cubic yard of finished compost per 1,000 square feet, raked into the lawn no more than 1/4" deep. Unfortunately, this will require burly helpers and an initial expense. The good news is that once those microbes are in place, it's really easy to keep them fed and working their magic in the soil. THAT will be a topic for another day; in the meantime, here is a list of FAQs for those who want to learn more now.

Cow Pots!

If you’re like me, you’ve been chomping at the bit to get some plants into the ground. I know we have to wait until Mother’s Day to reliably put things out, but I always start plants from seed in the early spring. Usually, by Mid March I have to start working on my garden. I have always bought peat pots to start my seeds. They are very convenient, natural, and bio-degradable. Imagine my shock when I heard that they are not the most environmentally friendly option. According to a source I found online, approximately 60% of the world's wetlands are peat. Peatlands cover a total of around 3% of global land mass. About 7% of this total has been exploited for agriculture and forestry, with significant environmental repercussions. I wanted to continue my practice of planting early, but didn’t want to contribute to the demise of peat bogs. I found another option while searching on Organic Gardening, my favorite website for all things gardening. Environmentally-friendly CowPots are dairy fiber pot. CowPots are a 100% American-made product, made from a wholesome, renewable resource – can you guess what that resource is? These pots can be planted directly into soil and they will fully decompose with no throw-away. Cowpots actually attract beneficial earthworms! CowPots grow sturdier, healthier plants and encourage root development while adding soil-conditioning natural nutrients to your garden. They are odor-free and non-toxic. Green benefits of CowPots: reduces non-recyclable plastics, reduces municipal waste, promotes recycling of agricultural waste to horticultural benefit, doesn’t exploit sensitive peatlands. Go to mastergardening.com to buy.

Celebrate Earth Day!

Macy's, J.C. Penney, and other retailers and manufacturers are turning Earth Day into a marketing event.  Let's remember today, that we can't shop this problem away.

Take a minute to become part of the bigger picture: 

Take an evening to learn about the future:

Green Community Project Movie Night

"The Future is Food"

Tuesday, April 29 at 7:30 pm

MLHS Media Center

Take this season to live a green life:

Check out these simple changes from Low Impact Living to reduce your carbon footprint.

Sunscreen Confusion

I've always been active outdoors but have used sunscreen faithfully for at least 10 years now.  I was shocked to find a suspicious spot on my nose last summer and even more shocked that it turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma.  I had it removed & I'm okay, but it got me to wondering about how to better protect myself.  The EPA SunWise page for has recommendations and an UV index forecast for our area.  Since I do these things already, I decided to take a closer look at sunscreen itself.  The Skin Cancer Foundation offers a list of recommended products that meet their criteria for effective UV sun protection products.  Still, since many sunscreens, both chemical-based and organic, contain ingredients that may be harmful, I decided to delve a bit deeper.  The Environmental Working Group offers a sunscreen database which rates sunscreen safety and effectiveness.  It's all quite confusing.  If you see me about town this summer wearing sunglasses, a hat, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, you'll know why!

Emerald Lawns = Emerald Lakes

     Recently, I attended a Lake Community Meeting where a presentation was made to talk about why our lake was covered with green filamentous algae last summer. I learned so much at this lovely cocktail party. Nutrients such as nitrogen (leaves and branches), and phosphorous (in the soil) were found in our lake at rate limiting concentrations last summer. Also, we had much rain and good sunlight to give algae the growth opportunity in needs to thrive. We learned the source of nutrients that cause algae growth are run-off from the yards (fertilizer), run-off from the Canal , the big lake and the hill area. Also, organic vegetative matter (leaves and twigs) and Canada Geese excrement contribute to algae growth.
     We learned that our town government does much to try to keep our lakes clean. We also talked about what we could do as individuals to make a difference.

Actions Individuals Can Take to Discourage Algae in Our Lakes

- Minimize Fertilizer (compromise on the quality of your lawn)
- Limit Fertilizer to only Once in the Spring
- Discuss with Your Landscaper the Town Ban on Phosphate Fertilizers
- Let Your Landscaper Know that You Can Go without an Emerald Green Lawn
- Attend Lake Management Meetings (2nd Tuesday of the Month)
- Advocate for our Lakes (educate residents about the phosphate fertilizer problem)
- Let Borough Manager Know if Canada Geese are a Problem on Your Property
- Plant a Riparian Buffer ( the bigger the buffer the better)
- Avoid excessive lawn sprinkling
- Allow lawn to go dormant during hottest part of summer (this is a natural part of the lawn life cycle, it will green up again when it cools off)
     We know that many property owners love their lawns and gardens. Yet one of the lovely features in our town are the lakes where everyone can go on hot summer day. If everyone were willing to compromise a bit on lawn quality we would not have to add so many chemicals to our lakes.  For some information on organic (non-phosphate) fertilizers, tips on discussing lakeside lawn management with your landscaper and other healthy lawn ideas, click here.

April Showers.....

Jeana recently purchased a large blue plastic barrel on Craigslist and she's going to turn it into a homemade rain barrel to capture the rain that would normally run out of a downspout into the ground. Lynn received the rain barrel pictured here as a holiday gift from her daughter. Both Jeana and Lynn are concerned with the amount of water they use each year to water their outdoor plants. Rain barrels are a great way to harvest the water from your roof, and cut down on the amount of water you draw from the municipal supply. This is especially important now, since Mountain Lakes had water restrictions last summer, and they will likely continue.

      I've been really excited about getting myself a rain barrel since I realized that we could probably hook it up to drip irrigation tubing and have it water my window boxes & flower pots! I'll post about it again when I get it up & running.

      Another great tool for harvesting rainwater is a "Drought Buster" downspout redistributor. This nifty device attaches to the open end of a downspout on one end, and has a hook-up for a soaker hose at the other end. You can direct rain water to individual plants, instead of having it run onto walkways or pavement. You can find "Drought Busters" at cleanairgardening.com.
      And don't forget to get a rain gauge. It can be really helpful in determining how much water your garden receives in a rain storm. You many not need to do any additional watering!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Redux

Spring Clean up 2008 TRASH DAY, Fri April 25 8:00-3:00 and Sat, April 26 8:00-3:00 at DPW, 55 Pocono Rd

     It's that time of year again!  Isn't it amazing how much junk can accumulate in just six months time?  My husband is a neat freak and always manages to ferret out the stuff that I stick away for the kids' apartments, to sell on Craigslist, give away on freecycle, or for the garage sale that I never seem to hold.  I feel tremendously guilty as I watch him load up the car with these "treasures", headed for the town trash day, knowing that somebody could be using that stuff.  I'll bet I'm not the only one around that just hasn't gotten around to disposing of things that are too good for the trash, so the Green Community Project has come up with an idea we want to test--we call it the Mountain Lakes FreeMarket.  Check it out if you have things you want to give away, have something you're looking for, or if you are just curious!  Please consider this or other ways of sharing goods that you no longer want.

     Another place to donate items is our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore, where they are celebrating their first anniversary on April 26th with a Shred-a-Thon.  You can bring up to two banker's boxes of old receipts, bills, etc. to be shredded on site.  There will be Green Organizing Expo vendors and, of course, amazing finds in the ReStore.  More information can be found at the site linked above.

     EARTH DAY is April 22. RECYCLE your old electronics
for Free!  Dialogic & Advanced Recovery, Inc. will be hosting
electronics recycling days:  May 2, 12PM to 6PM and May 3, 8AM to 3PM.  Bring all your old electronics and computer equipment to the Dialogic Site:

1515 Route 10 Eastbound

(Between Rte 202 and Route 287)

Parsippany, NJ 07054

Open and Free to everyone!

     AAUW BOOK/MEDIA SALE Drop-off Days, April 23, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and April 24, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ML Library downstairs. Books, incl. children's, CD/DVD and tapes (no textbooks, enclopaedias, or records, please.) Info: (973) 887-1664.

     Finally. . . Jenny told me about a fantastic program to recycle cell phones which can be donated to the Wireless Foundation's Call to Protect program. To get the shipping address, go to wirelessfoundation.com and click on the "call to protect" symbol on the left. Then click on "donate your phone." Plus, phones can also be dropped off at certain sites, including any Body Shop store in local malls -- Rockaway, Paramus, Short Hills.  Laurel stumbled over this link, Call2Recycle, which can help you recycle your used portable rechargeable batteries and old cell phones. Rechargeable batteries are commonly found in cordless power tools, cellular and cordless phones, laptop computers, camcorders, digital cameras, and remote control toys.

This Week in the Garden

Garden wisdom dictates that you should start tending your lawn when the forsythia bloom, so for the past few days I've dragged myself out from behind the computer and, reluctantly, assessed my yard. It's a total mess: weeds, grubs, moles, bare patches where grass should be, tons of leaves stockpiled for mulching new planting beds. I've got a lot of work ahead of me. Last year at my previous home, I just let the lawn service do their thing. However by August, when we moved here, one of our dogs had developed a horrible contact dermatitis that turned into a fungal infection. The vet said she was probably allergic to the chemicals on the grass and I had to bathe her twice a week and slather smelly lotion on her daily. Knowing I wanted to go organic this season, I've been doing some research and I'm surprised at how easy the non-chemical approach really is.


Here is our dog, Rosie, lying on our ravaged lawn! I need to stop the grubs from doing additional damage. Grubs (various beetle larvae) feast underground on the grass roots until they emerge in the summer as beetles & then attack plants above ground. The moles are there to eat the grubs and worms so nuking the grubs will help with the mole problem as well. You can treat Japanese beetle larvae with a powder called milky spore. The problem is that since Japanese beetles can fly well they will just come over from your neighbors yard if you are serving up some of their favorite plants. They can be fairly well managed by hand-picking and those yellow hanging traps. However lawn grubs are generally other kinds of beetles which can be effectively treated with microscopic parasites called beneficial nematodes which also attack cutworms, fleas, ants, termites (and more!) These nematodes are completely safe around humans & pets and you can read about them from experts in California as well as at Cornell and Rutgers. The Cornell article has more information than anyone could want but if you scroll down to the end, they offer a list of reputable sources... some of which I've actually shopped with before. So I'm placing an order. Next I'll be working on getting the grass to grow again. Stay tuned!


I also spent a pleasant sunny Sunday afternoon raking the leftover leaves from under the shrubbery. I love to garden and it just felt so good to be outdoors again. I was surprised to see some very green weeds (pictured here) that had wintered over. My Woodlands mentor & friend, Jerry, told me I'd found garlic mustard, a weed that develops dense stands in the spring threatening trilliums & trout lilies and has potentially negative impacts on trees and forest health. Michigan State University states that garlic mustard may be one of the most potentially harmful and difficult to control invasive plants. Keeping our woods and forests healthy is an integral component in slowing global warming. Fortunately we've had a wet spring so far and the plants came up with hardly a tug. I filled two bushels full in about ten minutes and my compost pile was grateful for some fresh greens to heat it up a bit!

Home Energy Audit

The Carbon and Energy Audit group of the Green Community Project has been researching home energy audits and I volunteered to be among a group of families testing out various local audit companies.  So yesterday Tom Testa, pictured above, came to check out our home.  First he performed some safety checks to be sure we had safe carbon monoxide levels coming from our furnace and hot water heater as well as checking for gas leaks.  Then he put the house through a series of tests.  Here you see him installing a big fan at my front door that made negative pressure throughout the house so he could tell where leaks were.  He had all kinds of amazing "toys" like that and was extremely knowledgeable about how home systems ought to work.  I can't wait to get his report, which will include a cost-benefit analysis of changes we can implement to make our home more energy efficient.  Members of the Mountain Lakes League of Women Voters can hear the Carbon and Energy Audit groups findings at either of the April meetings and updates from the other Green Community Project groups.