Edmonds Landscape and Construction Services Ltd.

Edmonds has been at the forefront of the development of commercial pesticide-free, organic lawncare.

Today, we have eleven years of accumulated experience and research to draw upon, and can offer professional, organic lawncare backed by the Edmonds commitment to service.

Our lawncare services include:
Organic Lawncare landscape assessment soil testing custom organic fertilization aeration dethatching overseeding weeding	Topdressing Mow-only Total Lawn Maintenance Pest Management New soil & turf establishment
Changing from chemical to organic management to meet the new by-law: it will save a lot of effort subsequently if you start now! Please contact us to customize a package for you.

Why Go Organic?

To have a healthier turf
Organically maintained turfs are more pest resistant, and less drought stressed than chemically maintained turfs.
To eliminate pesticides from areas where people and pets are highly exposed to them (young children are especially at risk)
To enhance biodiversity in urban regions and contribute to the conservation of species (birds, insects, herbs, others)
To reduce runoff and leaching of excess nutrients and pesticides into surface and ground waters
To meet new legal requirements to eliminate cosmetic use of pesticides in HRM (Halifax Regional Municipality)

(Click this link for a brief explanation of how turfs became chemical dependent, and links to some relevant Web sites and documents)

The Organic Approach Under the organic approach , high esthetic and functional quality of turfs is achieved by enhancing natural processes. We emphasize "enhance" because professional organic management does not mean management by neglect. Rather it means attending to the short term needs while building up the long term fertility and resilience of the system. Some key components of the organic approach Diversify the turf species. Lawns should be made up of a variety of grasses and other plants. Recycle clippings. Mulch mow to return clippings; it returns nutrients, and reduces water stress. Feed the soil Use organic fertilizers, and apply compost to needy areas. Use clover to provide nitrogen. Clovers fix nitrogen from the air providing slow release nitrogen. They also resist the establishment of less attractive broadleaf plants, and make the turf more drought and disease resistant. Reduce stress By mowing higher; avoiding fertilizer salts, and pesticides; mulch mowing; use of compost. Dethatch and aerate soil. Dethatching and aeration may be required in initial stages of conversion. We like to aerate at least once per year routinely. Provide alternative cover. Grass has its place but it is not everywhere! Provide alternative cover where turfs are exceptionally difficult to maintain, for example in very dry or highly shaded areas.
The Results A turf that... presents a pleasing blend of different shades of green resists pests and diseases holds its greenness through droughty periods supports biodiversity, stores carbon, and purifies water is totally safe for children and wildlife	Examples

Making the transition

Depending on the site conditions and history, it can take up to several years to make a successful transition from a chemically managed turf to a healthy organic turf. It is important to be proactive - don't wait until the weeds and pests catch up to think about how to deal with them!

Overseeding, aerating, dethatching, amendments of compost, and extra weeding may be required in the first one or two years, with benefits accruing over time.

We encourage and offer better deals on long term (3-5 year) contracts, as we are then willing to carry some of the extra costs in the first 2 years - we know it will pay off (for us and the client) in the later years!

Diversifying the turf

A key change that must take place when making the conversion from chemically intensive to organic management is that of tolerating and encouraging increased species diversity.

Single species, Kentucky bluegrass turfs became the lawns to envy over the last 30 years. Such turfs are highly susceptible to weed invasion (and so need herbicides to keep them pure), have high demands for nutrients and water, and tend to develop nutrient imbalances which in turn generate pest and fungal problems and needs for insecticides and fungicides.

The needs for pesticides are greatly reduced by diversifying the species composition to include several varieties each of Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass and fescues, introducing white clover, and allowing a blend of some small-leafed, naturally seeding herbs to develop.

Clover: why we like to see it in turfs

Before the herbicides came into common use ( in the 50s), white clover was a common, natural and desired component of temperate region turfs.

" The thought of White Dutch Clover as a lawn weed will come as a distinct shock to old-time gardeners. I can remember the day when lawn mixtures were judged for quality by the percentage of clover seed they contained. The higher this figure, the better the mixture...I can remember the loving care which old-time gardeners gave their clover lawns. The smug look on the face of the proud homeowner whose stand was the best in the neighborhood was really something to behold... "
In New Way to Kill Weeds by R. Milton Carelton, 1957

Clover quickly disappeared from chemically managed turfs. When it reinvades such turfs naturally, it develops in patches which can look unsightly, and so it became known as a true weed rather than a desirable component of turfs.

However, there is another approach: overseed and manage the sward so that clover is regularly distributed through the sward. Then the clover forms a pleasing blend with the grass.


Clover invaded this site naturally, growing outwards from a few plants and forming unsightly patches (1994)	The same site after it was renovated and overseeded with clover to form a continuous blend (2000).

Clover confers many benefits:

Grass/clover turfs maintain greenness through the mid-summer droughty periods when straight bluegrass turfs go into dormancy unless well watered.
Clover can contribute the equivalent of 2 lbs of nitrogen per 1000 square feet annually (approximately 100 kg N/ha); combined with mulch-mowing this is enough to supply most of the turf's needs for nitrogen.
Clover competes effectively with other broadleaf plants, reducing the amount of manual-weeding required.
An appropriately managed grass/clover turf forms a esthetically pleasing sward which can mask the presence of many types of "weeds."
A mixed grass/clover sward tends to be more resistant to pests and diseases, and is less wasteful of nutrients than is a straight grass sward.

Thus we like to overseed clover into a turf where it is not present or is present only in isolated patches. Edmonds has conducted extensive research and practical trials to identify the best times and means of introducing clover, and the cultural practices that can be used to maintain it as a pleasing component of the sward.

What about the white flowers?

Some people don't like the white flowers of clover. Note in the photo below, clover is dispersed through the sward, and the the flowers do not stand out so sharply against the green background as they do when the clover is strongly clumped.

Flowering is most intense from late June through to the end of July, then drops off rapidly. Hence, through most of the season, they are not present, also they are removed with mowing.

On the benefit side, the flowers provide nectar for insects which contributes to biodiversity, and the seeds maintain the clover and allow natural selection for locally adapted types to occur.

Finally, clover flowers during the period when Kentucky bluegrass-dominated turfs tend to go into dormancy and look baked-out unless well watered... so one way to think about the flowers is that they are a small price to pay for the benefit of greatly reduced watering needs.

What about "Weeds "?

Herbicides are the main pesticides used in lawncare, and weeds are considered the #1 challenge in doing without pesticides. So how do we do it?

The most important factor in weed control under organic management is to create a healthy, thick blend of grasses, or grasses and clover, that leaves little room for other species to invade.

The difficulty of doing that depends on site conditions and history. If you start with a good soil base and a blend of different species in the turf, then a little bit of vigilance is all that is required to keep the turf free of unsightly weeds.

That' s why the best time to think about weeds is when a new turf is being established and there is an opportunity to ensure a good soil base.

When a weed is not a weed and when it is ... We like to use the term "herb" for naturally-establishing broadleaf plants in turfs, rather than automatically calling them "weeds. " Under our approach, the issue of whether a particular herb species should be considered a weed is a matter of how that species blends into the "sward" at a particular site. ( "Sward" refers to the collection of individual plants and species that make up the turf vegetation). A herb looks weedy when it stands out and breaks the overall blend of the sward. There are two strategies for dealing with such a weed: (1) remove it by manual or mechanical weeding; or (2) change the management so that
the herb blends better into the sward. Generally, we do a bit of both according to the site, the species and the client's preferences.

More information about our approach

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