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Some people think organic lawn care is boring, but Mike Murray, lawn detective, knows otherwise… Case #1 – The Dead Spot A recent case involved a persistent dead spot in someone’s front lawn. The home owner had replaced the sod in that area several years in a row and couldn’t figure out why it died…

We’ve all been there. You’re outside on the patio trying to enjoy a nice, summer evening, but you spend the whole time slapping and swatting at those annoying mosquitoes. Or, even worse, you don’t slap or swat in time and get an itchy mosquito bite the size of a golf ball. Okay, okay…maybe I’m exaggerating,…

I recently met with the head of Parks and Forestry in Needham, where I live. We’ve cared for the Needham Heights Common organically for 11 years now and it always looks good. Now the town is using organic methods on the fields and parks and getting good results. Besides not using harmful chemicals, the town…

Grubs are nasty creatures. They are ugly and have invaded from Asia and Europe. The beetles they turn into aren’t exactly George Clooney, either! Their most redeeming feature is that they make a nice lunch for skunks, crows and voles. And these creatures may not be the ones you want crashing your next garden party.…

The lawns of Organic Soil Solutions’ customers are beginning to receive their first application of organic soy-based fertilizer. It is great to hear the birds chirping and feel the warm sun. The fertilizer will wake up the soil biology and get the grass off to a quick start. Arsenate, DDT Compounds and MercuryA friend dropped…

It has been a good year for organic lawn care. Over the years, we’ve been dissed a few times by the chemical lawn care guys, but now we’re becoming mainstream. Turf Magazine had a cover story titled ‘Why you can’t thumb your nose at the organic crowd anymore’. The American Association of Pediatrics has called…

It is great to have a normal winter for a change. Someone called it abnormally normal after the dry and warm winter in 2012 and the tons of snow in 2011. This year, the ground is frozen and we’ve had some decent snow cover. Without the constraints of a good old New England winter, a…

I have always been fascinated by the trillions of microscopic organisms busily inhabiting and working in our bodies and in the soil. It is amazing how little we know of why they are there and what they do. Scientists have, of course, long been aware of the bacteria in our stomachs and skin, but had…

The Organic Soil Solutions website disappeared recently, soil biology continues to baffle the experts and organic lawns keep us guessing… Mysterious Missing WebsiteOur web site disappeared from the internet recently and I learned that, without the file, it existed only in the cloud. There was no way to find a copy of yesterday’s version like…