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Lawn and Garden Ground Rules

As Good As Grass editor:
Forget seeds, watering and fertilizer. Soil is the most important part of a healthy lawn and garden. Improve your soil quality in four easy steps to have a lawn, flower bed, trees and plants that are the envy of all your friends. Even homeowners using our synthetic garden flooring products will benefit from this simple advice. Never neglect the soil when considering your lawn and garden maintenance.

Gardeners learn that great lawns and gardens start underground, and the four rules to follow for lush landscapes. “If we spent a fraction of our gardening time caring for the underground soil, we’d spend a lot less time working on our lawns and gardens above the ground,” says soil remediation scientist, Bob Richardson.

The ground does rule and ultimately determine the beauty of outdoor landscapes. Gardeners can fertilize, water, buy superior seeds, plants and products, but their lawn and garden will never have that envied “golf course” look until they begin at the beginning and fortify the soil.

“You might be doing everything else right, but bad soil will wreak havoc on all of your efforts,” says garden maintenance expert Richardson.

One of the most common solutions for good, healthy soil is aeration. “Most of us know what aeration is, but don’t do it,” says Richardson. “Old-fashioned aeration is back breaking work and no one wants to spend the time, money or energy to do it.”

In Portland, Ore, Troy Hake, owner of Outsidepride, was hearing the same complaints from thousands of customers. “They kept asking ‘What do you have that will make it easy for me to aerate my garden?’” explains Hake.

Hake joined forces with Richardson to create a garden maintenance product that would aerate the soil and encourage bio-life to keep it healthy. At the same time, this makes the aeration process easy, even lazy.

After trials and testing, the final result of Richardson and Hake’s efforts paid off. They developed a revolutionary new aeration product that will be introduced this spring. It is a liquid aerator so all you do is attach the product to your garden hose and spray. No clean up, no wasted time, no hard work. Garden maintenance doesn’t get any easier than that.

The product, aptly named LazyMan Liquid Soil Aerator, is an all-natural liquid that covers 100 percent of the soil evenly. Lazyman is the only liquid aerator on the market fortified with tiny beneficial organisms that break up compacted soil and create holes underground that allow roots to spread out and breathe.

The roots easily gather more essential air, food and water to deliver to lawns and gardens. “We added humic acid and other nutrients directly to the formula, making LazyMan three to four times more effective than any other aeration product on the market,” says Richardson.

Ground Rules for Healthy Soil
Richardson offers the following maintenance “ground rules” for healthy soil that will enable gardeners to create that golf course look they all envy and long for:

1. Dig It. Try digging a small patch of earth with a trowel. If the tool does not penetrate the ground easily, the soil is compacted. Compaction is caused by the retention of salt, which strips the soil of beneficial, essential nutrients. Healthy soil is loose like cake mix.

2. Pull It. If you pull up a small patch of grass and the roots come up easily, your soil’s in trouble. Healthy soil allows roots to penetrate down deep into the ground and hold on tightly. A storage “pantry” is created underground allowing the roots to easily draw water, nutrients and vitamins on demand.

3. Test It. Do the “Earthworm Test.” Dig up a scoop of earth; if you don’t see any worms, your soil needs help. Healthy soil is full of earthworms, bugs and other beneficial organisms that work the soil and deliver water and food to plants.

4. Work It. Work with Mother Nature. Use products like LazyMan Liquid Soil Aerator monthly until poor soil is restored. Then use it regularly in spring and fall to maintain healthy soil.

“Now there’s no reason not to aerate and create a lawn and garden that is the envy of the neighborhood without any of the hard work,” says Hake, the man who came up with the name. “This season sit back, relax, and just spray on beautiful lawns and gardens. And remember, the ‘ground rules’ the health and beauty of your lawn and garden.”

For a detailed analysis of your soil, call your local Agricultural Extension agent. For tips, advice and products to help you maintain healthy soil, visit www.OutsidePride.com, or call (877) 255-8470. From serious do-it yourself landscapers to the novice homeowner, you’ll find a wide variety of garden products that are easy to use and provide substantial, proven results.

“As Good As Grass” would love to hear from any of our artificial lawn customers who have implemented the garden maintenance tips in this article. Just because you have synthetic garden flooring does not mean you should neglect the soil. Send us some photos of your lush flowers, trees and plants!
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