With the recent pesticide ban in Ontario, homeowners may find that some of the products they have used in the past are no longer available. However the desire to have a thick healthy lawn and lush beautiful garden remains the desire of many.
“Weeds in the lawn and pests in the garden are the two most common problems lawn and garden enthusiasts face. Homeowners have numerous choices to help win the backyard battle,” according to Glenn Martin, senior marketing manager, sustainability and healthy lawns for Scotts Canada.
Corn gluten is an excellent product that if applied in early spring will prevent both weed and crab grass seeds from germinating. To help prevent weeds from establishing a foothold in your lawn, keep a thick healthy lawn throughout the season to help crowd them out.
Maintaining a thick healthy lawn starts with a quality lawn fertilizer high in nitrogen that should be applied four times throughout the growing season — early spring, late spring, early summer and early fall.
Overseeding — the process of top dressing your lawn with a quality weed free lawnsoil then applying grass seed throughout helps fill in thin patches where weeds do particularly well in establishing themselves.
Some gardeners will weed by hand, some will plant native species and use mulch to reduce pests and conserve water, while others will try alternative products. Many Canadians try to manage their lawns and gardens in a way that will “make a difference” to the environment.
“The Scotts EcoSense line of products provides families with alternatives to conventional lawn and garden care products,” Scotts is the leader in providing gardeners with effective products so there are solutions in this new environment of uncertainty and confusion,” Martin says.
The Scotts EcoSense line up of products includes a natural lawn fertilizer, ready-to-use weed and insect control sprays, slug and snail baits and yellow jacket pheromone traps.
Derived from sources like chrysanthemum extract, canola oil, feather meal, acetic acid (vinegar), wheat shorts and insect pheromones, the line is permitted for use in Ontario under its recently implemented cosmetic pesticide use ban as well as municipalities with bans or use restrictions and is supported by an educational website, www.scottsecosense.ca, which helps gardeners manage their pest problems with a range of solutions, including prevention, mechanical solutions and healthy lawn and garden care practices.
