Mow Power, Less Gass
It's gardening season. New eco-tools boast their earth-friendliness but how will they stack up against traditional gas-guzzlers? Wendy Bounds investigates.
Story from the Wall Street Journal

Over the past month, I've trimmed my grass four times, sliced firewood with a chainsaw, torn up lawn to reseed and weed-whacked my overgrown two-acre property.

And I haven't used a single drop of gasoline.

It's shaping up to be the summer of the "alternative energy" outdoor power tools and lawn care machinery. From battery mowers and garden cultivators to a new propane-propelled string trimmer, manufacturers and retailers are rolling out consumer machines that run on gas substitutes and boast lower emissions and fewer maintenance headaches.

Right now, Ariens Co. of Brillion, Wis., is introducing its $3,299 "AMP Rider" electric-motor mower that works off rechargeable lead-acid batteries and never needs an oil-change. Valley City, Ohio-based MTD Products Inc.'s Troy-Bilt brand just launched a $169 seven-pound lithium-ion battery trimmer it says can run up to 45 minutes on a single charge. And Vergennes, Vt.-based Country Home Products Inc., known for its futuristic Neuton brand battery push lawn mowers, just added four new tools with interchangeable nickel-cadmium batteries to its lineup, including a $109 chainsaw.

Meantime, home-improvement retailers are allocating more shelf space for these eco mowers and other eco machines, lured by slowing sales of gas models and robust interest in alternative-fuel models. At Home Depot Inc., 2008 was a record year, with double-digit sales growth, for non-gas outdoor equipment.

Two factors are driving the trend, says Wesley Neece, Home Depot senior merchant for lawn and garden: the greening of America and lingering caution about rising gas prices. Home Depot sells a range of items from corded and battery-powered push mowers to a trimmer just out from Los Angeles-based Lehr Inc. that's fueled by a small 16.4-ounce propane canister. Home Depot is just beginning to sell the Ariens battery AMP Rider online.

"There's a lot of innovation with battery technologies," Mr. Neece says. "There are longer run times, better performance, and then you have prices coming down. Everything is happening at once."

This market may get more heated thanks to newly proposed legislation that would offer consumers a 25% tax credit up to $1,000 toward the purchase of environmentally friendly lawn, garden or forestry power equipment. The "Greener Gardens Act" was introduced late last month by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) and two other U.S. congressional delegates from Vermont. It is designed to provide "immediate incentive for people to purchase clean, alternative fuel engines that ... operate on little or no fossil fuel."

While non-gas, corded and non-corded consumer power equipment has been around for years, the breadth of the offerings is fast-expanding. Towson, Md.-based Black & Decker Corp., which first introduced a battery push mower in 1970, recently has been expanding its line of outdoor tools with interchangeable 18-volt nickel-cadmium battery packs to include everything from a power scrubber for washing boats and cars, to a pruning saw. Marketing focuses on convenience and ease-of-maintenance as much as the environment.

"We now sell more dollars worth of cordless string trimmers than the corded one," says Joe Newland, Black & Decker's product manager for outdoor products. "There are tradeoffs, and what you lose in power, you gain in convenience and weight." He notes that female buyers are a particularly robust audience for gas-less tools. "They don't want to start with filling it. They just want to use it."

But it's the entrance of high-end gas tool makers such as Ariens and Sweden's Husqvarna Group to this consumer niche in the U.S. that signals the most notable strategy shift. This season, Husqvarna is introducing to its U.S. dealers an $899 rugged soil cultivator run off a single large lead-acid battery. The company also just launched an "EcoSmart" marketing campaign highlighting products that lessen their impact on the environment, such as its manual push reel mowers (U.S. sales almost doubled in 2008), and its solar-battery hybrid robot "Automower."

Part of the rush to develop new non-gasoline technologies is driven by increasingly tighter exhaust-emissions standards for outdoor power equipment. Last fall, the Environmental Protection Agency issued new rules requiring a 35% reduction in emissions from new lawn and garden equipment over the next few years. "I would describe the alternative fuel market as emerging and growing," says Kris Kiser, executive vice president of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, an Alexandria, Va.-based trade group.

Still, manufacturers express caution about going cold turkey off gas in certain high-demand, heavy-use categories, lest performance suffer and dilute their brands. "A push mower, if it is going to have our name on it, it needs to be more robust than a cultivator," says Gent Simmons, a U.S. product manager for Husqvarna. "We are testing a very powerful premium battery push mower, and we are very close. But before we launch, the quality expectation has to be there."

Likewise Stihl Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Germany's Stihl International GmbH, is proceeding cautiously with alternative-fuel machines while focusing on getting emissions down in its popular gas-powered chainsaws and blowers and beefing up corded electric equipment offerings. "It's one of those things where we want to be careful," says Roger Phelps, Stihl's promotional communications manager. "One thing customers are demanding is for performance to still be there. It's cool to have a battery-operated mower, but if it only gets halfway across the yard, that's not very cool."

So, just how far can you get on a single charge? For several weeks, I've been testing some of the newest and best-selling players in the category around my property.

The good news: In nearly every case, the batteries' duration was better than advertised. (Notably, these were new batteries.) Despite having a garage full of loyal gas models I mostly love (a Stihl chainsaw, an Echo trimmer and backpack blower, and Honda push mower), I relished not running to the gas station, cleaning a spark arrestor screen (don't ask) or fishing out a fuel filter for replacement this year. In some instances, the eco-tools' performance exceeded my expectations; I'd never have thought a small battery chainsaw could slice through an eight-inch trunk of Cherry tree without getting stuck. (For more on each machine's performance, see accompanying chart, as well as video at WSJ.com.)

Video: Watch Wendy Bounds test out some "green" outdoor power tools.

• Wood-Splitting: April 23, 2009
• Home Future-Proofing: March 5, 2009
• Snowblower Testing: Jan. 15, 2009
• Going Organic With Lawncare: July 7, 2007

The new $3,299 Ariens AMP Rider was the priciest and most ambitious entrant. It cut grass evenly and drove smoothly, save an awkward reverse pedal and some huffing and puffing on certain hills. Its small size was comfortable for a tall woman's frame, and even though its motor had a tinge of whininess, I could hold a conversation without screaming while mowing. That's what I call organic lawn care.

The challenge for the AMP will be cost and winning over heftier gas-rider enthusiasts accustomed to the power of their machines. After three or four years, Ariens says the batteries will need to be replaced -- at a current cost of about $749. However, the company says that price-tag is comparable to the $200 in annual savings users will reap based on not needing gas (based on $3 a gallon), oil, replacement filters, spark plugs and annual maintenance checkups. Chief Executive Dan Ariens says early retail signs for the AMP "are fairly good," given the state of the economy and the unit's price.

Click Image to Enlarge

The battery push mowers I tested are cheaper ($400 to $500). My biggest beef was weight. While the two models, from Neuton and Black & Decker, cut well, didn't spew smelly fumes and started on a dime, at 70 to 76 pounds, respectively, they felt heavy on hilly turf. Neither was self-propelling though there are such models on the market, such as the Solaris brand.

By contrast, a new svelte 27-pound electric model called the "Mow Joe" from Edison, N.J.-based Snow Joe Co. was a breeze to lug around. But it needs a cord, which is cumbersome, and will cut to a Marine-style 2.4 inches. In the end, I still liked the old-school approach to groom my 3,500-square-foot lawn eco-style: a 34-pound push reel mower. It wasn't fancy, and I broke a sweat. Otherwise, it didn't cost a dime in energy.

This eco-tool trend doesn't look to end with summer. Due out for cold weather: a battery-powered snowblower from Ariens that its CEO says hurls snow farther in early tests than comparable gas models. Lehr says it will introduce a propane backpack blower this fall. And later this year, Husqvarna plans to launch a U.S. zero-turn radius mower run off propane, while Hustler Turf Equipment, a division of Hesston, Kan.-based Excel Industries Inc., is readying an all-electric zero-turn riding lawnmower called the "Zeon."

My gas machines are starting to look a little nervous.

Florida Now Offering Landscape Certification
Story from the Suncoast News

Professional lawn services, pest control workers, landscapers and others in the turf-management field are being invited to participate this Monday in a daylong training program focusing on protecting the environment.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection will offer its Green Industries Best Management Practices Educational Program from 8:45 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. May 18, at the Brooker Creek Preserve Environmental Education Center.

Professionals in grounds maintenance, handling of pesticides and lawn care from Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties are expected to participate in the workshop, and will be learning methods of organic lawn care.

After training and passing a test, participants will be some of the first people in the industry to receive the newly required Environmental Protection Best Management Certification for commercial fertilizer applicators, according to Mary Burrell, a Pinellas County spokeswoman.

Participants can earn credits toward renewal of their pesticide license and other requirements.

Topics to be discussed at Monday's workshop will include protecting water quality and understanding the effects of mowing, fertilization and irrigation on plant health.

The course will deal with irrigation requirements, including landscape watering system design, installation, monitoring and troubleshooting. The storage, handling and disposal of pesticides will be discussed.

Organic Lawn Care Is Changing Our Routines
Story from the Boston Globe

After six months free from the whir of a four-stroke engine, we'll soon hear that herald of spring, the lawnmower. With it comes thoughts of lawn-care programs, watering regimens, and glances over the fence to see if the grass really is greener.

These days, thanks to the growing demand and interest in all things organic, homeowners are rethinking their lawns. Eco-sensitive natural lawn care is, increasingly, in. Conventional chemicals are out. But it's not just that a natural lawn is better for the environment, kids, and pets. In the long run, it's also cheaper, according to Paul Tukey, a spokesman for SafeLawns.org, a nonprofit organization that promotes natural lawn care.

Turns out, a natural lawn maintenance program creates a lush lawn that is more drought resistant, meaning that owners save money by watering less, and mowing frequency also drops by about 50 percent, he added.

"Even if the organic fertilizer in the first transition year might cost you a little more, when you add up the mowing and water savings plus the gas and electricity to run the pumps and motors, you actually do begin to save money," Tukey said. But here's the real question: How does it look? The short answer is pretty good - if you're willing to wait a season or two.

"It's not a miracle, it's a transition," says Peter Mahoney of Mahoney's Garden Centers and the new Mahoney's Safe Lawns and Landscapes natural lawn maintenance company. The 50-year-old family-run garden center recently joined the Safe Lawns franchise system to provide organic lawn care services in Winchester, Woburn, and Tewksbury.

The goal is to develop a dense lawn and that will take some time to create, especially if the lawn has been treated by conventional means for many years.

"It's a gradual improvement," Mahoney said. "It's about developing a thick lawn, because in a thick lawn you're not going to have the weeds, pests, and diseases."

THE TURF BATTLE
The drive for the perfectly weed-free American lawn can be traced back to 1967, Tukey said, when the Masters Golf Tournament was first broadcast in color, and Augusta National Golf Club sparkled like an emerald on televisions nationwide. Before what has been termed "the Augusta Syndrome," American lawns were peppered with "weeds" and homeowners expected it to be that way.

Of course some of those so-called weeds weren't so bad. Clover actually benefits the grass it knocks elbows with, as it fixes nitrogen from the air and makes it available to the plants around it. And true weeds, Tukey added, are Mother Nature's messengers telling us about the soil.

"The only real way to get rid of those weeds," he said, "is to get rid of the soil conditions that make those weeds want to grow, and to modify the soil so that grass does want to grow."

Scientists are doing their part to help homeowners use organic lawn care without having to rely on conventional chemicals. Grass strains such as "low-grow" and "no-grow" mixes have been developed that are naturally shorter, thicker, and more drought resistant.

Michael Sullivan, former professor of turf grass science at the University of Rhode Island and the current director of that state's Department of Environmental Management, says these low-growing grasses get the job done, although they do recover less quickly from the damage doled out by an active family.

Sullivan adds that homeowners can find lots of "green" lawn seed options now. "You don't even have to turn to current science," he said. The first step is the right plant for your need. Sullivan promotes the concept of prescriptive vegetation, or planting based on the lawn's use. Grasses such as fine-leafed fescues naturally require less water and fewer nutrients, and have deeper root systems than perennial rye grass and bluegrass. Fine-leafed fescues, then, would be a good choice for homeowners looking to trim water and fertilizer use.

LAWN CARE BASICS
Before transitioning to a natural or organic lawn care regimen, homeowners need to know some basics. You'll also need patience. Depending on the initial condition of the lawn, the transition from a conventional to a proper organic lawn can take from one to three or more years. Lawns with a healthy soil profile and a solid base of loam of four- to seven-inches deep, can transition to an organic lawn with little change in its appearance in just one growing season.

1. To start with, the soil in an organic system has to be alive to work properly. Repeated applications of chemical fertilizers kill the microorganisms that live in the soil and break down organic matter into the nutrients grass plants require. A lawn's microbial population must be reestablished. Compost and compost tea, which naturally contain these microorganisms, can help replenish those population levels.

2. A soil test is necessary to determine your soil's pH and its subsequent nutrient requirements. Also, determine what type of soil you have (Loam? Hardpan clay?) and how much of it. If you have to improve your soil conditions, you can begin a full-scale renovation right away, or slowly transition your soil profile by raking in one-half inch of compost through the entire lawn twice the first year. This added compost will increase the soil's water holding capacity and add nutrients.

3. Water your lawn deeply (one inch of water) and infrequently (once per week). This encourages roots to grow deep into the ground.

4. Grass clippings are good for the lawn. An Ohio State University study showed that 50 percent of your lawn's fertilizer is returned to the soil when grass clippings are left to biodegrade back into the soil, Tukey said. If you haven't mowed your lawn in a while, it's fine to remove those unsightly clumps and place into a compost pile.

5. Maintain your lawn's height at 3 inches. This is slightly shaggier than today's conventional 2 to 2 1/2 inch lawn. The taller grass shades the soil beneath. In early spring, this shade prevents the seeds of crabgrass and other weeds from germinating. Also, a 3 inch or taller lawn in summer prevents the lawn from drying as quickly as a shorter lawn.

LESS IS MORE
Bruce Wenning, a horticulturist at the Country Club in Chestnut Hill, former Massachusetts Audubon grounds manager, and a board member of the Ecological Landscape Association, suggests homeowners keep their transition to an organic lawn as simple as possible.

"I've known people to put a lot of organic compounds on a lawn, mimicking what a chemical lawn services company would do," Wenning says. "You're not getting any better lawn [with the additional amendments] in my opinion, so beware being sold too many organic products the first year."

What if you're interested in going greener, but you're not quite ready to go all natural when it comes to your lawn? Wenning said you can ease into it.

"Some may want to take the organic approach, but just can't stand the weeds" already present in their lawn, he said. In that case, it's possible in early spring to apply a conventional pre-emergent weed killer to suppress new weed growth, and to proceed organically from that point.

"It's not really organic, but an integrated approach where you have the choice to use the chemical if you'd like," Wenning said. Think of it as a baby step toward a truly organic lawn.

A Top-Notch Summer Lawn Takes Year-Round Effort
As Posted to 27East.com

April may be designated as National Lawn Care Month, but experts who focus on creating and maintaining beautiful and healthy lawns believe that every month is equally important for the goal at hand.

For local professionals such as Dave Greene and Pam Healey, lawn care is a year-round process. Put simply, different times call for specific types of care for the best, most vigorous lawns.

According to Mr. Greene, the owner of Southampton-based Dave Green Estate Care, which is partnered with Southampton-based Ray Smith Landscaping, achieving a vibrant lawn takes knowledge, patience and upkeep throughout the year. Ms. Healey, the manager of Lynch’s Garden Center in Southampton, agrees that lawn maintenance is a four-season job.

But springtime is the time of year when the outdoors come into focus for many East Enders—whether because the weather is more temperate, or in anticipation of the coming months of the Hamptons high season—and lawns become a major priority. Having a lush lawn instantly elevates the perceived value of a property, but there are also more practical reasons for cultivating a thriving carpet of green.

“Of course there are so many benefits of a healthy lawn,” Ms. Healey said in an interview at Lynch’s last week. “There’s a feeling of well-being, it looks better than the neighbors’, personal satisfaction, and it’s important for the environment,” she said.

While looking over a client’s yard in Southampton Village, Mr. Greene echoed Ms. Healey’s thoughts about the environmental significance of healthy organic lawn care: “Lawn is one of nature’s biggest and best sponges; it absorbs nutrients and water and a healthy lawn is extremely beneficial to the environment.”

According to information provided by the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET), an international association for the lawn care industry, healthy lawns produce oxygen, cool the atmosphere, filter out environmental contaminants, protect against erosion, and significantly increase property values.

PLANET estimates that lawns remove 5 percent of the carbon dioxide in the air and that a 50-foot by 50-foot plot of lawn will produce enough oxygen for a family of four. According to data supplied by PLANET, eight healthy lawns provide the same approximate “cooling effect” as 16 homes running their air conditioning.

Additionally, PLANET literature states that healthy lawns trap more than 12 million tons of dust and dirt annually. A dense, robust lawn also slows water runoff— removing contaminants and trapping soil—and returns fresh, filtered water to the underground supply.

“Lawns are not only beautiful, they’re environmentally effective,” PLANET President John Gibson wrote in a press release about the importance of National Lawn Care Month. “Homeowners need to be proactive in April and put together a lawn care program to ensure that their lawns will be healthy and beautiful throughout the year.”

Mr. Greene said he understands the needs of his East End clients, as well as the importance of vigilant lawn care. “Everyone wants green and lush in the heat of the summer, which we kind of force to stay alive and green,” he said. “Our job is trying to find that balance.”

Before undertaking any kind of treatment or maintenance regimen, Mr. Greene said it’s important to know about the makeup of the soil and grass. “We’re very big on soil testing and customized programs,” he said. “Otherwise treating a lawn without that knowledge is sort of like driving a car blindfolded.”

Patience is critical when trying to find the right balance for a healthy and vibrant lawn, Mr. Greene said. “You’re always tweaking the system, you can’t do it all at once,” he said. “It’s like turning a big battleship around: it’s a process.”

According to Ms. Healey, there are two types of soil on the East End, clay and sand, and different treatments are needed for each type of soil. “Clay you need to aerate and sandy you water more often,” she said.

The most popular East End grass types are Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryes and fine fescues, Mr. Greene said, adding that he usually sees a blend of the three.

As for upkeep, Mr. Greene said that he prefers to customize programs to the needs of each specific lawn, but he follows a general schedule of fertilization in September and May, aeration in fall and spring, weed and crabgrass control in April, and broad leaf, dandelion and clover control in October. Summertime, he said, is for monitoring such things as water, disease, fungus, pest control, weed control and grass length.

For the non-professionals tending to lawns, a good rule of thumb for when to start applying herbicides is around April 15, or when the forsythia is in full bloom, Ms. Healey said. She agreed that the best time to seed or fertilize is when the air is cool and the earth is relatively warm in the fall and spring months. She added that new Suffolk County legislation makes it illegal to fertilize between the months of November and April to avoid runoff due to decreased absorption from the cold ground.

Keeping the grass at the healthiest length and controlling the water supply are also key, Mr. Greene reported. He said that though most generally agree that cutting the grass once a week is the routine, the best thing for the grass is never to cut more than 1/3 of the blade during lawn care. Proper watering is also important, which many non-professionals fail to understand.

“Overwatering is one of the biggest things we see ... More plants are killed by overwatering than probably anything else,” he said, adding that excess moisture creates a breeding ground for blight. “Water every day is like putting gas on a fire, it provides more fuel for fungus.”

Lawns should be watered deeply and infrequently, according to both Mr. Greene and Ms. Healey.

Keeping a healthy balance throughout the year is important for everybody, whether they are year-round residents or seasonal visitors, Mr. Greene said. “If you want a good lawn in the summer, you better do the right thing in the spring and fall as well.”

Hiring Pros For A Lusher Lawn

As Originally Posted at The Wall Street Journal

In some parts of the country, patches of lawn are peeking through mounds of snow. So we're preparing for one rite of spring: The quest to turn some noticeable brown spots into lush lawn.

For this task, we turned to professional lawn care companies -- both national and local -- to hear their plans for our yard. We were looking for personal attention and a customized plan to treat a few problem spots in our yard. We also wanted to explore options for organic lawn-care products.

About 25% of Americans pay for professional lawn-care services, according to Bruce Butterfield, research director of the National Gardening Association. These companies specialize in periodic fertilizer applications, along with weed and pest control. Some also offer things like tree pruning, snow removal, mowing and gardening.

Many companies offer organic options to lawn care, but it can be confusing as to what that means. Organic fertilizers are available, but it can be more expensive. The options are fewer for organic weed and insect controls, so some lawn-care customers request a partially organic approach, with organic fertilizers and minimal amounts of synthetic weed and pest controls.

The five companies we contacted -- TruGreen, Lawn Doctor, Scotts LawnService, SavaTree and Second Nature -- said this is a good time for homeowners to research lawn maintenance, because the first treatments in the Northeast are usually applied in late March or early April. Mr. Butterfield of the gardening association advised us to find a company that looks at the "lawn system" holistically, instead of "just doing the treatment, coming back in six weeks, and doing it again." So that's what we set out to do.

First we contacted TruGreen, a company we've used at our Connecticut home for the past seven years. The company has been responsive when we've had particular problems -- like those annoying brown spots, but technicians haven't suggested customized or organic lawn care tailored to our problem areas. This year, our annual contract arrived in the mail with an option to prepay and get a discount. It was a nice option, but we would have liked some personal contact.

TruGreen is a national company based in Memphis, Tenn., with 278 locations across the country -- and more than 3.4 million residential and commercial customers. For our lawn, we were quoted a rate of $71.69 each for six fertilizer applications a year. The annual treatment plan also recommends grub and insect prevention, aeration and seeding to promote new growth, for an additional $448.26. In our area, TruGreen says, the application fee for its organic option is the same as for the non-organic blend, but that in other parts of the country, the organic option can cost as much as 60% more.

The TruGreen spokeswoman said fewer than 5% of its customers use their organic program nationally. "We're beginning to be able to communicate more with our customers on options for lawn care," she added.

The next national chain, Marysville, Ohio-based Scotts LawnService, gave us a proposal over the phone without seeing the property. A Scotts spokeswoman later explained that technicians typically don't visit a home to give quotes for seasonal applications, since the lot-size information is "easily calculated" using Google Earth and other online tools.

Based on Scotts' estimates, our lawn-treatment plan would consist of a first fertilizer treatment at $59.95, then four more at $97, plus a grub preventive at $205. Like TruGreen, Scotts has organic options, but we had to ask about them. Organic fertilizer treatments would start at $59.95, just like the fertilizers with weed control, but then would cost either $170.90 each (which includes pest control) or $143.40 (without pest control) for the four remaining treatments. The company says grub control is a non-organic treatment.

Overall, the company representatives were friendly and seemed informed about local conditions, but the process felt a bit bureaucratic, rather than personal.

The third national chain we spoke with, Lawn Doctor, offered the best combination of service and pricing of all the services we tested. The assistant general manager who came to our house was attentive and promised that his brother would be our technician. He stressed that the company was able to customize its products based on our lawn type and said it could use organic fertilizers for four of the six treatments. (The first two treatments are only partially organic because they include a weed killer.) He also said the treatments would specifically target problem areas for weeds and insects. The price: $70.55 each for six basic fertilizer treatments, with free service calls.

In our region, SavaTree, with 20 branches in eight states along the East Coast, has made a name for being green. Greg Huse, an arborist, came to our home and explained that his company offers fully organic and partially organic lawn services -- in addition to traditional treatments that use weed and insect controls. Mr. Huse was the only lawn-care person we met who specifically raised the idea of treating different parts of our yard differently, pointing out that we should have "shade seeding" under a white pine in our backyard.

SavaTree's proposal was far more expensive than TruGreen's and Scotts', with an application costing $134. Add $476 a year for the aeration and overseeding treatment. But we really liked the personal attention. Mr. Huse also said he would take a free soil sample if we signed up with his company, which would help the company further refine our treatment plan.

Another call went to Stamford, Conn.-based Second Nature. This company's approach initially felt similar to SavaTree's, though they seemed particularly eager to provide a broader range of services, and stressed their scientific approach to the biology of the lawn. The company uses "synthetic control products" -- again non-organic weed and insect controls -- if the homeowner wants them. But the company says its emphasis is on making sure the lawn is healthy down to the roots and not just green on the top. To that end, technicians apply a special "compost tea" that is used to feed the lawn, says company President Jeffrey Thrasher.

We wound up requesting a proposal for Second Nature's basic lawn-care service, as well as its property-management program, which includes everything from lawn care to snow blowing. The fertilizer applications came in at $116 each, less than SavaTree but significantly higher than the national chains. The lawn aeration and overseeding treatment came in at $735.

In the end, we were disappointed with the limited options for a truly organic lawn. And we were equally dismayed that no one who came to look at our lawn took a soil sample before giving us a proposal -- something Mr. Butterfield says would help lawn-care companies figure out what really should be put down on each lawn. Still, two of the companies -- Second Nature and SavaTree -- said technicians always take soil samples before starting to treat lawns. And Lawn Doctor said it takes soil samples when the customer requests it -- or when the lawn looks off to the salesperson or the technician.

COMPANY/WEB SITE	PLAN	ADDITIONAL SERVICES	COMMENT
Second Nature Tree & Landscape Co. secondnaturetlc.com	$696 a year for six applications that are partially organic. (Weed and pest control chemicals are not organic.) Core aeration and overseeding in the autumn is an additional $735.	Tree and shrubs services, some gardening, spring and fall cleanups, gutter cleaning, winter oversight and snow plowing.	A company representative arrived early for our appointment and spent ample time discussing our needs and options. We liked the personal attention. If we bought the whole package, he said he'd come by once a week, just to check on things.
Scotts LawnService scottslawnservice.com	$652.95 with a 5% discount if we prepay; core aeration and overseeding an additional $532.	Tree and shrub services; outdoor flea and tick applications.	We sent an email requesting information and received a quote within an hour -- the company calculated yard dimensions using Web tools. A written plan took a few weeks to arrive and came after we called and asked to have it faxed to us. The company has organic lawn-care services, but representatives didn't mention them.
Lawn Doctor lawndoctor.com	Six fertilizer applications and one grub-prevention application for $627.85. Core aeration and overseeding added another $360.	Tree and shrub care, tick control.	The representative showed up early for his appointment, and then called twice in the days following his visit to see if we had questions and whether we were interested in signing up. His brother would be our technician, so we felt there was strong personal service.
SavaTree and SavaLawn savatree.com	Six fertilizer applications at $134 each; grub control for $162; $178 for lime application; and $476 for core aeration and overseeding. Basic treatments in the fully organic program come in about 30% higher.	General tree and shrub care, but no perennials, annuals or other landscaping.	The arborist who came to our house for a first visit addressed our environmental concerns -- but said that if we skipped the pesticides, our lawn won't look the way we're accustomed to it looking.
TruGreen www.trugreen.com	$877.40 for fertilization, aeration and seeding treatments for the year. We were offered a 5% discount for prepaying in midwinter.	Tree and shrub care, tick treatment.	TruGreen, our current lawn-service company, sent out its price list, but nobody came to see how our lawn weathered the winter. Organic options, while available, have never been raised with us. Still, in past years, the company has sent technicians to our home when we've had questions about our lawn.