Lawn Care for Dummies [Paperback]

Lance Walheim (Author), The National Gardening Association (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 27, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0764550772 | ISBN-13: 978-0764550775 | Edition: 1

Only one thing is standing between you and a fabulous lawn: It's called Lawn Care For Dummies. If you want a spiffy and well-coifed lawn (and not the overgrown, unruly one that people comment on when they pass by your house), you'll find everything you need to know to help you make your lawn the most dazzling spectacle on the block.

Let authors Lance Walheim and the gardening experts at the National Gardening Association treat you and your yard to a megadose of lawn care information. In Lawn Care For Dummies, Walheim and the NGA give you the dirt on all the essentials, including how to
* Design a low-maintenance or a high-maintenance lawn
* Evaluate the pros and cons of planting a lawn from seed or starting one from sod
* Discover how often you need to water your lawn without under-watering it or waterlogging it
* Choose a mower that's right for your grass type
* Deal effectively with wicked weeds and pesky insects
* Create alternative lawns, such as ground cover plants, decks, and patios
Lawn Care For Dummies also features a beautiful color insert with photos illustrating the various types of lawns found in yards across the world.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If your neighbors' lawn always resembles a beautiful green carpet while yours looks like something that would cost Tiger Woods several shots, you could use some practical help. Trust the Dummies folks--you really can have a great lawn without breaking your back every weekend, spending a fortune on sod, or poisoning your pets. Lawn Care for Dummies takes you through all the steps: choosing the right grass, planting the seed or laying the sod, installing an irrigation system, fertilizing, aerating, watering, and mowing. It also helps you avoid (or conquer) the Big Three: weeds, pests, and disease. Finally, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow--you get to enjoy your lawn! In the spirit of all Dummies books, there's a list of 10 lawn games at the end. Bocce, anyone?

From the Back Cover

"I would recommend this book to anyone starting a new lawn or improving an existing one." — Kevin N. Morris, Director, National Turfgrass Evaluation Program "This is the one book you should have, keep handy, and use often!" — Doug Fender, Executive Director, Turf Resource Center, Rolling Meadows, IL

Full Color Section Highlights Ideas for a Beautiful Lawn!

Grow a Lush Lawn — a Cut Above the Rest! No matter where you live, what you do, or how many kids you have, you too can grow a great garden of grasses — quickly and easily. Discover tons of time- and water-saving secrets for better planting, fertilizing, weeding, and mowing. With easy-to-follow instructions and lots of illustrations, Lawn Care For Dummies^® brings you everything you need to know to grow a lawn that's the envy of the block! From Sod to Sunday Naps — Your Complete Guide to Lawns

• Compare the pluses and minuses of planting seed, sod, sprigs, stolons, or plugs
• Choose a grass type that thrives in your climate
• Unearth winning techniques for repairing broken lawns
• Discover ten surefire ways to help drought-weary yards survive
• Control pests with environmentally friendly methods that are safe and effective
• Select alternative ground covers that are practical and good looking
• Install a permanent, in-ground irrigation system

Also look for Hungry Minds' Gardening For Dummies^®, the fun and easy way to grow a gorgeous garden!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (January 27, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764550772
• ISBN-13: 978-0764550775
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great beginning view of lawn possibilities., September 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Lawn Care for Dummies (Paperback)

Having never had a lawn before, I needed a very basic, gentle introduction to what it means to have and care for a lawn - and this book delivers just that. It also covers topics I might not have thought about ahead of time, including lawn disease and alternate ground covers. The ambient sense of humor makes what could appear to be a very intimidating project seem more like fun than work. My only objection - the color photos are wasted on shots of random lawns. I would have preferred to see these photos used to show examples that are best viewed, rather than textually described... such as grass types, insect & disease damage, weeds, etc.

Overall, this book has given me a great overview of my entire lawn project, and I can't wait to get started.

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ok but not great, August 28, 2001

By 

S. Frank "lemmy_999" (knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lawn Care for Dummies (Paperback)

The few color pictures are pointless. There is some good information, but the section on revitalizing your lawn is too small. I was looking for a general reference, but they say to aerate but never mention when you should do this (I have read this in other books) and they don't mention other techniques that I have read other places. This book would be pretty good for someone starting from scratch. If you just want to improve your lawn, buy another book.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Good Advice, But Wasted Photos, March 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lawn Care for Dummies (Paperback)

This book is an excellent reference on everything you would want to know on how to start, repair or maintain a lawn, but it doesn't answer some really, really basic questions, like "What kind of grass do I have?" The photos are just fluff, and could have been better used to identify grass types, weeds or lawn problems.