Scotts Lawns: Your Guide to a Beautiful Yard

"Holy caRRRnations, Mary. Take a look at this!", you might exclaim for seeing this book the first time. "Look at the clever propaganda of Scotts trying to sell us more of their products!" Well, you might think that . . . but you're wrong. You and I have the advantage -- yeap, GREAT advantage -- of living in the Information Age. And in the process of trying "to sell us more of their Scotts products" -- for those of you for who the glass is half-empty -- Messrs. Nick Christians and Ashton Ritchie have provided us not only with probably the best book on lawns, but invaluable information on lawn care from A to Z.

The chapters of "Scotts Lawns: Your Guide to a Beautiful Yard" are: (1) "Your Dream Lawn" (an introduction), (2) "Fertilizing", (3) "Watering", (4) "Mowing", (5) "Managing Thatch", (6) "Troubleshooting" (this just might be the best chapter which describes methods of how to cure a lawn from pests, diseases and weeds), (7) "Reviving your Lawn", (8) "Brand New Lawn", and "Resources & Index." Beautifully laid out and photographed, written in a user-friendly style, and interspersed with excellent tips and advice, Messrs. Christians and Ritchie have produced an accessible yet comprehensive guide for the novice or the professional. I have recommended this book to many friends who have returned to me after having bought it and said, "This IS the best book on lawns! It has EVERYTHING." It really does. And although I, personally, cannot say that this is the best book on lawns for simply not having read any other book on this matter (I feel that I don't need to), I would put it to you this way: you will be hard-pressed to find a better book on lawn care than this one! By following the steps outlined in this book, you will obtain a lawn . . . that even Louis XIV would be proud of.

As a first time lawn owner for an 18 year old lawn, I looked at this book and one other one which I think was called "The lawncare bible". My perception was that the "bible" was much more in depth and technical than I wanted to know. The "Scotts Lawns: Your Guide..." proved an easy and fast read - but with plenty of pictures to also make it fun to read. This book covered all the basics I needed to know about making my troubled lawn look much better. It also showed all the weed problems (which I had a few) and the solutions to fix them. I now know almost all of the simple "secrets" that make for a great looking lawn. Hint: Its all about the basics, of which this book makes vividly clear and easy to follow.

I'm a first-time lawn owner and this book has been the greatest resource I've found yet. It has detailed explanations of every important topic regarding your lawn. The color pages and pictures are more than just window dressing; they make the topics easier to understand. I've tried several other books and not found anything as useful as this. In fact, a guy just joined my department at work who studied turf management in college (as part of a golf sports degree) and every tip he's given me was already covered in this book.

I actually found the Scotts product placements useful, not annoying. They are not obtrusive and do not get in the way of the text. Much less product placement than you would expect since the book is from them.

I highly recommend this book.

Worth the price just for the extensive section on weed indentification and eradication with color pictures. Since they have drastically cut back extension agents and services in our area who used to be able to field lawn questions, this is an invaluable reference for the homeowner.

This is a great book! It is the only book on lawn care you will ever need. I was looking for a book to prepare to install a new lawn in my backyard from scratch, and to learn how to improve the condition of my front yard. It contains any and all information you might ever need to address any lawn issue. It is well-written and very user friendly and well-organized, with excellent full-color pictures, checklists, charts and summaries. I also compared this book to "The Lawn Bible", which I checked out from my local library. I found this book far superior. The large pictures make it easy to identify specific weeds and types of grass as well as various lawn conditions and pest issues to help diagnose your lawn problems. "The Lawn Bible" is a good book, but it has no pictures, only line drawings, and is not as user friendly or as useful as a quick reference. I mention this because I see that book rated a little higher than this book and people might be interested to see the two compared.

Don't let the fact that it is from Scotts throw you. It is not an advertisement for the company, and there is virtually no product pushing in the book. Scotts products are just used in some pictures. I couldn't recommend this book more highly. It is truly the ultimate guide on lawn care.