LEWISTON – Paul Tukey, founder of “People, Places & Plants” magazine and a program on HGTV by the same name, will speak on organic gardening at Percy’s Burrow at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 14. Following his talk, Tukey will sign copies of his new book, “Turf.”

America’s reigning Gardening Communicator of the Year, Tukey is the founder of SafeLawns.org, an international coalition of for-profit and nonprofit organizations promoting environmentally friendly lawn care and resource conservation.

Tukey, well known to millions of Americans through his TV program and magazine, brings many years of experience in both journalism and gardening to the SafeLawns.org campaign.

He was introduced to gardening during summers spent growing vegetables at his grandparents’ dairy farm in Maine. After graduating from the University of Maine with a degree in journalism, Tukey spent nearly a decade as a reporter and editor at the Maine Sunday Telegram and Portland Press Herald. In the late 1980s, he followed his love of the outdoors and founded his own landscaping company. Like most commercial landscapers of the era, he used conventional techniques and supplies.

But in the early 1990s, Tukey started hearing about the links between 2,4-D, a synthetic weed killer and numerous illnesses, including cancer. Then his personal physician suggested that his recurrent headaches, nosebleeds and blurred vision were attributable to exposure to those chemical weed killers. This prompted his transformation to organic gardening and building healthy soil.

In 1995, he founded “People, Places & Plants” magazine; the HGTV show followed in 2002. In March 2006, Tukey won the highest honor in gardening journalism and broadcasting when the American Horticultural Society named him winner of the annual Horticultural Communication Award. He is the author of a book on organic lawn care (Storey Publishing) and has won numerous awards for his writing. He is also a frequent public speaker on organic gardening, photography and environmental awareness.

Tukey’s own garden and landscape in Maine is spread across more than two acres of flowers, vegetables, trees and shrubs and, of course, a spectacular lawn – achieved without a single synthetic fertilizer, herbicide or fungicide. “The kids can roll around in the grass and I don’t give it a second thought,” said Tukey, the father of three. His is married to Katie Hoffman Tukey.

Percy’s Burrow is in the Lewiston Mall at 20 East Ave. For more information, call 376-3225.