I have been 100% organic in my lawn for several years now. My neighbor is not. She is an elderly widow, and relies on me and my son to do a lot of her yard work. She always want sto know what I do to make my yard look good and I tell her it is an organic program. She is reluctant because the chemical way is the way her husband always did it. Anyway I am always tempted to go ahead and apply compost and organic amendment when I apply them to my yard, but always wondered how effective it would be if she continues her use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides. Wouldn't see just be killing off all of the living earth that I would be building up, making my work wasted? All responses are appreciated.

In my opinion, the answer is yes and no. I think that if you can show her that it is infact making her yard look better, she may change her mind. Maybe offer to let her give over her yard to you for three months and if after that time she is not convinced, you have done your best. If she has any animals (dog/cat) maybe explain to her the problems with the chemicals can cause them. I know this is not really a great answer, but its a start

Let me get this straight. You take care of her yard and yet she is able to apply synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides?
Maybe I am being a bit harsh, but I would let her know that I would rather not subject myself to the toxic materials. If she insists on using these products, which have been directly linked to Parkinson's and forms of cancer, then I would ask that she find someone else to do this work for her. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articl ... 414B7F0000

If you can't find it in your heart to do this, by applying organic amendments and fertilizers to her yard, it will have some buffering effect on the toxic stuff. At least her yard would benefit from the carbon which is lacking in her synthetic fertilizers.
Show her some information on the algae blooms caused by the use of synthetic fertilizers. Not enough people are aware of the dead zone where the Mississippi River dumps in to the Gulf of Mexico. This is an area where fish cannot live due to a lack of oxygen. Oxygen is depleted from the water because of algae blooms caused by high nitrogen fertilizers used in agriculture. The nitrogen gets in to the water table and into rivers, lakes and streams wreaking havoc on aquatic life. http://www.smm.org/deadzone/ http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/