I don’t know who invented lawns, I believe it was someone in Europe. In any event, we seem to have bought into the idea of, what to some folks, seems to be an obsession. Attempting to maintain a superb lawn, even to those of us who are not as obsessed, can be time consuming as well as costly.
In most areas of the country, you can’t just not take care of your lawn. Homeowners associations, cities, and townships demand that you maintain your lawn. Not taking care of you lawn may invoke the wrath of your neighbors and make it difficult to find your mail box.
Having said that, if you are, in fact, going to do the “right thing”, you just might as well do it correctly. By correctly, I mean organically. When I was young, pesticides were thought of as safe and easy. We cast insecticides and fungicides over our lawns as if they were completely harmless. Now that I have discovered the error of my ways, I have found organics.
The most important aspect of an organic lawn care system would be the soil. You have a number of allies to help you keep your lawn healthy. I am talking about beneficial bugs and microorganisms. These two helpers, among others, nourish and protect your lawn from microbes that can cause disease. All you need to do is to introduce these beneficial microbes and allow them to do their job.
You may wonder how does one go about introducing these beneficial microorganisms into their soil. One answer is finished compost. Finished compost contains beneficial bacteria and fungi. I would suggest you include finished compost in the soil prior to laying seed or sod. I would mix the compost into the top 4 or 5 inches of the topsoil. This will put the microbes in to the area where the roots will be as the grass grows. If your grass is already up and growing, you can apply compost as a thin layer over the top.
Now that we have applied compost, what about fertilizer? Of course we are going to use organic fertilizers. You don’t want to use chemical fertilizers because the food they provide is pretty much useless. You have heard of empty calories. This is the same thing. Microbes from organic fertilizers combine carbon and nitrogen to prevent loss of nutrients and promote plant growth. It will also clean chemical residues.
Many organic, dry, fertilizers are protein based. These fertilizers include grains such as ground corn, cotton seed, soy and others. Most beans or ground seed make good organic fertilizers.You can use coffee grounds as well. I would apply grain fertilizers at a rate of about 15-20 lbs per 1,000 square feet with no fear of harming your lawn. It doesn’t matter what time of day you apply organic fertilizer. You can find organic fertilizers at feed stores. I don’t use the stuff at the big box stores.
Lets stop using chemicals. A thin layer of finished compost will bring back the microbes that your lawn needs. Use the protein based fertilizers that we talked about. Check the cost at your local feed supply store and see what is inexpensive. This is, of course, just a small part of organic lawn care but it covers the basic procedures. Good luck and happy lawns to all
