Organic Lawn Care Tips:
The number one key to maintianing a beautiful lawn of any kind actually has nothing to do with the grass; it's all in the soil! A deep top soil of 12 inches or more grows the best lawn, but a soil of this depth is not always possible. Yet by adding top soil each year, you soon build it to an undesirable height above walkways, driveways, and the house foundation. A healthy lawn, however, can be maintained in shallower soils if mowed, fertilized (yes, there are organic fertilizers), and watered properly.

Mowing
Mow the lawn tall (three inches is idea), especially in shaded areas because the lawn needs as much leaf surface as possible to collect the sunlight. A tall lawn can look just as beautiful as a short one, even more so considering the reduced risk of scalping and thatch. Mow often, cutting a little off at a time. Cutting off more than one-third of the blade will shock the lawn because you reduce the food manufacturing surface too much. When you mow often, the clippings will be small and will filter through the soil surface a little at a time. The clippings will then decompose/recycle back into plant food. A lawn can easily turn yellow or brown simply because of collecting clippings and removing them from the yard, robbing the soil of essential nutrients. A mulching mower can be purchased for as little as $250. This type of mower can break up even clippings from a deep mow and force them down near the soil so there is no noticable clippings. By mulching clippings, you eliminate the threat of thatch build up and your lawn will require less water and fertilizer.

Fertilizing
One-half inch of compost applied in the fall and watered in well will do more to keep a lawn healthy than the best chemical program. Even if you feel fungicides and chemical fertilizers are necessary in your situation, the addition of compost will make the chemical fertilizers much more effective and longer lasting. If a fungicide is used, apply compost a few days later. The compost will replace and activate the beneficial soil microorganisms that are killed by the fungicide. If a chemical fertilizer is used, apply it on top of a one-half-inch layer of compost. The compost buffers the release and causes the fertilizer to feed a little slower, preventing quick, weak, disease-prone succulent growth.

Compost acts as a chelating agent preventing micro-nutrients, especially zinc and iron, from locking up in our alkaline soils. Compost has the ability to hold all the fertilizer nutrients in place longer, feeding or releasing them slowly as the lawn needs them, preventing leaching, and making the fertilizer more efficient. Compost can be applied anytime as long as the grass in not smothered during the growing season, and it needs to be watered in immediately after spreading. A good composting program will make chemical fertilizers and fungicides unnecessary in no time at all.

Watering
Always water in the early morning before the day gets hot. Sprinkling in the heat of the day can cause up to a 40% loss to evaporation, and if certain salts are present, they can cause burning of the grass blades. The amount of water needed and how often depends on the depth of the soil the lawn is grown in. Lawns with really deep top soil can be watered less often, as seldom as once every two weeks if two to three inches of water is applied each time. However, most lawns do not have the luxury of a good deep soil and will require watering more often, but with less quantity. Each lawn owner, through trial and error, can determine what is best for the soil condition of that particular lawn. A good rule to follow is that deep watering less often is better than shallow watering more often.

Weeds in the lawn
Weeds are symptoms of poor and weak lawn growth. They pop up anywhere the grass allows them. The best defense is a healthy lawn. However, weeds are a self-defeating bunch, as they bring the soil to better condition by breaking up the hard pan with their strong roots. These strong roots grow to a great depth collecting and assimilating minerals that the grass roots would not normally reach. When the weeds are mowed down and die, the minerals and organic matter are deposited in the root zone of the lawn grass. Weeds, especially the nitrogen-fixing clovers, can do a great deal toward correcting poor soil conditions.

Follow good watering and mowing practices, ignore the weeds, and sooner or later they will build the soil up to a condition where the lawn becomes so healthy it crowds out the weeds. Other options include pre-emergence weed control. This is an organic powder applied in the winter that kills weeds before they have a chance to germinate. New varieties even contain a mosquito-larvae killing agent to reduce mosquitos in your yard.

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