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             The Gardener Guy of Tulsa, Oklahoma

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Spring Lawn Care

14 May 2003

Lawns. Many Americans are obsessed with them. We spread thousands of tons of chemicals on them each year to "Weed and Feed". We mow them weekly, sometimes more often, so that every blade of grass will be just as tall as the next, often just 2 inches. Dandelions, crabgrass, and moss are cuss words to lawn lovers. I say we, but I shouldn't- because I don't get it. To me, if it's green and I can mow it, it's lawn.

However, if you do want a nice lawn, here are some things to do at this season. First, this is the time to get the mower tuned up and the blade sharpened. A sharp blade is better- it cuts the lawn, while a dull blade rips it. Actually, 12 million people just had the same idea, so the lawn mower repair people probably have a waiting list that extends until the Fourth of July. Fortunately, my local garage does tune-ups and sharpenings, so mine will be ready on time.

Don't get worried if a few autumn leaves are on the lawn. The first mowing will chew them up and turn them into free fertilizer. If the lawn is in buried in wet leaves they will block out the light and smother the lawn, so rake them up.

An established lawn in good soil doesn't need a lot of fertilizer. Compost is a wonderful for lawns, but it doesn't work in those lawn spreaders that are designed to distribute chemicals, of course, so most people never get around to adding any. I fling it with a shovel, and spread it out with the back side of a lawn rake. About half an inch is a good dose, spring and fall. The earthworms will come get it, and distribute the wealth though their castings.

In the middle of the drought last summer I had the opportunity to visit 2 lawns, one organically tended, the other chemically treated. The first was allowed to grow to a reasonable length, say three or three and a half inches. It was green and looked pretty good, with just a few brown spots.

The second was much shorter-- and it appeared to be dead, or dormant everywhere. At the edge of that lawn signs were posted showing a dog and a child- with a red stripe crossing them. Keep off. Lawn chemicals had been recently applied, though to no avail, it would seem.

I had been talking to Ann Mulloy at her office in the Neptune's Harvest Fertilizer plant in Gloucster, Massachusetts. She had told me about her lawn, which she tends with their products, and the guy next door, who uses nothing but chemicals. Being a skeptic, I had to go see them, and the difference couldn't have been more dramatic.

Ann said she fertilized the lawn in June with some kelp meal she applied with a push spreader at 10 lbs. per thousand square feet of lawn. She followed this with a dose of their liquid fish fertilizer from a hose-end sprayer adjusted to maximum.

For those of you who wish to fertilize using your push-type spreader, there are a number of bagged fertilizers that you can use. One dose of a general-purpose organic fertilizer such as Pro-Gro in the spring will help considerably.

If you have an established lawn and want it to be extra lush, an organic fertilizer with plenty of nitrogen and potassium, but very little phosphorous would be good. According to Paul Sachs of North Country Organics (and the author of "Handbook of $uccessful Ecological Lawn Care"), phosphorous encourages germination of weed seeds and is already present in adequate quantities in most lawns. Twelve pounds per thousand square feet of Nature's Turf, an 8-1-9 organic fertilizer- or something similar- would be adequate, he said. If using a general purpose ferilizer like Pro-Gro, which is a 5-3-4, you would need more like 20 lb/1000 ft sq.

Starting a new lawn or patching in some bare spots? Be sure to work in some compost, add some organic fertilizer, and keep it moist after planting. I spread hay or straw over the grass seed to keep it from drying out.

Remember that your lawn is not a plant. It is millions of plants, all crowded together. It's a tough life, being a blade of grass. The more leaf surface you allow to grow (by keeping the lawn height at 3-3.5 inches), the more food each plant can make, and the more the roots will grow. Better root systems survive better in hot, dry times. So don't scalp your lawn. Taller grass will also help to shade out weeds before they take over.

My back lawn is green and lush right now, and soon it will be a mass of cheerfully blooming dandelions. To me, they're as pretty as daffodils, but a lot less work. Since my lawn is organic, I can eat some of the tender young greens if I wish. And maybe this will be the year I'll learn to make dandelion wine.