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             The Gardener Guy of Tulsa, Oklahoma

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Spring Lawn Care 2006

Tukey gave me lots of advice, some of it timely. He said that if you want to keep weed and crab grass seed from germinating, you can spread corn gluten on the lawn. But you have to do it NOW. He said you need to do it when the daffodils and forsythia are blooming for it to work. If you wait, he said, the gluten will still serve as a natural source of nitrogen, but it will not inhibit the weeds from growing. Corn gluten is available in 50 pound bags at most garden centers.

Dr. John Roberts the UNH Cooperative Extension turf specialist told me that corn gluten should not be considered a cure-all. He said it will inhibit only 50-60 percent of the seeds from germinating. Apparently it works best on lawns that have not been treated heavily with chemicals. Roberts noted that it can be used up until the lilacs bloom.

I agree with Tukey that it makes no sense whatsoever to spread chemicals on the lawn. The lawn is where Abigail (our sweet dog) hangs out, and where grandson George plays. Why would I want them exposed to herbicides or fungicides? Tukey noted that tests for side effects of chemicals are done by the manufacturers, not the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and are not conducted using children or pets. Smaller critters are more susceptible to the effects of toxins, he said. Some of the chemicals previously allowed by the EPA are now prohibited; those approved today may be banned next year, or the year after. Why risk using them?

Establishing a healthy soil is critical for having a good looking lawn, Tukey explained. If you have depended on chemicals to "feed" the lawn, your soil is probably compacted and relatively devoid of the organisms that keep it - and your lawn - healthy: earthworms, bacteria, protozoa and fungi. He recommends getting a soil test done by the state University Extension system as a first step.

Now is the time to rake the lawn well to get rid of dead grass and leaves. Fertilizer or compost will start working sooner and more effectively if it has good contact with the soil. Tukey recommends adding bagged organic fertilizer such as Pro-Gro to help it green up. But even better, he said, add half an inch of compost. This will not only add a variety of minerals, it will also introduce beneficial organisms that may be lacking in your soil if you've been depending on chemicals. Just drop piles of compost on the lawn, and rake it out.

A healthy lawn should have a pH of 6.0 to7.0, which is to say, about neutral. Our rain is acidic, so smart gardeners have been adding limestone to lawns and gardens for decades. Tukey explained that there are two kinds of limestone: dolomitic and calcitic. Dolomitic lime has higher concentrations of magnesium than calcitic, but most lawns don't need more magnesium. According to Tukey, magnesium encourages weed growth, so recommends avoiding dolomitic limestone if possible.

Calcium is very important for good lawns as it is needed for nitrogen uptake, protein synthesis and is a component of cell walls. Adding calcium to a calcium-poor soil will do much to stimulate grass growth and to reduce the number of weeds. Tukey says applying calcium over a three year period should greatly reduce the weed population- without herbicides.

If you have lots of crabgrass, Tukey says it is probably a sign of soil compaction. Look at the lawn near your driveway, he suggested. If you get out of the car and walk on the grass everyday, it will be compacted - and grow crabgrass better than turf grass. Tukey suggests you grow hostas or creeping thyme there. They will do fine in compacted soil, he said, and people won't walk or drive over them.

Many lawn-lovers overreact. Right now my lawn has several patches of brown grass next to healthier looking grass that is greening up. Instead of applying a fungicide, or one of the fertilizer-fungicide-broad weed killers, I will just wait. Which is what I do every year, and my lawn recovers from its early-season discoloring. Tukey said if I had cut the grass shorter last fall, reducing the height from 3 inches to about 2 inches in the last two mowings, I might have avoided the problem.

Lawns don't really need as much nitrogen added as the chemical companies suggest. The more you add, the faster the lawn grows, the more water it requires, and the more you have to mow. I don't add any fertilizers to my lawn, or even compost; Martha Stewart might not give me a 4-Star rating, but I think my lawn looks good. Years ago I spread some white clover seed, which is a nitrogen-fixing legume, which helps. And I don't bag my grass clippings, and that, too, adds nitrogen. The bottom line? If it's green and I can mow it, it's a lawn. Relaxing about it gives me a lot more free time.

Henry Homeyer is the VT/NH associate editor of People, Places and Plants magazine. His website is www.gardening-guy.com. He may be contacted at gardening.guy@valley.net, or P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746.

SIDEBAR: To see the management and results of organic lawn care on a real lawn over the course of a year, go to www.PPPlants.com, and click on Safe Lawn '07, a collaborative effort between the magazine and organic industry professionals. That part of the website should be running by late April. I am an associate editor of the magazine, but not involved in that effort.