Monday October 13th, 2008
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The Organic Lawn
Posted by Doug Oster on May 16, 2007 - 8:37am.
Since we're into lawn season, I wanted to post a few tips for growing a lawn naturally.
The most important thing to do is stop using herbacides. If you do use them, don't have contact with the lawn, no bare feet! You can grow a great lawn without chemicals
The most important thing is that the soil is fertile so the grass can out grow anything.
Keep it high and let them lie. The grass should be cut as high as 4 inches if possible and let the clippings fall onto the grass. As long as they don't mat down the lawn it's OK.
Use corn gluten meal as an organic weed and feed early in the spring and late in the fall.
Aerate the lawn every other year. Rent a machine with a neighbor that pull plugs out of the lawn. It will leave holes that let water and fertilizer get to the roots.
Our book, Grow Organic has lots of other tips about growing things the right way...organically. You can get it online at Amazon or at any major book store.
While I do have a rotary gas powered bagger mower for collecting for the compost heap, I also have a Sears Craftsman 18 inch reel mower for the normal trimming. Is it me or do reel mowers actually help the yard? Even with sharp blades the rotary mower seems to do more of a chop than a cut while the reel mower has that scissor edge cut. I don't know if it's actually an easier cut on the the grass blades, but the yard does look healthier when I use it.
Observe the world as though you were a child and enjoy the wonder of it all.
Ok Doug and Jenn thanks for the advice on not using the 24D spray. I had a bottle of it that I had not used yet so I got rid of it. I do get windblown weeds due to our famous winds here so I have been using Roundup Xtended as a spot killer. I just finished off the last of it and wonder if there's an organic spot spray that is as effective as a glyphosate without the nastiness. I'm going to use the corn glutein later as a broadcast spread, but I need something to supplement my weed popping tool when I can't keep up.
Observe the world as though you were a child and enjoy the wonder of it all.
Yes, Burn Out is one brand, but there are others. It uses clove oil as its active ingredient and it's very effective, yet safe. I think it works much better than the chemical sprays.
There are some other things organic gardeners do for weeds. If they are in the cracks of sidewalks you can pour boiling water on them, that will kill themd right away. Vinigar also works.
Best of luck, and thanks for giving organic options a try, it will be better for everyone in the family.