THE ORGANIC MOVEMENT STARTS HERE
September is the start of the lawn season. A majority of our lawns in the U.S. are being treated chemically. This is a huge problem contributing to global warming. Tied to this is use of toxic insecticides, herbicides and fungicides to treat ailing lawns which have become more susceptible due to the use of chemical fertilizers. Chemically treated plants have a lower resistance level than organically treated ones. I have just finished writing four articles on the organic lawn. Hopefully they have convinced you to switch your gardening practices to a natural organic approach if you already haven’t done so. This is the start of the Lawn season which I consider the start of the organic season. Organics starts in your back yard with in the way you treat your lawn.
I have given you all the information that you need to work on your lawn. Take action and put this information to work. September is the best time to fertilize and seed your lawn. We recommend Natural Beauty for September feeding. It is an organic fertilizer fortified with a large mixture of beneficial microbes. Remember, in the organic lawn it is the microbes in the soil that break down the organic matter in the fertilizer and through symbiotic relationships the nutrients are transferred to the roots of the plant. We recommend fertilizing 3 times a year but if you only fertilize once a year, September is the best month to do so. Fall fertilizing can do more good for your lawn than at any other time of the year. Grass is a cool weather crop and when the cool weather moves in, grass will multiply and crowd out its competition. Fertilizer stimulates it to vigorously grow and take over. Organic gardeners understand Nature and work with it.
The other factor to keep in mind is that we need to realize that we need to have a high enough percentage of grass to accomplish this. In the heat of summer weeds and crabgrass have the advantage. They start to take over the lawn. This is why a renovation program in the fall is a good maintenance. Rent an aerator to create holes for grass seed to fall into and air to penetrate your soil. Seed your lawn to increase the number of grass seedlings competing against weeds.
The object of an organic lawn is to develop a turf so thick that it will crowd crabgrass and existing weeds. When working on my mother’s organic lawn 10 years ago, crabgrass became so prevalent that I had a crabgrass lawn. I didn’t have the time or energy to pull it out so I heavily seeded into it. I rented an aerator and seeded the whole lawn. My soil had been properly prepared in the past so my soil structure was good. It was a sunny lawn and I chose to use Johnathan Green Black Beauty Ultra. Black Beauty is a new developed resistant strain of tall Fescue that stands up better to insect invasion and diseases. It is a very vigorous aggressive grass strain with a nice dark green color. Once I spread the grass seed evenly over the top, I took a rake and a broom and made sure the seed fell to the ground filling many of the plug holes created by the aerator. I then top dressed my lawn with a very thin layer of sterile bagged at the rate of one bag per 1,000 square feet by placing soil into a wheelbarrow and tossing it out as if feeding the chickens. I raked and broomed the soil lightly to cover the seeds.
The seed was then watered 3 times a day and as the new grass seedlings germinated, the crabgrass, a hot weather crop started to die in the cooler weather. Next spring my grass was so thick that crabgrass could not penetrate it. If there is one open space of dirt showing through a thick lawn, crabgrass will fill the spot. So if you see an empty area, be sure to place some more seed on it. By following my program as outlined in my book you will be doing everything possible to give the advantage to grass. Always remember you want your turf to be so thick that no weeds or crabgrass will penetrate it. By now you should know the battle you have to wage and you need to wage it.
When you follow an organic approach you are not only striving for the best lawn in your neighborhood but you are fighting global warming, providing a lawn that is healthy for your pets and children to play on and you are using an organic fertilizer that will not pollute our water ways. Our water and our air are the most precious commodity we have and we need to protect them. Global warming is a fight we all need to participate in if we are going to win the battle.
