THE ORGANIC LAWN
Spring is that time of the year when we need to fertilize our lawn. Many of us leave this chore up to our gardener. Most gardeners will use an inexpensive chemical fertilizer. The results are gratifying as it quickly greens up your grass. The problem is your gardener is following a chemical approach which will cause many problems as the season progresses.
Chemicals reduce the microbial population in a soil and prevent a strong food web from developing. The result is a weaker grass prone to insect and disease problems. The end result is fungus usually attacks a lawn in late June, chinchbugs as the heat of July kicks in and grub infestation that takes place in August. To correct the problem your gardeners are forced to treat with toxic products that cost you more money while contaminating your soil. If they followed chemical weed and feed applications in the spring, you have added toxic materials to pollute your soil.
Toxic substances in the soil vaporize and pose a health problem for your children and pets to play on. The health problems that many scientists and doctors contribute to this are staggering and alarming. Spend some time to Google this problem and educate yourself about it. It is an alarming health problem that can easily be avoided by switching to an organic safe approach. There is nothing more important than the health of your children, your pets and you.
The other advantage of an organic lawn is that if you feed your lawn with an organic fertilizer, your grass will remove CO2 from the atmosphere through a process called photosynthesis but if you feed with chemical fertilizers, you will add CO2 to the atmosphere as soluble nitrates evaporate into the air. With the new administration claiming that global warming does not exist we need to do everything we can to fight this misconception. This is a fight we are all in together.
If you are looking for the perfect lawn, you can only achieve this by building an organic lawn. A chemical lawn will always be a problem lawn. An organic lawn although it may take 4-5 years to achieve works on achieving proven growing principles. We are not killing the microbes in the soil who are working to achieve a robust food web that works towards sustainability. The organic way is to develop a deep root system by following practices that promote deep root growth. We follow practices that will achieve a turf so thick that weeds will not penetrate it. We water our lawn a ½ inch twice a week to develop a deep root system. We top dress in June with lobster compost to prevent a fugues problem by building up the good bacteria to fight the bad bacteria. We leave the grass clippings to add nutrients back into the soil. We build up the immune system in our lawn by feeding with organic products.
Read the chapter in my book “12 Steps To Natural Gardening” on page 135. It is filled with organic tips to produce a great sustainable lawn. Follow the directions. The cost for the first five years may be greater but the cost after that will be less and the results will be much more rewarding. A lawn that is not only beautiful but healthy for you and your children to play on is the lawn you want to achieve.
To achieve these results will require a discussion with your gardener or may force you to purchase the ingredients you want him to apply. We have all the products in stock. We have a garden calendar available for you which will tell you what products to apply when.
