Why Organic Lawn Care?

The best fertilizer for your lawn is an organic fertilizer. Organic lawn care uses soil enhancements that really work such as compost, and unlike chemical fertilizers, they do not poison the environment or your soil. Man-made, inorganic fertilizers have a salt base, which causes imbalance in the pH of most soils. Chemical fertilizers also destroy the beneficial microorganisms in the soil. Many native plants and most grasses grow better without fertilizers of any kind. If you still decide that your lawn needs fertilizing, one application of an organic fertilizer to the soil before the growing season begins should be sufficient.

Organic Lawn Care Benefits Your Soil

Soils serve as an anchor for plant and grass roots. Grass needs live, healthy and balanced soil for productive growth and protection against pests. All soils have five major components, which include organic matter, minerals, water, air, and living organisms. The seldom-discussed living organisms and very important and consist of earthworms, insects, plants, algae, bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms.

The healthy balance of the soil can be negatively affected by the application of harsh synthetic fertilizers and lawn chemicals and can leave your soil with dry, sterile dirt. Organic lawn care will reverse the damage done to your lawn by the use of chemicals and fertilizers.

Composting Is Great For Organic Lawn Care

Roughly one third of all waste dumped in landfills across the United States consists of garden clippings and kitchen waste. By following the lead of the recycling movement, homeowners can reduce, reuse, and recycle this waste material instead of throwing it away. Learn more about composting.

Compost's natural crumbly, fibrous nature fluffs up clay soils and helps sandy soils hold water. Compost also provides a slow, even release of plant nutrients and stimulates root growth that will help your lawn grow stronger and is great for organic lawn care. Compost helps suppress soil-borne plant disease and pests. Compost also prevents erosion of our fast-depleting topsoil. Compost balances both acid and alkaline soils, bringing pH levels to the optimum range for nutrient availability. And compost is beneficial to worms and other organisms that are essential to a healthy soil and a healthy organic lawn.

Additional Organic Lawn Care Tips

Leave lawn clippings on the lawn. Your lawn will benefit from the organic material that lawn clippings supply. Grass clippings are pulled into the soil and are then decomposed by soil organisms, which provides the lawn with a natural and organic fertilizer. Reel mowers or mulching mowers are the best choice for organic lawn care, because they leave finer clippings than regular rotary mowers.

Also make sure to cut your lawn at the right height for your particular type of grass. Mowing at the proper height and dispersing the small glass clippings evenly so they fall down to the soil, can provide many benefits to your lawn. Mowing your lawn too short can cause stress, discourage deep root growth for your grass, and results in rapid loss of soil moisture. However, make sure not to let your grass grow too tall. Excess grass clippings can smother your lawn and kill the grass.

Another benefit to your lawn is to not rake your leaves, but to mow over the leaves so they will decompose along with grass clippings. However, if you choose to rake your leaves and grass clippings, collect them for mulching or composting to then be used later as fertilizer.

Water your lawn less frequently. Most experts agree that an inch of water once a week is the perfect amount of water for most lawns. This however, does vary with climate, soil composition, and time of year. When your soil becomes dry to the touch, it is time to water again. The right watering amount insures that grass roots will grow deep and make your lawn healthy. Exactly how deep the roots grow depends on the soil and type of grass. A good way to measure the amount of water used on your lawn is to distribute several containers around your lawn when you water the lawn. When the containers have around one inch of water, the watering is done.

Aerate your lawn. Areating your lawn is simply poking holes in the lawn which is done with a machine that pulls little round pieces of soil, called plugs, out of the lawn. These plugs are deposited on top of the lawn. Although you may find them unsightly, they serve an important role for your lawn and are a great benefit for your organic lawn. The plugs will break down and disappear in a couple of weeks. Aeration allows water, air, and nutrients into the soil and prevents soil compaction. For the best results, your lawn should be aerated about once a year.