What You Need To Know About Organic Lawn Care

Spring arrives and the smell of freshly mown grass fills the air. Which is your signal to begin the annual rituals of spreading synthetic lawn care products, firing up the mower and having at it against nature.

Or not. Because if you're tired of your chemical-saturated lawn maintenance routine maybe it's time to get your grass off performance-enhancing drugs. Turning instead to more sustainable methods to achieve a lawn that's still perfect, the envy of the neighborhood, yet eco-friendly too.

Now organic lawn care begins with the grasses you plant. It also involves watering wisely, feeding sustainably, mowing right, while dealing with weeds or pests organically. Let's briefly learn what each entails and then some.

Going Native When Deciding Which Grass to Plant

How much you have to water, feed and treat depends in large part on the seed you plant. Grass species known to thrive in your local climate are more likely to fend off pests naturally without much help from you. So plant cool season grasses in the north, warm season grasses down south or transitional strains if you're in-between.

Feeding Organically and Sustainably

Even the best strains of grass need to be fed. The organic way is to improve the soil. Some find spreading compost is enough. Others try compost tea. While for micro nutritional needs you can add things like sea weed fertilizers, cotton seed meal and so on. Nitrogen can be added naturally by adding some white clover into the mix.

To pull that off, you want to get an idea of the soil's pH. That will tell you want it needs to best support the grass. Because if your soil is anything other than a pH of 6.5 (just slightly acidic) to 7 the grass will have trouble absorbing nutrients. To fix that you'd use either sulfur or limestone depending on whether it's too alkaline or acidic.

Turf Truth: A green lawn in an integral part of home ownership. Americans have roughly 40 million acres with sod under cultivation. That comes down to an area equal to about the state of Washington covered in grass.

Wise Watering Practices

Certainly watering is necessary at times. Yet too much watering either by you or from rain and you wash away vital nutrient. Too little leaves you with grass that's dull and parched. Watering is best done early in the morning. Both to minimize evaporation and keep plant diseases away.

More Mowing Means a Better Lawn

You can water less if you mow more - often. The idea is to remove no more than a third of the blade each time you mow and leave it behind. So you can't let the grass grow too long. Leaving clippings to break down can provide up to 50% of the nitrogen you lawn needs to stay vibrant and green. The most earth friendly may opt for a hand powered mowing machine - if you're up to it and your yard it sized right for it. But going electric is a good alternative too.

Dealing with Weeds and Pests Organically

A lush lawn naturally crowds out the weeds. While corn gluten can be used to keep weeds from sprouting. Up to 90% control takes a couple two three years to achieve but it's an earth friendlier way to keep weeds at bay.

See, nothing totally radical in that list of organic options? So if another year of chemical warfare isn't something you are looking forward to, maybe it's time for a different tact. Because in the long run organic is not only more sustainable, it's simply better for your yard, your pets and your family. Why not give it a chance?

Doesn't matter if you're talking organic lawn care, ultra quite electric lawn mowers or fun to mow with riding lawn mowers the site for you is MowerMania.com. You definitely want to visit if you have questions about lawn care, mowers or yard tools.

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