Organic Lawn Care
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My DadThe Groundsman |
| LAWN WORK |
The aim of organic lawn care: to promote a dense healthy turf that keeps weeds in check; promote drought resistance and good drainage. The details follow the summary.
Summary of Annual Lawn Maintenance Routine
- Soft raking in spring to remove winter debris,
- As grass growth starts, begin mowing with the blades set high - Collect grass for composting – Feed with fish blood and bone - U.K. or Spring Lawns Alive -for N.America.
- Increase frequency and gradually reduce height of cuts when mowing - Never make deep cuts into lawn length.
- Second organic feed may be required on poor soils - Use liquid manure for more rapid greening-up.
- Leave the grass box off when mowing fine lawns frequently in summer – Irrigate when necessary.
- In late summer/early autumn begin autumn lawn feeds (lower nitrogen, higher potassium content) – Collect grass cuttings for composting or mulching elsewhere – increase cutting height.
- Scarify and aerate if and where necessary.
- Make lawn repairs.
- Clean mower thoroughly, sharpen blades and protect with oil.
- Only if necessary i.e. ph less than 5; spread ground limestone or dolomite; not lime.
Organic Lawn Care In Detail
LAWN MOWINGMowing begins when the grass starts growing, late March or April in my locale. Start with a spring rake and gentle brushing to remove debris. On dry days before each cut, use a birch broom to scatter worm casts. Don’t mow when the grass is wet.
Note: cultivate soil deeply before seeding. Seeds coated with seaweed extract for quick germination & grass cover. |
To achieve a height of no less than 2 inches for lawns in the U.S.A., you would cut no more than 1 inch off a 3 inch grass sward and no more than a third off the length at any time. But in the U.K. during spring, 'utility lawns' can be cut to 1.25 inches and 'fine lawns' to 0.75 inches high, removing no more than about 0.5 inches per cut.
A grass height above 1.5 inches favours course grasses at the expense of the fine grasses. Cuts below 0.5 inches severely reduce the ability of the grass to regenerate and allow weeds in. During the summer in drought-free conditions the final heights can be reduced to 1 inch for 'utility' and 0.5 inches for 'fine lawns' - U.K.
Although longer grass has a larger leaf area to lose water, it is capable of higher yields that provide for a more extensive water gathering root system. More shade to reduce ground temperature plus increased shelter both tend to reduce evaporation. Hence, longer grass suites warmer climates. see also lazy lawn
It is common practice to leave the grass box off the mower when cutting fine lawns frequently during summer. This saves lots of time emptying and makes good organic lawn care. The fine clippings break down quickly and recycle about 30% of the lawn’s nutrient needs, so you save on lawn feed too. 'Mulch mowers' are specially designed to finely shred and recycle grass clippings back into the lawn.
Organic lawn care makes grass cuttings part of the garden nutrient cycle. However, it is not advisable to recycle clippings from early spring and autumn directly onto the lawn. Then, lower temperatures can lead to an accumulation of debris and increased risk of attack from a pernicious fungus such as Fusarium. (see below).
PRICKING
You might precede lawn feeding by half inch deep pricking (see Aerating below).
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| Good organic lawn care produces a dense turf, closed to weeds. |
You should not provide high nitrogen feed after mid summer as this will stimulate sappy green growth, which is more vulnerable to attack by fungal disease in winter. This applies to ordinary lawn care as well as organic lawn care. However, you can obtain specially formulated autumn feeds that contain larger amounts of potassium to toughen the grass for winter. (Gardens Alive purpose made organic lawn care feeds - include Autumn Lawns Alive)
Many gardeners dislike clover and medics in a fine lawn. Yet these will improve fertility due to the nitrogen fixing bacteria associated with their roots. Indeed, the grass cuttings will be even more nutritious. So there’s no need to weed these herbs out, but do compost the cuttings. Gardeners using organic lawn care will tolerate medicago in 'fine lawns', and white clover too, in 'utility lawns'.
WEED CONTROL
Organic lawn care provides remidies that don't involve hormone weed killers. Weed control is mainly about promoting healthy grass growth and a closed turf that prevents seeding in. Too short a cut, too deep a cut and walking on the lawn in frost or wet weather can open the grass cover, check growth, create muddy patches and expose bare patches for weeds. Worm casts can also provide fertile ground for weeds to germinate. But retain the worms by organic lawn care as they prevent dire problems that other gardeners have.
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| Course grass weeds survive hormone weedkillers - fine leaved grass repair doesn't match |
BARE PATCHES
Bare patches need to be repaired as quickly as possible in order to avoid weed invasion. You can do this any time except winter or in drought conditions although, the best times are autumn and spring. Choose a fast growing grass seed like Rapid Green - it is coated with seaweed extract. More details of seeding, turfing and lawn repairs coming soon.
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FUNGAL DISEASE
Fungal disease can be a big problem as they discolour the lawn and kill the grass. My present lawn has never suffered from pathogenic fungal attacks in over 40 years.
May I suggest not mowing over the effected and un-effected areas at the same time so as not to spread the infection. Don’t recycle grass clippings from the effected area. The grass may look brown but don’t use high nitrogen feeds. Try a high potassium autumn feed in spring to toughen up the lawn. Comfrey liquid is high in potassium but dilute it well. Organic lawn care does not allow fungicides. So where the fungal disease persists for longer periods may I suggest using a flame gun to sterilise the grass and top soil. Follow this by re-seeding.
WORMS
Worms are essential to gardens and important to organic lawn care because their burrows drain and aerate the soil. Removing the worms can cause detrimental effects such as ponding, and poor aeration. These in turn create further problems including moss invasion.
The main problem with worm casts is that they provide a foothold for weed seed germination. Worm casts should be scattered on dry days and before mowing by brushing with a birch broom. If the present water table is high then putting in field drains may help reduce the number of worm casts.
MOSS
Moss can sometimes become troublesome on lawns, yet killing the moss won’t solve the underlying cause. This can be due to a poor covering of grass, poor drainage, compaction, and shady conditions.
Scarify and aerate the lawn well and top dress with grit or lawn sand(see below or get lawn sand ). Be careful not to spread the moss over the lawn by raking. This can considerably exacerbate a problem. Promote healthy growth and a dense turf. Don’t cut the grass too short or check growth by cutting back too hard.
The easily recognised moss Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus named Fly Mow Moss by municipal authorities is very tough and springy. The air stream from fly mowers presses it down so when the blades cut the grass they always miss the moss. Naturally, it soon takes over completely.
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AUTUMN ORGANIC LAWN CARE JOBS
Raking up fall leaves, scarifying, aerating, and top dressing.
RAKE UP FALL LEAVES
It is important not to leave fall leaves on the lawn as they lead to bare patches. Rake off with a spring rake, or use a blow-vac. Better still are leaf sweeps, which you push over the lawn to easily brush leaves into a bag. Either way picking up leaves is best done when dry; don’t leave this job too late. Another option if you use a rotary mower to mow the leaves up with the grass cuttings for composting.
SCARIFYING
Most gardeners practising organic lawn care question the need for scarifying simply because for them it is unnecessary. Scarifying removes the build up of dead organic matter or thatch, which smothers the soil and new growth.
However, this is only necessary if the lawn is poorly drained, the soil compacted or very acidic; or if you have committed the gardening sin of killing the worms. Otherwise, the worms remove the dead organic matter naturally.
There is another benefit to scarification. Mowing only cuts grass leaves, but scarification can act to prune the creeping roots and stems of the grass and perhaps encourage them to root and branch and, thicken the turf. But this growth only happens in autumn.
So make scarification a job for the 'back end' when the frequency of mowing is reduced. You can scarify by firm raking with a spring tined rake. Nowadays however, you can use special lawn scarification tools bearing sharp hooked blades to cut and rake out the thatch.
New seeded lawns should not be scarified or raked for about 2 years. Scarification is not a job for spring. Always be careful that you don’t tear up the grass when you scarify with a spring rake. Never rake from disease or moss infested areas onto healthy lawn areas.
AERATING
Aerating is done to counteract compaction. Compaction prevents the roots and soil micro-organisms from breathing, prevents percolation causing ponding, and later on these problems contribute to drought conditions. The symptoms also include browning in dry weather, bare worn patches, moss growth and lack of vigour. Areas like this need special attention when aerating.
Aerating is often a major task, so you need to concentrate the effort first where attention is needed. Free draining sandy soils may never need aerating. The job is done annually in the fall. Work on the trouble spots you’ve identified. Hopefully you’ll be able to move to another area next year. If the whole lawn needs aerating then you might work on a different area each year.
Aerating is achieved by sticking a fork into the surface to about 3 inches deep or more and in rows 6 inches apart. Gently move the fork back and forth before pulling out vertically. You will achieve a more thorough job by using a hollow tine fork. This withdraws soil cores.
Pricking can also be useful before scattering fertilizer but it only penetrates half an inch. By contrast to aerating, manual pricking machines make this a relatively quick and easy job.
TOP DRESSING
To improve the consistency of the lawn soil and fill in hollows you can top dress after aerating. Make a mix of 4 parts loam, 2 parts sand and 1 part leaf mould. Increase the proportion of sand or grit and reduce loam content for heavy clay soils; increase the leaf mould and reduce the sand for sandy soils.
Lay the mix down along a line 1 or 2 metres long say; then spread with a rake or brush. Aim for about 1.6 Kg per square metre.
Lawn Sand is a traditional lawn fertilizer/weed killer material composed of (ferrous) iron sulphate and ammonium sulphate. If you wish to make a fine lawn from a large area of weedy grass then lawn sand is a far better option than hormone weed killers, which have no place in organic lawn care, or perhaps weeks of hand weeding. Get Lawn Sand - recommended for care of fine lawns
Although it is not strictly organic, if you’re using a traditional mix of lawn sand, with no nasty herbicide or hormone additives, it is reasonably safe to use. It kills all broad leaved weeds and moss. However, a considerable problem arises because lawn sand kills clovers and acidifies the ground.
The lawn sand is spread during lawn-moist conditions after which the grass is left un-trampled for a couple of days then well-watered. The iron and ammonium both help to green-up the lawn after an initial blackening.
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LIMING
When soil ph is below 5 consider spreading ground limestone or dolomite on the lawn in winter. Obviously liming has a counteractive effect on any ph reduction from lawn sand. But don’t use lime for this purpose, indeed avoid using it within a month or two of lawn sand.
END OF THE LAWN - more information and links on organic lawn care
