Question
Hey LIG, making progress with my crabgrass, hand removing whatever got through this year after the cornmeal, and planning to seed a few patches. I would like to do the compost thing to beef up the soil, but have a question: Do I want to order a truckload from somewhere or do I want to go with bags from the home depot? Any suggestions on who to order from? I live in the Shirley Area. Cutting the grass nice and long has really paid off during the last dry spell, when the neighbors chem-lawn burned up in spite of his fancy sprinkler and mine is green, crabgrass and all! Cathy

Answer
Sorry about your neighbor's Lawn disaster but like they say everything is relative.  Glad we could make a difference!  Maybe your neighbor needs you to teach him a thing or two about growing Grass.

Compost at Home Depot (and probably Lowes) is packaged as 'Compost/Humus' or something like that.  Pick it up before they run out of stock.  Don't let them tell you Peatmoss or Topsoil are 'just as good'.  These are nice guys who believe everything they're telling you but they do not have the faculties to comprehend the Science of this Soil for Grass.

If you have a Whole Foods nearby, you might find an excellent Compost product on their shelves that you can't possibly afford to pick up by the truckload, but it's good for one or two bags in the case of a small vegetable garden next year.

For large areas, the Home Depot/Lowes products will be adequate, and very reasonably priced.

Weed like crazy right now -- especially the low-to-the-ground Crabgrass and Annual Bluegrass plants that are seeding like a house on fire.  Every little bit counts.

We're heading into Autumn and it is time to start raking.  Make sure you collect all your dead leaves and pile them up for a Compost pile for next year.  This time in 2008 you will be able to dig up your own personal cache of Compost.  You might try teaching your neighbor how to do that.

Thanks for writing, very good to hear from you.