QuestionI have about 2 acres of lawn in Maryland (about 20 miles West of Baltimore). My front yard is about 7000 Sq. Feet, the bag yard is the remaining 2 acres. I want to go organic. I've read other responses from you but am still confused.
1. Without tearing up my existing yard, how do I improve the soil? I've ordered a test, but haven't done it yet. Should I begin topping my yard with manure, peat moss, etc?
2. You mention Corn Gluten, but people think I'm crazy when I ask for it. Do you know of anyone in this area (zip 21771) that can help me with organic lawn care supplies?
3. I have 5 large bags of Scotts Turf Builder sitting in my driveway that I don't want to use (and I know you don't want me to use it). But I need to make my yard green because it looks pretty bad. What fertilizer can I use instead and where do I get it? You've mentioned the types of fertilizers, but I can't seem to translate that to a name or brand that I can purchase locally?
In a nutshell, I want to improve my soil and fertilize organically. With a large yard, I'm concerned about expense so maybe I should start with my front yard only. But any ideas for the large back yard. It faces a golf course....and it doesn't look pretty.
Thank you.
Steve
AnswerI could give you pages and pages of answer for each one of your points 1, 2 and 3, Steve. I'll try to be short and reasonable -- so if you have individual questions, please put them in a separate new question so that I can keep this manageable. They get hard to follow after a while.
I.
Your first question: What can you do right now, today, to make your soil better?
On that, I have to point out that best thing you can do is not to do any damage from applying the Scotts Turf Builder in Question #3. Which I will have more to say on if I can stay awake that long. It is way past my bedtime, but this is as important to me as it is to you.
Without knowing anything about your soil, it is a little risky to guess, in the dark like this, what your soil needs. People love to hear blanket statements about their lawn and their soil. They all want to simplify and shortcut. Nobody wants to test their soil. But Steve, look back a few weeks and you'll find this followup question from someone who DID send in a soil sample for analysis and got some big surprises:
'I received my soil analysis...I am beginning to see
what you mean by homework. It does seem alot! 4 applications of Lime before starting fertilizer? Do I have that right? + still seed in Fall/September? ... Lab said PH 4.4; Acidity (H) 9.6; C.E.C. 15.5; Percent Base Saturation
K1.9%,MG10.2%,Ca25.5, H62.3%; Organic Matter 1.1%. Also test results Phosphorus is very high at 225, Potassium is medium at 116, MG is medium at 190, Ca is very low at 790, and Sulfur is medium at 19...'
These people have a new house, and they can't get a lawn going. What kind of Plain Vanilla Answer would ever change that for them, Steve? Without that soil report, they could be guessing for years -- and I don't think they would have guessed at a 4.4 pH, or the elevated level of Phosphorous, etc., in a million years. But now, they know all they need to grow a beautiful lawn, and they'll do that in September after spending their summer fixing all the problems with the soil.
What I am telling you here is....
GET A SOIL TEST!!!!
Steve, you may have read my explanation here for why that soil test is absolutely necessary. But I'll say it here again.
If you wanted to bake a cake, you would get out the cookbook and make a list of Ingredients. Right? Then you'd check the cupboard and the refrigerator. Do you have eggs? Do you have flour? Milk? Vanilla? You'd make a list, and you'd go shopping.
If you already have Flour, you don't need to buy any more Flour. Right?
Those people in that first example, Steve, they have Flour. LOTS of Flour. TOO MUCH Flour.
Maybe you already have Eggs. Scratch those off the shopping list.
Now you get home, and you have to set the oven. What's the temperature?
Did you test for that?
Steve, How in the world are you going to set the oven temperature if you don't test it first? How are you going to bake a cake, Steve, if you don't know how hot the oven is?
You need to find that out!
What's the pH of your soil?
You don't know!
A soil test will tell you what's in the cupboard, what's the oven temperature, how long was the cake in there, if you have Eggs and Butter and Flour... These are things you NEED to know.
Because...
You CANNOT grow wonderful green grass without this information.
You MUST get a soil test.
And here's where you can do that:
Look up your local Cooperative Extension Service on the internet:
www.csrees.usda.gov/qlinks/partners/state_partners.html
Be VERY serious about following their instructions so that you can give them a valid sample.
For the Rolls-Royce of testing, follow the directions at:
http://www.soilfoodwebnewyork.com/
It costs a ton of money, and it's worth its weight in gold.
Your concern in your last paragraph ('I'm concerned about expense') is the same concern we all have, Steve. But a soil test will save you money. You won't be paying for things you already have in your soil. You can spend it on a round of golf instead. A new set of clubs. A bag of ultrafine Bentgrass from Seedland.com. A couple of Kobe Steaks. This is a good investment. It is smart, it is green, and it is the first thing you must do before you buy anything else.
That said, in a nutshell, the best other things you can do is to keep the soil-building Earthworms happy by NOT pouring Scotts Turfbuilder on the soil. Birdbaths and Birdfeeders will get the neighborhood Birds over to your house for breakfast, lunch and dinner -- a very good thing to have since they eat tons of bugs and their droppings are free fertilizer. But you knew that because you have already read some of these other things I have told other people. Birds are your friends and they are the best insecticides in the world.
Every few years, a lawn should be aerated. You don't need to do this every year, unless there is a significant amount of traffic on your lawn that would compact it. By aerating, you pump air into the soil under your grass. This is somethign that shold be done as soon as possible, around 2 weeks or so before you see leaves starting to bud on your neighborhood trees. To feed the grass that you already have, a generous top dressing of an organic microbe treat will wake up soil microbes. Don't bother putting down Sugar -- I see that posted a lot recently, and it is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard (and I am really skeptical about the so-called professional credentials of anyone who claims it is good for the 'microbes'). Keep the sugar in the kitchen with the cake you baked in Question #1. Instead, a wide sprinkling of Soybean Meal, Cottonseed Meal, Blood Meal, Alfalfa Meal, etc., are all steps in the right direction. You don't have to put a lot down. Just a token application, evenly distributed all over your lawn. And follw that up with a homemade Compost Tea as the soil heats up. If you mow, keep the clippings on the grass. And remember, your Corn Gluten Meal is going to decompose all summer into Nitrogen fertilizer.
I have to stop now as it is quite late and this is way too long but I have to say one more thing.
You do realize, Steve, that Golf Greensmen all over the country are seriously practicing some very organic techniques for their golf greens? They use a lot of seed and lawn products, so they are great test drivers of new introductions. Ask yourself what a Greensman would do next time you want to buy Fertilizer.
I don't know if that makes sense because I am down for the count now.
I'd better stop now. Followup questions welcome, but please, check the temperature on the oven soon. You want to bake that cake right. Thanks for writing and keep me posted.
II.
Question #2: Corn Gluten Meal. Yes, I know exactly what people look like when you ask for it. They look just like the guy in the supermarket when I asked for Water Chestnuts. They just keep bringing over cans of Chestnuts, the kinds you put in stuffing. If you want Water Chestnuts, you better know where to find it in the supermarket. The trick with CGM is that this is a licensed ingredient. For zipcode 21771 in alphabetical order:
Blue Seal Feeds calls its pre-emergent Corn Gluten based organic weedkiller 'Safe 'N Simple'. CALL before you go to any of these places to make sure they sell Blue Seal Safe 'n Simple:
TRACTOR SUPPLY, 895 Leidy Rd., Westminster, MD 21157
410-848-2060
PROMISELAND FEED & SEED, 9187 Myersville Rd., Myersville, MD 21773
301-293-8444
LITTLE ROCK FEED LLC, 14290 Chapel La., Leesburg, VA 20176
703-443-6730
DAVID LEROY BRATHUHN, 4030 Miller Station Rd., Manchester, MD 21102
410-374-2490
GETTYSBURG AGWAY, 107 N Washington St., Gettysburg, PA 17325
717-334-1108
QUINCY HARDWARE, 7421 Anthony Hwy, Waynesboro, PA 17268
717-749-3653
CODORUS FERTILIZER, 4 Kraft's Mill Rd., Codorus, PA 17311
717-229-2311
RIVER CITY FARM & PET SUPPLY, 5 Milestone Terr., Williamsport, MD 21795
301-223-7574
GOWER'S FEED, 1208 North Mildred St., Ranson, WV 25438
304-728-7777
FEED PLUS INC, 2725 Fallston Rd., Fallston, MD 21047
410-557-7330
Fertrell Company's WEED BAN MIGHT (call first) be sold at:
EAST COAST ORGANICS, 2800 Sisson Street, Baltimore, MD 21211
410-889-8784
COMMON SENSE NUTRITION, 19933 Lemuel La., Boonesboro, MD 301-733-2818
DONALD MERRITT & SON, 2919 Hartford Road, Hydes, MD 21082
410-592-2467
Earth Friendly Weed Control (same brand as Cock-a-doodle-doo) is made by the Pure Barnyard Co LLC and MAY be sold at:
POTOMAC GARDEN CENTER, 8710 Fingerboard Rd, Frederick, MD 21704
301-874-3400
OR 12024 Darnestown Rd, N Potomac, MD 20878
301-948-8890
DUTCH PLANT FARM, 151 Baughman's La, Frederick, MD 21702 301-694-7012
TRIDEN ENTS., 9735A Bethel Rd, Frederick, MD 21702
301-694-6072
KENDALL HARDWARE,12260 Route 108, Clarksville, MD 21029
410-531-2111
GLYNDON GARDENS, 205 Hanover Pike, Reisterstown, MD 21136 410-833-2791
JOHNSONS FLOWER & GARDEN CENTER, 12201 Darnestown Rd, Gaithersburg, MD 20878
301-948-5650
STROSNIDERS HARDWARE, 10110 River Rd, Potomac, MD 20854
301-299-6333
BEHNKE NURSERIES, 9545 River Rd, Potomac, MD 20854
301-983-9200
The Safer line of products and its owner, Woodstream Corp, which also makes Concern Weed Prevention Plus, is distributed nationally -- but you'll have to call their toll free number 1-800-800-1819 to find out where your closest retailer is. This is the product I currently purchase locally. It doesn't LOOK organic; the bag is very slick and if you didn't know better, you'd think you were buying a Scott's pesticide.
III.
Now on Question #3: Your grass is dull, are there patches of bare soil? weeds? what's the deal with the sun? Talk to me, Steve.
You're impatient about this. You want to revive your piqued grass. You want to inject life into the turf.
Let me quote from garden writer Jeff Lowenfels's book, Team With Microbes: 'High-nitrogen fertilizers encourage opportunistic annual weeds. Given an ample supply of nitrates, an unwanted plant suddenly has the food power to really take over. Adding to the injury, the mycorrhizal fungi ... are killed... surface feeding, nitrate loving weeds grow faster and overrun the garden.'
