Question
Thanks for staying up late and answering my questions.  Of course, now that you have made me a believer of organic lawn care, I have more questions.  

1.  My front lawn is thin and lacking green in some areas, but it is an established lawn.  Therefore, is it possible to improve the soil without having to kill all the vegetation first?  I read the UM site you provide and it says I need to add a lot of nitrogen.  

2. Can I add nitrogen over an existing lawn?  If so, what organic matter do I use?  I live near farms where there are horses and cows and may be able to get some manure....but how would I spread the waste?  What other ways can I add organic nitrogen over an existing lawn?  The UM website states "Slow release nitrogen (N) fertilizers such as sulfur coated urea, methylene urea or animal waste products are preferred."  What is sulfur coated urea and methylene urea?

3.  Should I overseed at all this fall with tall fescue while at the same time trying to improve soil (I'll go with your internet company for the seed if I do).

4.  When I'm learning something new, I tend to do too much research looking for the exact steps, but the internet is conflicting and confusing.  Can you provide a step-by-step program for me starting now through the Spring of what I should do to improve the soil?  For example, "in September...add nitrogen to your soil.  Here's how..."  "Then in October, add lime to your soil..here's how".  Or is there an organic lawn care book you can recommend that would help me with this?

I may be posting a lot of "Follow Ups" as this is a learning project for me.  Please let me know when I've hit my limit and have taken too much of your time.

Thanks.
Steve

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Followup To

Question -
Hi,
I just sent you a question about aerating and overseeding, but since then I've been reading your answers and understand your passion for organic lawns.  However, I'm a bit skeptical but would like to possibly give it a try.  Here's my story.

I live in Mount Airy, Md.  I have 2 1/2 acres of grass, (probably tall fescue, definitely not Bluegrass).......with weeds...possibly nutgrass, crabgrass, some white cloverly things.  Because the yard is so large and not possible to regularly water due to having a well, the lawn is obviously not in great shape.  And I'm sure the soil is pretty bad as well.  However, for the front yard...about 20-30K square feet, I'd like to make it nice.  So, organically speaking, what would you do to restore the entire yard and soil (all 2 1/2 acres) to eliminate weeds and improve soil?  What would you do to the front yard?  Solarize now, and resow seed in the spring?   What type of seed for Mount Airy, Md. would you use (just 20 miles due West of Baltimore)?  I love Kentucky Blue but it is hard to keep in the summer heat.  I have a tiller.  And I have a 60" Exmark so mowing regularly is not a problem.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm tired of the Scotts Turfbuildier w/Halts, and other products that don't seem to be working.  Thank you.

Answer -
Well, Steve, this is a tall order - but it is so encouraging for me to hear that someone wants to stop using Scotts, I have to stay up a little longer and answer your question right away.

Let's start with the University of Maryland "General Guidelines for Lawn Maintenance in Maryland" (iaa.umd.edu/umturf/Cultural/Guidelines%20for%20Lawn%20Maintenance).  

They list right there, point by point, what you need to do to grow a great lawn.  There's no secret here - and you probably know everything on their list, but we have to start somewhere.

You are clearly aware that it all starts with great soil and the best kind of grass for the environment you are going to give it.  

Note, sir, that UM specifies Fescue surprise surprise for your region noting that "tall fescue is the lawn grass best adapted for use from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. and southern counties as well as the Eastern Shore."  

There are several great internet suppliers of state of the art grass, which is always being developed somewhere to resist drought and improve vigor.  

My favorite, as you may have noticed, is Seedland.com.  But there are many.  

My experience with plain vanilla garden centers in the neighborhood is that they tend to sell whatever is available from the distributor, which is usually dictated by a huge advertising budget (i.e., Scotts/Ortho etc) and price.  That's why I go for internet retailers when it comes to seed.

Since you have your own Rototiller, it would be slightly more convenient for you to just go out one morning and yank out as much of the vegetation as possible, then till - once - and remove as many roots and rocks as you can find.  

It is the time of year that weeds start multiplying with several thousand seeds per plant - don't let a single weed get those seeds on your future lawn.

Assuming you have been using chemicals for a while, I think you would be doing your grass a favor if you tilled in a substantial amount of organic matter - leaves and humus, maybe you have a friendly neighbor with a few horses or rabbits, and you can build the soil up.  

Grass clippings I think should be saved and next year, you can do a mini-solarize project in the backyard to destroy any weeds that set seed.  You can try growing for this year a winter rye crop or other legume to build up the soiil fertility.  In the spring, you can rake smooth and put down your seed.

True, Kentucky Blue is becoming increasingly drought resistant and it is a stunning turfgrass.  

But you are being refreshingly realistic by noting your summer heat wave is no place for Kentucky blue.  And the difficulty of keeping it watered only makes it less of a choice.  

Go for the recommended Fescue - it will be the prettiest grass on the block, and with great soil, you won't be struggling with fungus and languishing grass.

Ever notice how some people don't do anything to their lawns, and it looks "fair", they have no clue there's even grass out there, it gets mowed once in a while and it looks "OK".  

Then someone else moves into the house and starts putting down all those 1-2-3 programs with catchy names and great commercials?  They take care of their lawn and love it to death, killing all the microbes in the soil with all the herbicides and fungicides, killing all the beneficial insects with the pesticides, and next thing you know the grass is sick and there are weird things all over the turf.  

Well, that's because all that chemical stuff with the smiley faces is baloney.  You'd be better off putting out a roll of Astroturf.

Next summer, watch your neighbors and see what they are doing.  You will be impressed with your green thumb the way things go next year.  Especially since you have that handy dandy Exmark to fly around on.  Nobody's Kentucky Bluegrass will look close to the green velvet of your fescue.  It's not possible.  I think you'll be very, very happy with Fescue.

It is usually best to sow a lawn in the fall.  But I think you would be wise to address the state of your soil this autumn, and in the spring, get a soil sample analyzed by a real pro.  Then start your grass.

That seed is going to need watering.  Please tell me you have a plan for this.  Seed NEEDS moisture - there's very little room for error at that stage of the game.  Another good reason to wait until April showers - but you need a backup in the event that the rainmakers don't work on the usual schedule.

Start small.  But keep weeds from setting seed around the non-lawn areas - that's going to be the biggest threat on the horizon.  That and lack of rain.

One last thing: You ought to do what you can to make your local birds happy.  You'll know you're doing that when you pull up to your house and see flocks of them sitting on your lawn, eating breakfast - or lunch, or dinner.  Birds love bugs.  And they produce a modest amount of fertilizer, which no one seems to ever mention.  Put out birdbaths and keep them filled; put out bird feeders and keep them stocked; and avoid the neighborhood cats, which are responsible for destroying so much of the bird population I don't even want to think about it.  Cats do have their place.  If you have a mole problem, or a mouse problem, they are terrific.  But as a general house-pet, they should not be kept outdoors.  Dogs are good for discouraging cats.

I hope this is clear - way past my bedtime here, but I could not sleep with this question on my mind.  Let me know if you need more detail on something.  And thanks for making my day.

Answer
Warm summer greetings, my Maryland friend.

In the wee hours, as the thermometer shows single digits, and summer only a memory, I was thinking of your Maryland lawn and how much you had to do.

And I stumbled on a book that you might find interesting.  It's called "Teaming With Microbes" and it describes, in just slightly more complex language, why Nitrogen from a bag you picked up at Lowe's and Nitrogen from decomposing leaves and grass are completely different.

In a nutshell, it boils down to salts.  But you can read all about it yourself if you order it from Amazon.com for a little over $16.  And they'll throw in free shipping if you spend $25 on the order.

I am perfectly happy however to resume this thread if you like.

It should begin anew however as there's no telling how long these followups can be before AllExperts disallows any more.

Ask a new question and I'll be happy to answer.  And you don't even have to rate me!  Meantime, I would be interested in what - and why - you decided to do what you did with your lawn last fall.  It is so easy and tempting to listen to the voices of Scott's.

And incidentally, I have mixed feelings about Rototilling.  But it may have been necessary if you had to deal with weeds.

Hope to hear from you again someday.  Best regards from the frozen tundra on Long Island...



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Hi, Steve.  Remember me?

I hate to short-cut such an important answer, but you have been so patient for the past few weeks, I am going to try to give you a clear but efficient answer.  I am not very good at that.  But I'll try now that I have a few hours before I have to get up again.

Most People - and I used to be one of those Most People - look at plants as living material that needs large amounts of certain molecules to grow and bloom.  After all, Hydrofarms grow plenty of life with plain H2O and the addition of molecules of fertilizer.  Orchids bloom, Marijuana oozes THC, vegetarians grow their entire food pyramid that way, in moving canals of water.  Who needs soil?

The way Most People see it, soil, and the inconveniences that come with it, is just "there".  We don't need bugs, fungi, bacteria, miscellaneous microbes and unrelated minerals.  So who cares if we get rid of those?  What difference does it make if we purify our soil and grow grass?  The grass is happy.  End of story.

So if Chemicals NEVER gets any bad press, if Organic methods ARE hocus pocus, Most People would be ready to throw the Nitrogen Cycle and the Carbon Cycle out the window.  Dirt? Who needs it?

But we're not growing our grass in water.  Not that kind of grass, anyway.

And since Decay is part of the Balance of Nature, we DEPEND TOTALLY on Fungi and Bacteria for Decay and Cycling.  Organic matter MUST be living in our soil if any of those necessary Fungi and Bacteria are going to live a full and happy life.  Their most important job is to make Humus.  Humus is "the dark organic material in soils, produced by the decomposition of vegetable or animal matter and essential to the fertility of the earth."  (Dictionary.com)

Good, rich, healthy soil depends on microbes.

Without microbes, there would be no Humus.

Almost ALL Nitrogen at the surface layer of your soil has to be in what they call organic form.  Decomposing leaves, grass clippings, Bacteria and other things normally found in healthy soil are basically living Amino Acids.  Amino Acids are built from molecules of Nitrogen.

Now, in healthy soil, as Bacteria and Fungi and other microbes grow and multiply, they seize any Nitrogen they can find right out of the soil to grow -- and make more Amino Acids.  That's the kind of Nitrogen that is in organic matter, waiting to be consumed by the microbes in the soil.  This is Dream Soil.  Ultra Soil.  The best that money can buy.   Earthworm populations are related to the amount of plant material that is eventually returned to the soil.

You can see why "cleansing" your soil, wiping out any of these actors, could become a problem.

But that's exactly what happens when you put down chemicals.

Consider, in addition, that roots are not just little sponges that soak up water and nutrients.  They are complex organs that coexist with microbes at their roots, and they count on this relationship for growth hormones and other chemicals that control life processes.  We didn't always know that.  But we know that now.

Given these absolute truths, my friend, why would anyone want to "kill all the vegetation"?

Because old habits die hard.  And even at the university level, Agricultural Extensions are frequently giving out advice that is not based on the most up to date science.  Farmers don't go to school to learn how to grow corn.  Chemistry does not really seem to apply to them.  Most People feel that way!

You, however, can study this relationship all winter long and emerge as the poster child for Intelligent Gardening.  Start with the Soil Food Web link, Elaine Ingham (www.soilfoodweb.com).

And when you read these University websites, remember that the advice givers may not know we we know.

With respect to your question about manure, you are incredibly lucky to be able to obtain all those different manures gratis.  BUT BE CAREFUL!  Manure MUST be aged AT LEAST A YEAR.  Otherwise, you'll get the same effect as if you walked your dog across your own lawn every day.  Burn, burn, burn.  But on a wider scale.

Sulfur coated Urea, for your information, is the industry's attempt at producing something that's good for your lawn.  They have invented a slow release Nitrogen fertilizer (in the form of Urea), treated to keep the treatment as little as possible.

Since I am now falling asleep, I will have to attempt to answer this question further over the weekend as I see there are several points you raised and details your requested.  I'll pick the rest of this up later.  Thank you for writing!