Question
As a way to produce sustainable results I am researching organic lawn care...

I've been reading quite a bit about your sugar results and am considering adding this to my regime...

My issue is as follows:

1.  I live in seattle...Pretty dry in the summer and wet in the winter
2.  The lawn I am and have been working on for the past 12 months was pretty much neglected
3.  I began my "fix" with inorganic amethods...Round up, Scotts Turf Builder and Bayer Fungicide

At this point I am left with a decent looking lawn...

But, I have bare spots I need to fill in, a few weeds starting to crop up, poa anum begining to show up and a desire to build sustainable results
that don't rely on quick fix greening chemicals.

Answer
This is one very old question, but spring being around the corner, I will hope for the best, as I want very much to contribute to your new Organic view.

Main concern I have is that you are going to stumble on a lot of weird and wacky, sometimes just flaky, information.

As well as rumors that may or may not be true.

Let's begin with your Sugar rumor.

There are theories regarding Sugar and its use in the garden.  Molasses (unsulfured) is used (with documentable results in laboratory settings) for microbial boost in Compost Tea.  Table sugar does not have any legitimate research behind it and frankly I do think you should take claims about that with... excuse the expression... a grain of salt!

There are several theories about why it would, or would not, help to do things like control weeds and help flower production.

And I'm talking about legitimate theories by people with college degrees in biochemistry.  Not your average garden variety consumer.


But these theories have not been tested.  And the people who propose them are themselves skeptical about the veracity of claims that somehow applying sugar to your grass will make it so incredibly powerful that it will act like grass on steroids and elbow out all encroaching weeds.  I personally don't buy it.

You might.  And I think it's a great idea if you want to test it.  Because I won't be doing that at my house so it may as well be yours!

Like I said, some well qualified people have not thrown out the window any of these claims.  But they are not swallowing them, either.  Just dreaming up an explanation as to why they could work, on paper, maybe.

If the sugar trick doesn't work, best thing about it is that you have not really done much damage.  Although one theorist considers sugar a dehydrator that will mess up the microbial population just like salt would.

Let's go back to your Scotts chemical shopping spree.  I wish you had not done that, sir.

I know, I know.  It was nice to start out fresh.

Kill everything, just nuclear bomb the garden and you have a clean slate to begin with.  You had the best of intentions.  You were figuring, I'll take care of the grass and kill everything in sight, like a good gardener.

Tsk, tsk, Steve.

You know what you need?  You need that book "Teaming With Microbes" by  Jeff Lowenfels.

It's discounted at Amazon.com.

"Discover how to create rich, nurturing, living soil without resorting to harmful synthetic chemicals."  True story.  Chapter 18 is all about Lawns.

This book will tell you everything you need to know about soil structure, how to understand a soil analysis, pH, and what happens when you RoundUp/WeedandFeed your lawn.  And believe me, what happens is not pretty.

For spring, stock up on a pre-emergent that will disintegrated into high-Nitrogen slow-release fertilizer for your new grass:  Corn gluten meal.  It comes in several different brands including a product called WOW! sold at Gardens Alive (www.gardensalive.com).  This stuff is proven by scientists to work.  It also kills fungus in the soil and it does turn into a high Nitrogen fertilizer all summer long.  Poa Annua is an annual; Corn Gluten has to go down as soon as the Forsythia starts to bloom to stop the Poa from germinating and sprouting.

The first thing you should do before anything is get a soil analysis.  It will tell you all the stuff that's in your soil, and all the stuff that isn't but should be.  You'll have some good information there.

Intelligent Gardening is all about things like Earthworms and beneficial insects.  You don't want to kill those things.  They do incredible things for your soil.  And that's what you need more than anything for a great lawn.  You need fantastic seed, and fantastic soil.

Stick with me.  I'll help you grow the lawn of your dreams.