Question
I would love to have some organic facts and tips. Thank you Charlotte.
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Followup To

Question -
Hello Charlotte. Do you feel I planted the wrong seed? I'm very novice to landscaping and it is very possible I did. When you said weed my first thought was "oh no" because that is what I was trying to prevent. I'm willing to do the job over again if I did indeed make a mistake on seed species. I never did add though that I live in Washington State, where it rains 300 days out of the year. This area is very strange you may get a sunburn one day then it's cold and rains for two weeks straight. I was just hoping I picked a hardy grass. If it is indeed a weed, I have found through my limited experience that weeds seem to always survive and repopulate no matter what you throw at them. Sort of like the cockroach. Hopefuly this pertains to my Rye grass. Thanks Mark
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Followup To

Question -
Hello. I planted a new lawn 2 weeks ago and it is growing wonderfully except some thin spots. The grass is about a 1/2 to an inch tall. I water it good once a day. It is perineal rye. What do i do about the thin spots will they eventually grow into thicker grass? I was going to reseed with my speader but I'm afraid to step on the baby grass blades. Any suggestions would help. Thanks

Answer -
Hi Mark;
It will probably fill in.
Perineal rye is a weed here.
It is a cool season grass, so it doesn't do well in our hot summers, but it comes back in the spring to bug us.
I have st. augustine with Burmuda in some areas, mixed in with the st. augustine.
You want to start a progran of deep watering right away.
Watering to a depth of at least 6 inches encourages a deep root system, and that helps protect against heat, cold and drought damage.
All the rye that has ever come up in my lawn was shallow roted, and easy to pull up.
Maybe i just pulled it before it could get roots down deep.
Of course, the more traffic you can keep off the lawn, the better it is going to fare.
I would wait to redeed, if you still feel it needs it, is when it gets big enough to mow.
Charlotte

Answer -
Hi Mark;
First, now, don't go bemeaning those poor little cockroaches.
Outside, in the ground, which is where they prefer to be, they are one of the most beneficial insects you can have.
They feed on harmful insects, and tunnel through the soil, aerating it.
We put down insecticides, kill off their food of choice, and threaten their lives, so they come into our house, were it is safe, and they can find food.
I leave mine in the soil, and put fresh sprigs of rosemary on each pantry, cabinet, and cupboard shelf, and under each appliance, everywhere roaches can come in or hide. I never see one in my house. rosemary repels some other insects too.
Weeds are easy.
Fertilizers don't enrich the soil. They feed the vegetation, including the weeds, and then wear out, so you have to reapply.
Pur sugar at the rate of 1 pound per 250 sq,ft, and water it in well. Sugar nourishes the beneficial microbes that work round the clock, enriching your soil.
Weeds love poor soil. They will not survive in rich soil.
Putting down the sugar did away with all my weeds, inluding the annual rye. It may have been perenial, it came up every year.
Here is a site I found about what grasses are good for your area.

http://www.lawngrass.com/states/washington.html

Go check this out, and then go organic. You will never be sorry.
Write me if you want any organic gardening facts and tips.
Charlotte

Answer
Hi again Mark;
Oh, Rye will grow!!!
Maybe the reason we call it a weed here is because it is a cool season grass, and when our hot summers get here, it goes dormant.
A lot of people plant rye so they will have green grass longer in the fall, but if you water deeply, and take good care of your lawn, the burmuda and st. augustine stay green long into the fall.
Even the oorly tended lawns, if they just get enough water,,stay green until around Thanksgiving.
I have even had roses still blooming then, and a lot of years have had blooms on my roses at Christmas.
Since I atarted the organic program, my grass stays green longer and greens up sooner in the spring than the chemically treated lawns in the neighborhood.
Most of my neighbors have jumped on my organics bandwagon, but there are still a few holdouts. LOl

 Alfalfa meal is good.
You probably have to get it at a feed store.
You can make a tea of it to water with, or put in a sprayer and fooliar feed, or you can add it to soil, or just put it down and water it in. It will continue to nourish through more waterings.
Alfalfa has all kinds of good nutrients in it. The tea is good to water your houseplants with.
The nutrients in alfalfa are good for flowering plants to encourage more and larger blooms, and it is just an all round good feed.
Lava sand is good too.
After avolcano epupts, and the lava cools off and things begin to grow again, it literally creates an Eden.
That is what all those gorgeous flowere in Haiwaii grow so well.
I use baking soda disolved in water for a fungicide. I don't have to apply it as often, just when there is new growth and the weather is cool and damp enough for fungus to grow. I can't find out exactly how much to use, so I use about 1/4th cup per gallon of water.
In the soil, beneficial insects, microbes and nemetoade take care of all the unwanted insects.
Compost is great.
start a compost pile.
There are formulas for making compost, but i just toss everything in.
I beg leaves from my neighbors in the fall, and add them to my compost pile, all the raw vegetable scraps from the kitchen. Lettuce leaves, fruit peels and apple cores etcc.
every once in a while ( every few months) i toss in a handful of sugar. Keep it turned ( about every 2 weeks.), and when I add a lot of leaves, I add some soil from an area that has bad clay ( when I still has some) or any dirt.
It turns bad dirt into great topsoil.
You can put manures in it, cow and horse are better. sheep has a little more acid, I think don't have many sheep here.
It has to be well rotted manure though. Freshly deposited manure has a lot of bacterial and things in it that can create problems in your compost and ruin it.
My grand daughter has two horses, so sometimes when we go out there, my husband gets some in a plastic bag, from the back lot, and adds it to our pile.
He is "Keeper of the compost pile"

  Inside:
I put a small piece ( about 1 inch) of rosemary on each pantry, cupboard and cabinet shelf. and a little larger piece under every appliance in the kitchen and laundryroom.
I toss a little piece in the closets, anywhere roaches can come in or hide.
Rosemary repels roaches and some other insects.
In the house, I use rosemary and lavender, and cedar.
I buy a tiny bottle of cedar oil at the health food stores, and paint a line of it on the clothes rods in the closets, and down the door frames and baseboards. Keeps insects out of your closets.
I use lavender for aroma therapy. It is very relaxing, and will help you drift off into a sound and relaxed sleep.
Since I started using thos three in the house, I have no roaches, spiders, silverfish or earwigs, or ants in the house.
Herbs are very easy to grow. I grow some in large containers and some in the ground.
Lavender repels flies, and since I started using lavender scented shower gel to bathe, and lavender scented bath powder, mosquitoes don't bother me. They used to consider me a banquet.
I have a large container planted with lavender at each entrance. It helps keep flies from coming in when they door is open.
I strew cedar bark mulch all over the yard to control fleas and ticks. I have 4 dogs.
Cedar repels a ton of insects, including termites.
I put a line of cedar bark mulch around the foundation of the house when it is time for termites to swarm.
I have been doing that for the whole 40 years we have lived in this house, and the only termites i have ever seen were some in an old tree stump in the back of the yard, a few years after my husband cut the tree down. I paintes some cedar ol across the top of the stump. the next day he cut it off about 6 inces from the top, and there were no termites in it anymore.
    That is about all I can think of now. If you have any specific questions, just write me anytime.
Oh!!! almost forgot the best one.
chopped lemon peels scattered in your flower beds will keep the neighborhood kitties from using your flower beds for a litter box, and chopped up orange peels scattered on the lawn when fire ants are ready to swarm, will keep them out of your yard.
The main ingredient in fire any killer is orange oil.
they put a lt of other stuff in it, but that is unnecessary.
Just buy a big bag of oranges, inlist the help of a bunch of kids to eat the oranges and chop the peels and scatter them. They sift down into the grass ( I cut them about the sixe of a chicklet or smaller.) and don't look messy. when they compost, they add more nutrients to the soil.
If you already have a fire any hill, just drop a handful of orange peels on top of it, and they will leave right away.
Write anytime.
Charlotte