Sos Roofline Systems

Spring arrives and the smell of freshly mown grass fills the air. Which is your signal to begin the annual rituals of spreading synthetic lawn care products, firing up the mower and having at it against nature.

Or not. I mean if you want to ditch the bags of poison and get your grass off the performance enhancing drugs you can. Employing more sustainable tactics and products that will still enable you to have a near perfect lawn, that’s the talk of the neighborhood yet earth friendly as well.

Organic lawn care starts with planting grass likely to do well in your locale. It also means you have to water wisely, feed in a way that works with your soil, and mow more frequently among other things. Let’s briefly cover what’s involved.

Going Native When it Comes To The Grass You Plant

Grasses local to your area are more apt to thrive without a regular dose of pesticides. Because they are better able to fend off pests on their own without chemical assistance. For that reason you want to plant warm season grasses if you live in the south, cool season varieties up north and go with transitional strains if you live somewhere in the middle.

Feeding Organically and Sustainably

After picking an appropriate grass strain you want to attend to your plant’s macro and micro nutritional needs. Spreading compost is a no brainer. Compost teas are another approach. While things like blood meal, liquid fish fertilizer, and various seaweed fertilizers can help fill in the gaps.

Your soil’s pH tells you what kind of fine tuning you need to do. You want a reading of slightly acidic or between 6.5 and 7. If the reading is to either extreme it will be harder for the grass to take in the needed nutrients. To offset the extremes you’d spread limestone for a too acidic reading or sulfur if it’s too alkaline.

Turf Truth: Lawns are an integral part of the American landscape. Grass now covers about 40 million acres of the U.S. All of which amounts to enough acreage to equal the size of the state of Washington.

Be Smart When Watering

The one thing you can count on with the weather is it’s unpredictable. Too much rain leaches vital nutrients while too little rain leaves your grass parched, limp and wilted. If you have to water do so early in the day to cut down on water lost to evaporation. And minimize the growth of plant diseases that thrive in wet conditions. Now the truly ambitious will set up a rain barrel system to capture rain off the roof and save it for use on their lawn.

Why Mow More Frequently

By mowing more often you’ll be able to trim less of the blade off each time. This too encourages a healthy root system. Which in turn means you’ll have to water less. It’s also smart to mulch the grass. By doing so you’re creating a nitrogen rich mulch. Providing 35-50% of the nitrogen your lawn needs to look it’s best shade of green.

Dealing with Weeds and Pests Organically

A lush lawn naturally crowds out the weeds. While corn gluten can be used to keep weeds from sprouting. Up to 90% control takes a couple two three years to achieve but it’s an earth friendlier way to keep weeds at bay.

There you go. If you find yourself devoting more time-and money-to your lawn maybe it’s time to rethink your approach. Going organic, as you’ve just read, is not only eco-wise but may give you a more sustainable lawn in the long run.

And for those wanting to find out more about organic lawn care such as using electric lawn mowers to tend to it, a visit to MowerMania.com might be in order. There you’ll find reviews of riding lawn mowers, zero turn mowers as well as useful tips and advice.