joelhar's Blog

My secret to a great lawn
Oct 12, 2009 | 6:52 PM PST
Tags: lawn , rich earth , compost , clay , reseed
This post has been edited by an administrator

This are my former secrets to a great lawn.  In only a little over one month my lawn has exploded with new growth and looks like the lawn I’ve always dreamed of. 

I only did four things:

·         Added Compost

·         Broke up the Clay

·         Rich Earth

·         Reseeding

Compost.  I keep a little bin hidden in my bushes, a small one.  If you have more space a larger compost bin is better.  I aerate and water the contents once a week.   When I have good compost (looks like dark soil, it takes about three to six months) I lightly sprinkle some on the lawn, work it in with the back of a rack to break it up, and then I water it in.  This replenishes the soil and reinvigorates the nutrients my lawn needs.  I throw out a heckuva lot less garbage now, too.  The idea is to build up the soil beneath your lawn, watering it in allows it to works its way down to the roots.  I also take a lot of old coffee grounds, banana peels, old fruits, things I would normally compost and put it in a blender, mix it with a lot of water and put it directly onto the lawn and then water it in.  This allows the ‘composting material’ to go directly through to the roots.  A little thought to this:  if you have clay soil you don’t have earthworms. Earthworms don’t eat banana peels, fruit, etc… they actually eat the microbes that are consuming the old fruits.  But, the idea is to feed the earthworms who aerate the soil, working their way through the top five feet or so.  Do this enough and ALL the clay will turn into great soil.   If you want your lawn to get another shot in the arm, put a bunch of leaves into a blender with a lot of water, blend it and throw that into the soil (shhh, don’t tell my wife).  Old leaves are rich with bacteria that worms love…   Believe it or not but paper works well also, but only in moderation (it looks unsightly on the lawn), most of my paper I shred and put into my compost pile (not glossy paper, no plastic and no aluminum foil, etc).  Corn cobs blend up nicely but don’t do well in a compost heap.    Oh yeah, compost is free. 

Clay. 

I bought some stuff called Aerify at (note the coupon on the front page, saves 10%).   If you want to buy Aerify plus that’s okay, but check out my next tip.  Aerify is actually a surfactant, which allows the clay to be separated by the roots of the plants and allows water to penetrate the soil.  There are some plants, like Russian Comfrey (there is even one cultivar which is not invasive) that breaks apart clay or you could till the soil (I strongly recommended against it), but why not use common sense and have the lawn do the work for you?  This stuff looks a lot like detergent because it basically is, especially when it seems to put a foam on top of the lawn.  I sprayed it on two successive weekends and then watered it in. The second time there was a noticeable improvement in drainage, it appears to be working.  I’m going to continue monthly and help the roots of the lawn to penetrate the clay.  By adding compost on top, perhaps a little gypsum and some lime, this will allow the clay to naturally break apart.   NOT expensive @ $27.

 

Rich Earth. 

A few years ago I was in the Colonial Williamsburg, VA area and bought a bag of Rich Earth for my herbs.  I forgot about it, using conventional fertilizers instead.  The results were less than outstanding, my herbs – survived.  I tried watering less, watering more, but my herbs looked spindly.  I recently found my small bag of Rich Earth and put some on top of the soil around the herbs and watered them as normal.  Within 24 hours there was a noticeable improvement and 48 hours later I was shocked to see new growth, leaves turning dark green and now that I’ve used it awhile my plants look like they are professionally grown.  So I thought if it’s worked miracles for my herbs, why not my lawn?  I went and I bought 50 pounds, two 25 pound bags to fit into the saddlebags of my motorcycle, and spread half of one bag over my front lawn.  The results are incredible.  Dark green grass, it’s thick, it’s almost unreal the rapid turnaround in the lawn.  This Rich Earth somehow gave the grass a boost and a half.  Rich Earth is REALLY good because it contains humates.  Basically when prehistoric plant life died it got covered up and the layers of earth on top compressed it. Eventually it turns to coal.  Anywhere you have a coal deposit the humates rise to the top (yeah, I know, I’m going up to Pennsylvania and see if I can get some free stuff).   But consider this compost that contains trace elements that commercial fertilizers lack, like eating candy – you get a rush of energy but there’s no substance like real food, so your body crashes quickly.  Bottom line, this Rich Earth is a miracle additive for my plants.  I’ve already had neighbors ask me what in the heck I’ve done to my lawn.   I went to a local feed store and spent less than $50 but I could have gotten by with one 25 pound bag.  Well, on second thought, I gave a few pounds to a neighbor who tried it and absolutely loves the stuff.  My wife is raving to her coworkers, they’re getting samples, too.  I raise herbs for my wife’s cooking indoors in the winter so I’m going to try it then.  They’re starting to stock Rich Earth at a lot of local Whole Foods stores as well.   I will never use commercial fertilizer again.  Period.  Rich earth is for me.

Reseeding. 

I bought Kentucky Bluegrass , a very fine seed, and spread it on top of my lawn.  I had heard of reseeding for years but it didn’t make sense when I already had a lawn.   But all the professionals reseed.  What I discovered was the new seed is using the old lawn, the compost and the soil beneath (really not much since I resodded a few years ago I saw how little topsoil they put beneath the sod) and the new grass grows in between, even edging out the weeds.   I used a tiny hand spreader to make sure the seed was evenly distributed, hand sowing tends to put thick bands on the ground.  I bought my hand spreader for just a few dollars and it’s been great.   I threw a little compost on top to cover it up as well as a little topsoil, I broke it up with the back of a rake and it settled in nicely.  I waited two weeks and reseeded any bare spots again (and more compost, rich earth and top soil).  Grass seed is expensive, but the better stuff is worth it, I spent about $30 on seed.  

 

I cannot adequately describe how thick my lawn is now.  I took before pictures, I should have after pictures in a week or two (as soon as the second set of reseeding takes off).   Honestly, I didn’t expect the lawn to turn around this dramatically; I’ve had neighbors stop by twice in the past week, asking my secret.