Hi all, I live just north of the DFW airport. Just joined the forum.

We have a low-maintenance lawn/garden that we inherited from the previous owner four years ago. We didn't pay much attention to it for the last three years, because it didn't seem to need much attention, and being from the hill country in CA, we have no experience with lawns. We just watered this TX lawn.

Then the lawn started to get worse, so I started research on how to take care of it. I used the TX A&M website to determine the necessary chemical fertilizers, first testing the soil, and then applying the recommended chemical fertilizer formulas. However the lawn got worse and finally became the "worst in the neighborhood", so I decided to re-sod the front yard last spring (2010) with St Augustine. I applied the usual recommended fertilizer after that, but still had some large brown spots in the newly-installed turf after it became established.

I'd been following Howard's column in the DMN for a couple of years, and after reading through the Lawn Forum over the winter, decided to start an organic regimen. So this Feb (2011) I started while it was still cold in early Feb by applying Corn Gluten Meal to stifle dandelions at 15#/1000ft2. Later in Feb, I applied Texas greensand (20#/1000ft2), corn meal (10#/1000ft2), and dry molasses(10#/1000ft2). I also broadcast these amendments throughout the shrubs alongside the house (it's a mostly lawn yard, with shrubs along the house and fences, I'll try to get some pictures uploaded soon).

Today (28 Mar 2011) I followed up with another set of treatments. First I started with another 120# cornmeal in a spreader over the 10Kft2 yard, covering the grass with a spreader, and spreading handfulls at the base of the shrubs and trees.

Make sure you wear "gardening shoes" as the corn meal gets all over your feet (of course you could always just bake the shoes afterwards and have shoe-flavored cornbread). When my pool guy came today, he remarked on the dust all over me from the spreader, and said he hoped it wouldn't cause skin problems. We both had a laugh when I told him it wasn't fertilizer, it was cornmeal, and probably good for my skin.

After that I went over the entire yard with a 32oz sprayer of Thrive, then a 32oz sprayer of Soil Mender's Plant Wash (the guy at Calloway's in Southlake told me it was the same as BioWash, is this true?) paying particular attention to some trees that were stressed from last winter.

I also used an entire gallon of Soil Mender's Garrett Juice Concentrate Plus over the entire yard, concentrating on the stressed trees.

I went back afterwards and lightly watered the yard by hand as recommended by the Thrive instructions. Hopefully we get some rain tomorrow (30%chance), otherwise I'll probably set the watering system on it for a 1/2".

Then we wait and watch. I'll take pics tmw and try to document my progress (or lack there-of). If anyone has any suggestions or other advice please let me know. I'm a newbie at lawn/garden care.

thanks, Tim

Hello and welcome to organic lawn care. I think you'll like it more and more as you go along.

Sounds like you are well established in the regimen. You might need a quick primer on basic lawn care, so here it is.

1. Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an hour in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds and prevent new (weed) seeds from germinating.
   
2. Mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. Bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses are the most dense when mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. Dense grass shades out weeds and uses less water when tall. Dense grass feeds the deep roots you're developing in 1 above.
   
3. Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 4 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above.

Everyone's sprinkler system is different. Mine puts out 1/8 inch of water per hour over a 900 square foot area. In the hottest part of summer it takes 7 hours (sometimes) to get enough water on the lawn. Usually I water for 3-4 hours. You can measure you water by putting out cans (like soup cans or tuna cans) and timing how long it takes to fill.

Watch your grass to see how long it takes to look wilty. St Augustine is a touchy grass when it comes to drought. Rather than going dormant when it gets dry, it dies. When you see it wilting, water it right away. If it has not been a full week since you watered last, then water it longer this time. If you have runoff issues we can address that.

Regarding plant wash under the various names: they have the same ingredients as soap. They are similar to baby shampoo. I have been very happy with generic baby shampoo from any source. I used it last year to soften my soil. It is still extremely soft when wet.

David, Thanks for the advice. I did get rain today, so I won't be watering soon, but I'm planning on putting out cans and checking the watering levels when I do. I didn't realize that StAug is so touchy when it comes to drought, so I'll pay attention to that over the summer.

As for the plant wash, baby shampoo is a heckuvalot cheaper than "plant wash", thanks for the tip! I have a Gilmour hose-end applicator that measures in 1to8oz-per-gal. Do I need to dilute the shampoo before I put it in the applicator (seems like it might be too thick)? Or do you have another recommendation for applying it? (This also explains the foaming in the applicator when I applied it).

I'm planning on two more applications of corn meal this summer, looking to time them when we have some rain coming, so that should get me up to four for the year. Then I'll repeat the regimen next year, unless there are any modifications you suggest.

I've recently become a fan of Paul Wheaton's work. Here is his lawn care article:
http://www.richsoil.com/lawn-care.jsp

not sure I can agree with cutting it tall if you have Burmuada, it seems to do better if cut short, like mentioned in the post above.

I have not read enough of Wheaton's stuff to know where he lives, but his advice is very specific to areas in the north.

You can dilute the soap 1:1 with water if you want. I think it will go through the sprayer fine without but have not tried it. I have sucked molasses up through the sprayer at full strength so soap should flow more easily.

You can't hurt anything with organic fertilizer. Your wallet is the limit as to how much or how often you want to apply. I apply a total of 50 pounds per 1,000 square feet per year. I know others who apply 800+ pounds per 1,000 per year. There is no argument as to whose lawn looks better, but I'm just not that interested in making mine that much better.

He lives in Missoula Montana. Besides cutting the grass high, what other advice in his article would you say is specific to the north?

The following comments in his page indicate he is both from the north and not all that tuned up on lawn care in general.

Mowing High
Mowing high is not the issue. The issue is that no other consideration was given. Bentgrass is a northern grass that must be mowed low.

Fertilize in the spring and fall.
That is a northern grass idea for chemical fertilizers. With organic you can fertilize any day of the year.

Tall Fescue
He recommends tall fescue seed as the best variety of grass to plant. Fescue is a cool season grass.

Milky spore
He recommends milky spore to kill grubs. That is a northern solution.

Several comments are just uninformed.
He says he applies an inch of compost. You should never apply an inch of compost unless you are trying to smother the lawn.
Another is to use "a little" or "one third of what the package recommends every three weeks in the spring and fall." That is a starvation diet. Organic fertilizer can be used at 10x the package recommendation and the results will be much better than what the package rate will give you.
"...if your pH is 7.5 or higher, your grass will probabaly never beat out the dandelion." My regional soil pH is 8.0 and I very seldom see dandelions.
Dropping a foot and a half of soil on your existing lawn could result in flooding your basement and house. Not recommended.

Just the thing I was looking for, just one question, should I aerate now or water for the autumn, a noob here. I was at Home Depot tool rental this weekend and there I saw a mechanical aerator, I fancied I would be able to use that?

Please don't be afraid to start a new topic when your question is not just exactly on target with the original poster's topic. Why? Because other people curious about aeration will read the topic titles and never come here looking for that specific advice.

The answer is you never need to aerate. At least I don't think so. Aeration is something that works on golf courses because they have a very special situation. They have people walking and driving on their turf even when the soil is too wet to be walking on. That is what compacts the soil. Normal day to day life on a normal lawn should never become compacted. It might become hard, but hard and compacted are very different - despite what you see on TV.

Several years ago I came up with a way to soften the soil using soaker hoses. It worked like a charm and lasted a full season or longer, but it took at least 3 weeks to do even on a small lawn. More recently some of the gurus on another forum tried the bottled soil softeners and found that they worked. Then through some diligent research, in which I participated, we discovered that the ingredients of those surfactant soil softeners came in two varieties. One (the most expensive one) is soap. The other one is yucca juice along with some molasses and enzymes. If I remember right the soap was $50 per gallon. Obviously you can make your own. One of the guys on the other forum is a soap hobbiest and found all the ingredients online to duplicate the soap formula for very little. The only problem I have with that is that the quantities you have to buy result in more than a lifetime supply of the stuff and you have to store it.

My solution was to buy generic baby shampoo at Wal-Mart. It works great! Put the baby shampoo into a hose end sprayer, set the dial for 3 ounces per gallon, and spray. You should measure your lawn first. If you have 3,000 square feet, put 9 ounces of soap into the sprayer. Spray until it is all gone trying to apply evenly. After you finished with the soap, then irrigate a full inch to take the soap down deep into the soil. Next time you water (which should be a couple weeks this time of year) do not use the soap. The next time after that, repeat the soap and irrigation described. That should be it for the rest of the season. Try not to let your soil dry completely. It can dry on the surface in a week but do not let it go several weeks in the middle of summer without a deep watering.

The reason your soil is hard is you have lost the population of beneficial fungi that soften the soil. Your soil should act like a sponge. When it is dry it should be hard and just a little resistant to absorbing water. But once it starts to absorb water, it should go fast and become soft again.

You'll never consider mechanical aeration again once you spray with soap. Do not use any soap with antibacterial stuff in it. That's why I like generic baby shampoo.