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ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot
Once the fall rains have started, it’s the perfect time to feed the lawn. Use a certified organic fertilizer high in phosphorus and potassium to stimulate root development, rather than one high in nitrogen, which would stimulate lush, leafy growth just as we go into the dormant season. Warm, moist soil activates myriad soil microorganisms, which break down natural source ingredients and slowly release them as nutrients to grass plants. Avoid synthetic lawn fertilizers with high N-P-K ratios (ratio of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) in fertilizers) as they destroy the intricate web of soil life. Synthetic fertilizers also cause fast cellular plant growth, resulting in weak tissues that are more prone to insect and disease attack.
Think of the lawn as a monoculture of grass plants, which is exactly what it is. Monocultures are completely unnatural, which is why we have to work so hard to maintain lawns to look like perfect, green rugs. A community of happy grass plants keeps weeds, pests, and diseases at bay, so consider the needs of the individual grass plants that comprise the lawn. Keep the pH neutral – around 6.5 – by applying screened compost and dolomite lime to raise the alkalinity when necessary. Practise a lawn maintenance program that includes regular aeration, dethatching if necessary, proper watering, seasonal fertilizing, and mowing with sharp blades at the correct height. All of these go a long way to creating a healthy, green lawn.
When cutting, use a mulch mower that leaves grass clippings on the lawn. The clippings will break down to feed soil microbes. High populations of microbes breaking down organic matter should prevent a build-up of thatch.
Need a lawn restoration?
About mid-fall, cut the grass really short. If there’s a build-up of thatch (undecayed grass roots etc.), dethatch and aerate the lawn, leaving the core plugs to break down and feed the grass. Apply dolomite lime if your soil requires it. Lawns on the wet, West Coast, where heavy rains tend to acidify the soil, usually need a yearly application. Wait two weeks after liming the lawn to fertilize. Use a certified organic winter-wise lawn food high in phosphorus and potassium. Phosphorus strengthens grass roots. Potassium strengthens grass blades and promotes general good health. Topdress with screened compost or a sandy garden loam. Over-seed with a grass mixture appropriate for both the amount of light the lawn receives and traffic conditions, and keep well watered until the grass seed has sprouted.
TIP: After seeding, topdress with a layer of screened compost – pure heaven for the lawn – and then roll over the area, which establishes good contact between the seed and soil. You can rent a lawn roller wherever you rent aerators and dethatchers. Hopefully, it will rain just after the lawn is seeded, and every day thereafter, because a newly seeded lawn must be kept moist, and never allowed to dry out. Grass needs warmth and time to germinate, and some grasses take three weeks or more to sprout. Ideally, seed in time for a good root system to have developed before the first hard frosts.
TIP: To keep birds away from a newly seeded lawn, take a cedar stake about 18” long, and hammer a nail in one end, leaving it to stick out. Make a small hole in an aluminum pie plate. Tie the plate to the nail with twine, allowing it to bang around. Hammer the stake into the newly seeded lawn. Repeat this over the entire lawn; the flashing of foil and banging of plates frightens the birds away.
Apply a mycorrhizal inoculant (Mycorrhizal inoculants form extensions of plant roots that are more efficient than the roots themselves), or spray with compost tea. Effective microorganisms re-establish a proper microbial balance in the soil if microbes have been decimated by chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Microbes do not regenerate independently and must be reintroduced. When spraying the lawn with compost tea or using a mycorrhizal inoculant, avoid chlorinated water, which destroys microbes. Use rainwater, or fill buckets with city water and leave the chlorine to evaporate overnight before using.
From A Year on the Garden Path, A 52-Week Organic Gardening Guide by Carolyn Herriot. $29.95. Earthfuture Publications, Victoria, BC. Available from Banyen Books and Duthie Books or
www.earthfuture.com/gardenpath
Carolyn Herriot has been operating The Garden Path Organic Plant Nursery in Victoria since 1989, from which grew her organic seed business, Seeds of Victoria. Carolyn shares her passion for gardening by way of lectures and as a garden writer, and appears weekly on Get Up and Grow and the Go show on Global and CHTV.
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