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Been following this tall fescue lawn care program for years now and it has provided me the best lawn on the block, even in the entire neighborhood. People are always asking me "How do you manage to get your lawn to look so good?" It really doesn't take much work, just the approach is what is important.
- Fertilize with Milorganite (organic approach to feed the soil as synthetic only feeds the plant)
- 1" of rain per week (all the same time instead of spread out over several days)
- Crabgrass preventer in the spring (Lesco Dimension with no fertilizer)
- Spot treat weeds as needed (hand spray)
- Cut tall fescue grasses 3-4" in height during the late spring/summer/early fall
- Aerate in early fall
- Make the most fertilizer applications in the fall
Apply Orgro to the lawn once a year for even better results.
I use Milorganite or Ironite if I want to green up the lawn for a special occasion (like 4th of July). I fertilize my bermudagrass with a 'real' fertilizer in ~May. I have a mulching mower so my monthly clippings provide about as much 'fertilizer' as Milorganite. BTW I don't use Milorganite on my veggie garden - it is safe for plants for human consumption, but it is unappealing to think of the source (no offense to the good-pooing people of Milwaukee).
Do you use a May fertilizer with crabgrass preventer?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reactionary
I use Milorganite or Ironite if I want to green up the lawn for a special occasion (like 4th of July). I fertilize my bermudagrass with a 'real' fertilizer in ~May. I have a mulching mower so my monthly clippings provide about as much 'fertilizer' as Milorganite. BTW I don't use Milorganite on my veggie garden - it is safe for plants for human consumption, but it is unappealing to think of the source (no offense to the good-pooing people of Milwaukee).
Yes, sometimes if the weather timing is right, however I usually buy the fertilizer and pre-emerge separately. The Spring pre-emerge should be applied when the soil temp reaches ~50F (BTW I plan to apply Wed after it rains tomorrow). At those soil temps the bermudagrass is starting to wake up (~55F), but I don't like to apply fertilizer until after the risk of freezing is over (~April 15 here).
I also apply a Fall pre-emerge. I may or may not apply more fertilizer on the lawn - it depends on how the grass is doing, if I've reseeded, rainfall, etc.
I think I've been successful with my lawn if the neighborhood kids take their shoes off just to feel the grass on their feet
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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The best lawn I have ever seen belonged to my next door neighbor years ago. He raised chickens in the back part of his lot.
When he cleaned up their coop, he would shovel it into 5 gallon buckets, about 6" deep, then fill with water and cover. After it aged well, he would place buckets of it around his lawn and run a hose into it to dilute and overflow it onto the grass. He never had weeds and a beautiful, deep green lawn, but for anyone within a block that day, the smell would bring you to your knees.
Yeah, unfortunately I don't think that approach would be an option in my case as I have no chickens but more importantly the odor and the process of dealing with it would would not be worthwhile.
Think I am going with Lesco's 15-0-0 with Dimension in a couple of weeks to prevent crabgrass.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemlock140
The best lawn I have ever seen belonged to my next door neighbor years ago. He raised chickens in the back part of his lot.
When he cleaned up their coop, he would shovel it into 5 gallon buckets, about 6" deep, then fill with water and cover. After it aged well, he would place buckets of it around his lawn and run a hose into it to dilute and overflow it onto the grass. He never had weeds and a beautiful, deep green lawn, but for anyone within a block that day, the smell would bring you to your knees.
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