Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Lawn Care - 8 Steps to Lawn Restoration - Steps 4 & 5!

lawn care, gardening

Here are Lessons 4 & 5 in the 8 Lesson Lawn Restoration Series at www.yardcare.com terry

Add Nutrients

When restoring a lawn, apply the fertilizer recommended by the results of your soil. Use a slow-release fertilizer, and avoid putting down more fertilizer than you need. Adding too much nitrogen can cause rapid growth and a thinning of plant cell walls, which makes grass more susceptible to disease. The excess fertilizer may also leach and eventually find its way into waterways, polluting them.If you did not test your soil, apply a slow-release fertilizer with an Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium ratio of 3-1-2. Apply about 1/2 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet of lawn. (See "Turf Fertilization" for more on fertilizer types.)

Build Organic Matter and Microbe Numbers

The right dose of fertilizer won't help much if your soil does not contain an adequate population of microbes, you need billions of these microscopic organisms per handful. Microbes not only digest grass clippings, dead grass roots, and stems, but they also make their nutrients available to living grass plants.

To have a thriving microbe population, your soil must contain 2 to 5 percent organic material. A topdressing of compost mixed with topsoil followed by aeration will eventually incorporate some organic matter into the soil without disrupting the lawn. When top dressing your lawn, apply about one cubic yard, which is 100 pounds of a 40-60 mix of topsoil and compost, per 1000 square feet. Topsoil is available from most nurseries and landscape centers. Be sure it has a dark, rich brown color and feel and that it has not been diluted with lighter-colored subsoils. Compost can be obtained from several sources. Many towns make compost available to residents at little or no cost. They make compost from the leaves, grass, and brush that residents haul to the dump. The compost should be screened to 1/4- or 3/8-inch particles, and it should be free of in organic materials, such as shreds of plastic leaf bags. Its moisture content should be 30 and 50 percent. Any drier, and the compost releases a lot of dust as it's being worked; any wetter, and the material tends to clump and not mix well with soil. Compost is also available from nurseries and landscape centers. Better yet, make your own.

Terry Blackburn. Internet Marketing Consultant, living in South Shields in the North-East of England. Author and Producer of blog http://www.lawnsurgeon.blogspot.com Author of "Your Perfect Lawn," a 90 Page eBook devoted to Lawn Preparation, Lawn Care and Maintenance. Find it at http://www.lawnsurgeon.com

I would be very interested to have your comments on this Article.

Article Source: http://www.http://yardcare.com/.com


lawn care, gardening

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