Look at the picture here – that is a small section of my lawn that has powdery mildew fungus creeping in. I actually find it every year on this shady side of my house in several patches. From far away, it gives the grass a gray-white appearance. When you get up close, it really looks serious as some of the grass blades are nearly 100% white. But is powdery mildew a problem? Check out this video to find out :::

Watch this video on YouTube.

Long story shortened here ::: there is not need to be concerned with powdery mildew in your lawn. There is no need to slather any chemicals or fungicides to cure it. Just let it go as it rarely leaves any lasting damage to the lawn. It will usually go away once we get some warmer temps.

Just mow the lawn tall and catch the clippings for a couple weeks while it is persistent – you’ll be all good. Find qualified landscape contractors in crown point here also.

Amount Of Milorganite To Put Down

But that doesn’t mean we should go nuts and bathe in it or anything. (see the video below before you click away !)

But the real “problem” I see with the use of Milorganite is homeowners don’t use ENOUGH! Yep, you don’t.

That is because you are used to using Scott’s 4-step or some synthetic fert like that and you just assume it’s ok to use the same spreader setting that you always do – WRONG! With Milorganite, since it is organic, it takes a helluva lot more to get a proper amount of nutrients down. Of course, there is a lot more to natural lawn treatments, but that is not the purpose of this article. So watch this awesome video I did…

Watch this video on YouTube.

So you can see that it takes almost 15 lbs of Milorganite per 1,000 square feet to get that 3/4 lb of nitrogen that we want in an early spring application. This is compared to the synthetic fert that only requires 3 lbs per 1,000. Keep this in mind my friends, and do it right! This way you will get results from your organic and natural lawn program.

One more easy tip: you don’t need to break out your lawn sprinkler after applying natural fertilizers… they release their nutrients from heat and friction, not water.

4 Tips For Success With Natural Lawn Treatments

First – Be Prepared To Use Pesticides – Smartly

Let me tell you like it is – I know you’ve read all of the web that you can eradicate weeds in the lawn using nothing but organic angel tears and natural baby powder, but friends, that is not the case (remember: I am a natural lawn care advocate!).

TRUTH: if your lawn is in terrible shape – thin, overrun with weeds, compacted and generally crappy, then you can shovel bucketfulls of Milorganite and Ringer Lawn Restore all over your lawn til the cows come home – and at the end of the day, (year) you will have nothing more than thriving weeds and a slightly thicker turf.

We need to utilize pesticides, (especially herbicides for weeds) smartly. What I am NOT telling you to do is go out and arbitrarily buy a weed and feed product and throw weed killer all over your lawn willy-nilly. (unless your lawn is 70% weeds or more, then a weed/feed product is probably your best choice)

I am however saying, that you should consider getting a pump sprayer and mixing liquid weed control that you can spray in zones or areas where the weeds are the thickest and most dense. If you do this, you aren’t going nuts with it, but you are using weed control in a way that gets results in a controlled manner. If you want to stay on the greener side, get a weed control product that does not contain 2-4D.

I also recommend you utilize synthetic fertilizers in the very beginning. Synthetics have their place, as long as you apply the right amount and don’t go overboard. They are fast acting and stimulate turf growth which is what we need.

Here is a video that I did to illustrate to you how to understand “putting down the right amount of fertilizer”

Watch this video on YouTube.

That video shows you how to measure out the right amount of Milorganite, one of my favorite organics – so let’s talk more about why…

Second – Work On The Soil, Not The Grass

Once you have the lawn under control and on the upswing health-wise, it’s time to stimulate soil activity. The key to a healthy lawn, is healthy soil. Where I live, we have clay soil and it’s pretty much worthless when it comes to natural nutrients. However, the clay does do well to hold the lawn (it doesn’t erode easily) and it retains water fairly well too.

Remember: fertilizer (whether organic or synthetic) is not lawn food. Plants, including grass, make their own food through the process of photosynthesis. Fertilizer is simply nutrients that help support that function. The primary nutrients are nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. There are also micro-nutrients that are important such as calcium, iron and magnesium.

The best reason to use natural fertilizer is that it not only adds these nutrients into the lawn, but it stimulates soil bacterial activity. When soil biotics are alive and working, the soil is naturally aerated and roots are covered in all kinds of good stuff that allow them to spread. It also allows those roots to take in more water and nutrients to support more photsynthesis.

On top of that, healthy soil is not conducive to growing weeds. Weeds in the lawn are oftentimes an indication of poorly maintained soil.

The only drawback to natural lawn treatments is that they work slowly! This is why I am an advocate of using synthetics to push the turf along while we wait for the organics to do their magic in the soil. It’s a beautiful thing.

Third – Become A Lawn Grass Seeding Ninja

If you are going to “go green” then you need to learn to “grow grow green.” I mean that you need to learn how to grow grass seed. The main goal we have with any lawn care program, but especially a natural or organic program, is to get the lawn thicker, and there is not faster and more effective way of doing that than lawn seeding. Do it in conjunction with lawn aeration and you’ll be good. Here is a video I did on lawn seeding. This video sucks as far as quality (sorry) but the information is super fine!

Watch this video on YouTube.

I know the effects in that one are terrible, but I hope you got the gist: keep it wet, keep it warm, keep it touching soil.

Fourth – Learn To Mow Properly

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again – If you don’t mow the lawn properly, no amount of seeding or fertilizing will succeed. Mowing is the singly most important lawn task. Mow tall (over 4″ if you dare), mow with a sharp blade, and mow consistently.

If you can follow these tips, I can all but guarantee you that your lawn will be thicker, greener and more vigorous than you could ever imagine!

In this video, I show you how to make a simple lawn striping kit that you can attach to your home lawn mower. It’s n0t complicated but just look at the results you can get!

Watch this video on YouTube.

All you need is a 2 foot long threaded pipe, two end caps, some sand or gravel and a couple of zip ties. Place the pipe into the mud flap at the back of the mower and tie it in with the zips. Just don’t backup over it!

This will press the grass down enough so that the sunlight reflects differently and gives you the striped appearance. Simple but look at the results I get!

Lawn Stress will soon be at a maximum. Summer is just around the corner, and with it comes heat, drought and insect pressure. The spring time, however, is when your lawn really improves in overall health.

Remember, in the fall, the root system is expanded (very important) but it is the spring time when the top growth of the lawn is apparent. This top growth creates more leaf surface area which in turn allows the lawn to grab more sunlight and produce more energy through the process of photosynthesis. That’s a lot of info to swallow, but trust me, you gotta let the lawn catch that spring sunlight so it can save up energy for the summer to come! If you cut consistently you won’t stress it out or stunt the growth patterns.

If you don’t cut and mow consistently (at least once per week) then you will add stress to the lawn at a time when it is still recovering from winter. Basically what happens when you miss a mowing is you have to chop more than 1/3 of the blades off of the grass plants. This leads to a literal shock to the lawn, stopping it from growing properly. Even if you were to raise your mower blade all the way to the top setting, you will still be taking too much leaf surface in a single mowing.

The other problem with stressing the lawn from inconsistent mowing is it allows disease to infiltrate the grass plant. Even the best mowers with the sharpest blades will knick and split grass blades that are longer and tougher from prolonged growth. These open areas on the plant allow disease pathogens easy access.

The last piece of the puzzle here is to make sure you vary your mowing pattern. We don’t want to “train” the grass to lay over in any one single direction. We want it to stand up tall to absorb maximum sunlight all season long.

Now, I know what you are thinking “Yeah, but that takes a lot of work and time to get my lawn so thick that it can resist weeds and such.”

And you’d be right to some extent, but the truth is that it’s not really THAT much work. I mean, seriously guys, how much time do you really spend in your lawn anyway? No matter what you do, you have to cut it every week right? But if you cut it the way I tell you to, you can work to get it thicker anyway.

Cut Tall – Yes, Cut Tall

So tip #1 in getting your lawn thicker: Cut tall all year and mulch the clippings. And when I say “cut tall” I mean 3.5 or 4″ tall. Put that mower all the way to the top. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to the look. And mulch those clippings so you return natural nutrients to the soil.

Feed The Soil – Feed The Lawn

Fertilizer is not lawn food. I know that I say “feed your lawn” but that is really a generic reference. In reality, fertilizer puts nutrients into the soil that support the growth of the lawn. When we use natural/organic fertilizers, we are actually building the soil first, and in turn, strengthening the lawn.

The healthier the soil, the thicker the lawn – simple.

This is why I recommend fertilizing with Milorganite and Ringer lawn fertilizers, as well as mulching lawn clippings. If you need an initial boost for our lawn, you can follow the next tip. (get my lawn care book too).

Learn To Grow Grass Seed

Learn To Grow Grass Seed

If you are making the commitment to have a natural lawn, then you also need to learn to grow grass seed. We want to get the lawn thicker and adding fresh grass seed every year is a necessity. You want to add in the seed after you perform our next step…

Aerate In Spring And Fall

Aeration is the process whereby a machine is taken across he lawn and plugs are pulled up and deposited on top. Aerating does quite a few things including: breaking down thatch, relieving compaction in the soil, increasing soil bio activity and helping air, water and nutrients get into the root zone. You can rent an aerator or hire out this task but you gotta do it in SPRING and in the FALL without FAIL!

These are the basics. I know you think this is a lot, but really, it’s about 15 hours a year (not including the mowing). And trust me, it’s worth it to spend 15 hours each year performing these simple tasks. The results will come slowly over time, but your patience and persistence will pay off.

Milorganite is pretty much processed sewer sludge. Yeah, it’s human poop… a bio-solid organic fertilizer. Some of you won’t like that… but when you get it in the bag, it is just dark gray granulars with a slight musky scent – no worse than any other garden odor.

So let’s get away from what Milorganite “is” and get to what Milorganite “does” – cuz that is what really matters.

Milorganite Contains Nitrogen

Nitrogen is the primary element that supports healthy turf growth and color. If you want a “green lawn,” then nitrogen is your friend. The good news with Milorgnite is that it won’t over-push the to growth of the grass. What I mean is that too much nitrogen will actually make your lawn grow too fast and cause it to thin out over time. I usually see this happen when synthetic fertilizers are used on a lawn in excess of labeling recommendations.

however, with Milorganite, you don’t run the risk of applying too much nitrogen, and in turn, there is no chance of burning the lawn either.

Milorganite Contains Iron Too

Iron is a micro-nutrient that directly supports plant photosynthesis. As you will recall from your high school science class, photosynthesis is the process whereby plants (including grass!) make their own food. The food the plants make (sugars) go to making more and more leaves and roots and so on.

Iron is important, but it has to be in a state that it can be utilized. Oftentimes iron gets bound up in soil and is useless to grass plants. however, the iron in Milorganite is “chelated” which basically means it is immediately available to the plant. Bonus!

Of course, for me and you, we want iron in our lawns because it makes the grass a nice deep-blue-green color that will set us apart!

So if you are looking for a top notch natural fertilizer product that will produce excellent results, I HIGHLY recommend Milorganite. I use it on my lawn, and just love the results.

My Organic Lawn

If 2011 is the year you’ve decided to “go natural” with your lawn care, then you are in luck… it’s also the year (like now) I decided to give you some great tips to help you. ha!

This article is designed to give you a few basics that you need to understand about organic and natural lawn care. Listen up and get started ASAP! (depending on where you live and what the snow situation is of course)

Some Light Raking

“Oh Gosh, did he tell us to rake the lawn?”

Yep guys, I did (some)! I have never told you that lawn care was easy! Get out there and do some light raking, especially on the areas that are matted down from heavy snow or foot traffic. I have areas in my own lawn that are in the shade, and the snow lingers there longer creating a snow mold problem beneath. It isn’t a serious problem, but raking it out to increase the air flow is important.

Some of you may need to do a little more than just light raking in the spring. If you have a major lawn thatch problem, plan to rent a power rake and get after it early on!

Crabgrass - Ick!

Prevent Crab Grass

If you are going natural, then good on you! … but crab grass is still a pretty major concern and our natural/organic options are few. They are also not as effective and have a much smaller window of opportunity. Enter: Corn Gluten.

Corn gluten meal is a corn by-product that will do a fairly good job of preventing crab grass if you get it down in time. That means you must apply it pretty much as soon as the snow melts. In addition, you have to put it down freeking heavy ya’ll! It’s natural, and because of that, it takes a ton of it to build up to the point where it will work to thwart the crab grass. PLEASE read the label on the product you get and follow follow follow it! So many times I see so-called lawn pros giving out natural lawn care advice but they don’t stress the need to ensure your application rate is correct. When using naturals and organics for lawn care, you need to be prepared to shovel that shix onto the lawn, literally!

Get My Book

Yeah I know, I an schlogging my lawn care ebook again, but that’s because it will help you get results! So many of you guys do a lot of the right things, but you just don’t know exactly WHAT to put on your lawn. Sure, you know you want to go organic, but which organic fertilizer is the best? And where do I get it? I show and tell you all of that in the book for just seven bucks! What a bargain! LOL Get it here

Drink Some Wacko Brew and be Patient!

Be Patient

Finally, you guys really do need to chill out a bit on the lawn! Drinks some beers and enjoy the process will ya? When you go natural, it takes a bit longer to see results, but once your lawn does respond and becomes thick, green and vigorous, it will stay that way longer! Trust me, the natural lawn care marathon is very rewarding if you just stay the course!

Are you with me? I hope so!