Planting a Healthy Organic Lawn
How to Install a Natural Lawn Without Chemicals
Provide a green foil for your organic flower and vegetable beds by establishing an organic lawn without pesticides or other chemicals.
Choose the Right Grass Seed
Northern gardeners can choose between Kentucky bluegrass and fine or tall fescue. If your lot is shady, fine fescue has the highest shade tolerance. Southern gardeners can choose from Bermuda grass, centipede, St. Augustine, or zoysia varieties. Choose St. Augustine if you’re lucky enough to enjoy the shade of live oaks or a pine grove.
You must avoid grass seed that lists more than a miniscule amount of weed seed content on the packaging. It isn’t unreasonable to expect between zero and 0.5% weed seed content.
Evaluate the Soil
Even if you have tended your plot for several years or more, it’s a good idea to test the soil before investing in organic lawn renovation or repair. Grass prefers a slightly acidic soil of 6.0 to 7.0. If the soil pH is below 6.0, raise with fireplace ashes. If the soil pH is above 7.0, lower with peat moss, coffee grounds, and sulfur.
Prepare the Soil
As with all organic gardening efforts, compost is king. Spread ½ an inch of finely screened compost with a drop spreader across the entire lawn before overseeding. If you plan to establish a new lawn, more compost is better: order it by the cubic yard from a community supplier, if necessary. Spread an inch of screened or unscreened compost over the plot. Apply compost before using a verticutter or core aerator; these additional treatments can help mix the compost into the soil.
Overseed or Start from Scratch
Many organic gardeners choose to overseed their lawns every year or every other year. This investment is a concession to the fact that grass plants, like other plants in the garden, succumb to disease, pests, and weather events. Use a drop spreader in the fall to overseed your lawn, following the package directions for amount according the variety you use. Water the grass daily for three weeks until established.
If more than half the lawn is infested with weeds or is extensively patchy, a complete overhaul is in order. Conventional gardeners use herbicide to achieve a complete kill-off. Organic gardeners must use physical methods to strip the preexisting lawn. Rent a sod-cutter, which cuts through damaged turf with minimal effort and rolls it into neat bundles. If your lawn is very small, you can consider doing this job with a spade and some elbow grease. Just remember the cursing and chiropractor’s bill that ensued the last time you stripped sod for a new garden plot.
When to Choose Lawn Alternatives
If your plot is heavily sloped, receives more than five hours of shade per day, or has to compete with mature shade trees for nutrients, you may consider ground cover as a lawn alternative. Turf in heavily shaded areas will appear weak and scraggly as it strains toward the light. Mature trees will suck up all rainwater, causing grass to establish shallow root systems. Sloped areas are a chore to weed and trim.
Hardy shade-loving specimens like goutweed, ivy, and winter creeper can tolerate the dry, lean conditions under mature trees. Shade plants like astilbe, hosta, and wild blue phlox tolerate moist shady conditions. If your problem is a sunny slope, you can plant sedum, lamb’s ear, or daylilies to control erosion.
After you establish your organic lawn, read Organic Lawn Care Methods to keep your turf looking healthy.
Source: Geeslin, N., & Gilsenan, F. 1001 Hints and Tips for your Garden. (1996). Reader’s Digest Association, Inc: Pleasantville, NY.
