ECOLOGICAL LAWN CARE

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Next, get the sod pH to an acceptable level of 6.5 to 7.0. You can test pH with an inexpensive kit available at garden supply centers. If the lawn is quite acid, start boosting it by applying 50 pounds of agricultural limestone per 1,000 square feet. Reapply periodically as needed (preferably in fall). Gypsum, also called land plaster or calcium sulfate, can be used where pH levels are too high, generally in the West.

You can then provide an initial fertilization and, finally, perform the actual reseeding. Mow your lawn very short and then vigorously scarify it with a steel rake, or rent a power rake, power dethatcher or slice seeder. These tools cut out the weeds and open up one-quarter inch channels in the soil. Make a number of passes in different directions, and rake up and compost the debris after each pass. Then just seed the lawn with your improved varieties as though you were seeding a new lawnbroadcasting by hand or using a rolling seeder. Rake again or roll with a 100pound lawn roller to set the seeds into the soil. Water regularly to keep the seeds moist until they germinate.

Fertilizing

Any organic horticulturist will tell you that synthetic fertilizers provide an instant supply of water-soluble nutrients that accelerate growth beyond a healthy rate (and make for more mowing), leach into ground water, burn up precious humus and kill off beneficial soil organisms by eliminating their roles. But natural fertilizers, on the other hand, improve and enhance soil: They stimulate micro- and macro-organisms while at the same time providing a slow, long-lasting but steady supply of nutrients.

This is not I just organic propaganda. No less an authority than the Lawn Institute, a nonprofit education organization supported by the grass seed industry to analyze data on test grasses and growing techniques (including synthetic pesticides and fertilizers), has said, "Organic, slowrelease fertilizers are particularly well suited to maintaining healthy, vigorous lawn grasses. Thus, 'organic' I lawn care can and should result in reduced use of pesticides, if not in their elimination." The institute's director, Dr. Eliot C. Roberts, is a strong proponent of organic fertilizers in lawn care. "Having a biologically active soil, " he recently wrote, "is like having a mini-fertilizer-manufacturing plant producing small amounts of 10-5-2 on a continuing basis. A system this productive is certainly worth perpetuating."

Sources for organic fertilizers are more common than you may think. Nitrogen, the most crucial lawn nutrient, is prominent in cottonseed meal, soybean meal (from poultry-feed suppliers), leather tankage, blood meal, sewage sludge and good compost. Phosphate and potash, essential for good root growth, can come from wood ashes, bone meal, compost and rock minerals such as green sand and rock phosphate. As a rule of thumb, apply approximately one pound of actual nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (the "N-P-K" on fertilizer bags) to each 1,000 square feet of lawn for a long-lasting feed.

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