Lawn Mowing Tips and Tricks!
You should start cutting early. Bythis I mean: cutting the lawn before it turns green and begins growing you clip off the old dead tips and give the lawn its cue to start growing. The sooner you get the lawn growing the better you can crowd out the weeds before they start. See our organic weed control page for more complete details.
Cut on a consistent basis. Normally weekly mowing is the rule, but some lawns need cutting more often. Other lawns will grow more slowly and might need cutting only once every ten days or two weeks.
Generally, don't cut off more than one third of a blade of grass. Any more than that may harm the grass. So, if you like your lawn at 2 inches, make sure that you cut it when it get's to about 3 inches. Let the length of the lawn be the judge, NOT when the last mowing was.
Always have sharp blades. Dull mower blades tend to rip the blades of grass as opposed to cutting them. Every torn blade is an opening for disease and causes stress to the lawn. Mowing a lawn when it is wet tends to cause the same problem, so try to avoid it if possible. Never mow in the same direction for more than three weeks straight (preferably no more than two). If you do, you'll end up with ruts, and the grass will begin to lean over (making it difficult to get a good cut). Try cutting perpendicularly or diagonally occasionally.
Let it grow!! The longer you let your lawn grow (speaking in terms of length, not necessarily time) the longer your lawn's root system will grow. The longer the root system, the healthier and more stress resistant your lawn will be. AND, the more stress and drought resistant your lawn, the less watering that has to be done.
In addition, tests have shown that letting the lawn grow to lengths of 2" or better reduce the number of weeds in the lawn by reducing the amount of sunlight that reaches weed seeds. This is especially true of crabgrass. Longer blades also have more surface area available for photosynthesis which produces life-giving food and energy for the lawn.
As long as you have a healthy lawn already and no problems with thatch, feel free to leave the clippings when you mow. Mulching is good, but it is not a necessity. As long as the clippings are not excessive, they will not harm your lawn. If your soil is well balanced and has plenty of earthworms and micro-organisms, the clippings will break down within a short period of time and will provide nitrogen to your lawn.
NOTE: If you are currently using chemicals or have within the not so distant past, it is likely that your soil is very acidic and has few of the aerobes and earthworms that are necessary for the break down of dead roots and clippings.
For the last cut of the season, make it a short one. Cut it to about 1". Also, make certain to collect the clippings on the last mowing. These clippings most likely would not be broken down before cold weather moves in. Long grass and old clippings in the lawn can be the perfect breeding ground for disease and fungus at the start of the next season--especially snow mold.
To save some time and effort you may want to consider planting groundcover or putting in some mulched beds around trees and in areas that would otherwise have to be weed whipped.
Organic Lawn-Care Methods
When switching from chemical lawncare maintenance over to organic, you should remember that problems are going to be exposed which normally would have been masked by the high nitrogen fertilizers. Your lawn may not look as green and lush as it did before the switch (at least temporarily). Over a short time this will be corrected, but be aware that it is a possibility.
One of the things that will be happening is that your lawn is going to go through "withdrawl" symptoms because of lack of nitrogen. Chemical fertilizers typically contain about 20 to 35 percent nitrogen. Organic fertilizers will be more like 4 to 10 percent. This is a big drop, and your lawn will go into shock if you don't compensate. Therefore, I would suggest that for your first and second organic fertilization applications, put down a half dose of whatever chemical fertilizer you were previously using. For that same application put down one full dose of whatever organic you are switching to.
When it comes time for the third scheduled organic application, make it a double dose with no chemical fertilizer (you may have to adjust a little, if your organic has nitrogen percentages up near 10%). Then bring it down to a single dose organic application the next time. This should give your lawn an easy switch-over which won't stunt it too bad.
However, there are other problems which may need to be corrected before you will have your lawn looking its best. Organic methods tend to expose imbalances in the soil and other detrimental situations. One of the main problems that may need to be dealth with is thatch. For information on identifying and solving thatch problems take a look at this link. Also, if you have thatch, it is likely that you also have compaction and possibly high acid content. To determine if you have a compaction problem check out our aeration info. A soil test will give you pH readings to check acidity levels. Anything below 6 or 6.5 is probably too low. A lime application correct this problem.
By no means am I suggeting that this is going to work for all lawns but by following these very simple tips and making sure to implement the other suggestions, you are well on your way having and acheiving a very healthy, a chemical free lawn within about a season or two. Please do not get discouraged. like everyting that is good, It will take time, but it will be worth all the effort. If you have any questions feel free to email me at :info@moncton.net I will be more than willing to make suggestions.
Organic Pest Control
This advise is or gardeners, farmers and landscapers alike, pest control can be a very troublesome issue. Many times the only alternatives seem to be to spray hazardous chemicals everywhere you see the little visitors in the hopes that you will kill them off.
Unfortunately, in the process, you end up hurting not only the pests, but also the beneficial organisms that you should be encouraging. Moreover, many chemical pesticides can cause serious medical problems for family members and pets if used on a continuous basis or in large enough quantities.
Why take chances? By utilitzing organic plantcare/lawncare methods, you can maintain a comparable level of pest control, while achieving better yield and, just as importantly, a much lower level of health hazard.
It's not easy, but with the correct understanding of organic methods, anyone can be an organic gardener.