A home without a lawn is like rain without clouds; there is no charm. Although the grass in your lawn doesn’t give crops, it works wonders for the curb appeal of your house.
Not only does it give a wow-worthy exterior to the house, but it also cleans the air, giving you a good environment to live in.
Basically, a healthy lawn is both–a privilege and a responsibility. Thankfully, some simple organic lawn care practices can maintain their attractiveness for a lifetime.
Wherever you live, you can read this blog to plan a DIY organic lawn care for your yard.
Without keeping you in suspense, let’s get into it!
Organic Lawn Care: Meaning & Purpose
The goal of organic lawn care is to keep your yard and everything in it healthy without using any dangerous chemicals.
You can plant wildflowers along your fence and enjoy the vibrant overgrowth.
On the flip side, another homeowner may prefer to apply weed killer along the base of his fence to keep it looking nice and clean.
If you practice organic lawn care, you may have to pluck weeds by hand, even though your neighbour may use chemical fertilizers to reduce weeds.
The type of lawn care you choose is a matter of choice.
Fundamental Concept of Organic Lawn Care
The basic steps involved in organic lawn care are:
Natural substances are used as fertilizers, remedies for undesirable weeds, insects, and illnesses, and methods for keeping the grass in good condition.
In short, no synthetic materials or chemicals are used in organic lawn care. That implies that products like pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides usually provided by the big lawn care businesses are not used in organic lawns.
Rather, carbon-based materials obtained from plant and animal leftovers are used by organic lawn care providers. That covers items such as:
Seaweed, mycorrhizae, worm castings, compost tea/soil conditioner manure, compost and leaf mulch, and bone char.
Grass requires micronutrients, and that need is fulfilled by minerals like Greensand and potash.
Purpose of DIY Organic Lawn Care
Naturally, lowering the quantity and number of dangerous chemicals released into the environment is one of the main objectives of organic lawn care.
But conventional lawn care also goes beyond the use of chemicals on lawns:
- It causes air pollution that is released when mowing.
- It makes up 30% of the water used in homes.
- A substantial amount of fuel goes into running lawnmowers.
Additionally, using organic methods might reduce the time and work needed to maintain your grass.
Most people must be aware of how much time traditional lawn care requires. Every season, when a person starts with lawn care, it takes around 35-40 hours to do the job.
Isn’t that a lot?
So, if you think you can do better things during that time, organic lawn care is for you.
Related Blog: Lawn Care Schedule: Bring Out the Green Side All Year-Round
6 Steps for Organic Lawn Care
Making a shift to organic lawn care doesn’t have to be difficult.
You may immediately begin to improve your yard by doing your homework.
We’ve outlined the actions you should take for a beautifully sustained lawn:
1. Get a Soil Test Performed
This should be the first step of organic lawn care as it defines the situation before you begin.
You may find out your soil’s pH and which nutrients are lacking or insufficient by having a soil test.
This gives you the option to select an organic fertilizer to adjust the pH of your soil.
For instance, adding gypsum can raise low calcium levels in your soil, and adding lime can raise pH levels in low-pH soil.
Make sure you get a professional pH test.
The kits you can purchase from the store may provide inaccurate information.
Insert organic lawn care near me on the search engine, and you’ll find some trustworthy landscaping companies.
You can send a few soil sample packets to them to determine the characteristics of the soil.
2. Get Your Lawn Ready
After cutting down your entire grass, take some time to pull as many weeds as you can.
Make sure your lawn is as level and even as it can be. To level things out, bring in some dirt.
Compost, whether homemade or bought from a nearby lawn and garden supply store, is essentially the foundation of an organic lawn.
This nutrient-rich addition is a fantastic method for supporting the robust and healthy growth of plants and grass.
Make your own compost bin if you have a large lawn because it can take a lot of compost to lay over the space.
3. Skip The Chemical Laden Fertilizers
Eliminating artificial pesticides is one method used in organic lawn care that gives families lasting serenity.
They can let kids play outside without being concerned about harmful chemicals sitting on the top surface of the lawn.
Pets are harmed by synthetic insecticides and other inorganic chemicals used on lawns.
Dogs exposed to chemically treated lawns have shown much higher cancer rates.
According to one study, exposure to common lawn herbicides increased the risk of malignant lymphoma in dogs.
Dogs obsessed with rolling, playing, and running in the grass may bring toxins inside, exacerbating the effect.
Additionally, the paws and fur of pets retain the chemicals for longer lengths of time than their clothes or shoes.
Get fertilizers that contain things like seaweed, bone meal, and manure.
You can use common home materials like grass clippings, coffee grounds, banana peels, or composted chicken manure in organic lawn care.
4. Seed the Patches of the Lawn
First of all, elect grass types appropriate for the amount of foot and vehicle activity, shade or sun, water, and kind of soil on your property.
Areas with a lot of traffic require more care or an alternative surface for the lawn.
Apply a mixture of 1/2 to 1 pound of grass seeds per 1,000 square feet, or double this amount if there are a lot of weed seeds present.
Plants that are seeded too thickly will be crowded and more susceptible to disease.
Not to forget, oversowing may allow weeds to take over.
Hence, spread half of the seed in one direction and overlap it by half with each pass to ensure fair distribution.
After that, distribute the second half perpendicular to the first.
Make sure the seed is well incorporated into the soil by lightly raking it in and using a light roller to compact the dirt.
Sprinkle a little water and straw over the seed to promote germination. Water your plants at least once a day until they take root.
If your lawn doesn’t have grass and you start from square one, even with all the organic lawn care, it will take a year to grow fully.
5. Natural Pest Control for Grass
Although healthy grass is less vulnerable to insect attacks, no lawn is impervious to them.
Timely examinations help in detecting issues early on. That allows you to control them before they become disruptive.
Lawn grubs, such as Armyworms, are among the most prevalent pests in lawns.
The damaged area of the lawn can be effectively killed by sprinkling a pail of extremely soapy water on it.
However, this will also kill earthworms, providing iron to the soil.
If it’s a big area, scattering a little bit of worm castings throughout will help the grass heal and swiftly reintroduce worms.
A lawn maintained with organic lawn care methods is as good as any other lawn.
So, even if it seems labour-intensive right now, the payoff will be absolutely worthwhile.
6. Watering the Lawn
For organic lawn care, you need less water than grass treated with chemicals.
Usually, you need to water the grass two times a week, and the best time for it is early morning. If you have deep soil that may be equal to 12 inches, you need to spray an inch of water on it for 60 minutes.
If the topsoil is less and the roots are shallow, you need to water for around 15 minutes thrice a week.
That will help you conserve water as well.
Read more: Fall Lawn Care: Complete Checklist for a Well-Maintained Lawn
Benefits of Organic Lawn Care
Adhering to organic lawn care and staying away from substances full of chemicals is a win-win situation for you and the environment.
Below, we have rounded up the benefits of organic lawn care.
1. Low Maintenance
In the first few months of organic lawn care, you may have to invest some extra hours of care.
Once it fully blooms, you won’t need as much effort as before. The DIY organic lawn care practices are sustainable.
2. Keep Your Home Safe
Pet parents or those who have toddlers in the house are on their toes every time to ensure the safety of their babies.
However, the harmful substances present in fertilizers, herbicides, etc, raise a safety concern.
With organic lawn care, no matter how many hours a child spends playing in the lawn, you won’t need to worry about toxins going inside their system.
3. Keeps Chemicals From Mixing in Water
40-60% of the nitrogen from fertilizers goes into our environment.
When people use excess chemical-based products on the lawn, they make way for them to seep into the water supply.
For instance, in homes with a well or similar water system, with rainfall, the toxins can mix into the water, causing serious health issues.
4. An Economical Option
In the initial stage of organic lawn care, you may feel that some of the products, like fertilizers, cost more than the traditional ones.
Nevertheless, it saves money by protecting you from the future maintenance costs that burn a hole in your pocket.
When a disease spreads on a lawn, it takes expensive treatments to make it flourish again.
Mostly, the material used in DIY organic lawn care is made with contents that are easy to find in any kitchen.
What to Expect From DIY Organic Lawn Care
When you get so many things from organic lawn care, it shouldn’t be too upsetting to have a few cons.
Here are some demerits to expect from DIY organic lawn care:
1. Results Can be Indeterminable
Organic lawn care solutions give different results depending on the weather and soil quality.
Also, it will take time for you to see the outcomes of your DIY organic lawn care practices. So, you need to wait before changing anything in the lawn care routine.
2. Organic Pesticides Are Less Specific
When you use chemical pesticides, you get rid of the pesky pests and weeds almost instantaneously.
But with organic lawn care for pesticides, expect pest management to be time-consuming as it is less powerful than chemical ones.
3. Tricky in the Beginning
Starting can be the hardest part of DIY organic lawn care. You may feel as if you are running in a maze without knowing where it takes you.
Before you figure out what works best for your lawn, you will need to go past the phase of extensive research.
Your learning curve for organic lawn care may consist of experimenting with different strategies and gaining knowledge.
FAQs
Why DIY organic lawn care is a cost-effective option?
Organic lawn care is cheaper as most of the components people use comprise common household items.
What is the best fertilizer for DIY organic lawn care?
Feather meal is the best fertilizer for organic lawn care.
How to make pesticide for DIY lawn care?
Mixing vegetable oil or dish soap with water to suffocate the pests.
How can you control weeds in organic lawn care?
Using vinegar, dish soap, spreading corn gluten meal, and pulling them are the best ways to control weed.
Final Thoughts
After reading this guide, you can easily switch your lawn from chemical to organic lawn care solutions.
If you have been relying on chemical treatments for years, your lawn will take some time to adjust to DIY organic lawn care.
If you want a fresh start and don’t want anything to go wrong, Falcon Landscaping is always there to help.