A healthy lush lawn.

Using Organic Lawn Fertiliser is as much about creating the right soil conditions as it is about feeding your Lawn.

All through this site, I will nag you about getting the soil conditions right before you can expect any great results and it is no different with growing grass.

With the exception of Sand, soils have enough Nutrients in the soil structure to grow most crops successfully, adding Organic Lawn Fertiliser and amendments releases as much Nutrient as it contributes.

Adding Organic Fertiliser improves the soil structure making it more friable and increasing the soils Macrobiotic life which makes the Nutrient more available to the plant roots.

So which Organic Lawn Fertiliser do we use?

Animal Fertilisers;

Cow and Sheep Manure,

Both are quite balanced and relatively cheap and widely available at your local Hardware-Garden Centre in either raw or pelletised form. They don't stink too bad so your neighbours won't be throwing rocks over your fence when you apply it!

Chicken Manure;

Avoid using this as its Nitrogen content is quite high and will lead to your Lawn becoming overly vigorous. It also has quite a strong odour.

Compost;

Contains the least Nutrient content, however, its results can be spectacular. Organic Compost creates a Healthy soil environment that will encourage the root system of your grass deeper where it is able to mine Nutrient from a larger area as well as able to access greater quantities of water. Good quality Compost has practically no odour and is easy to spread in a uniform manner.

The application rates for all of the above is approx 1 kg m3

Worm Castings;

Expensive but very positive results, Worm castings do contain a lot of Nutrient in a readily available form with the soil improving qualities of Compost, use at 100 grams m3

All of the above-mentioned Fertilisers are prone to drying out and losing their qualities when they are left for any length of time in the Sun.

For best results apply the Organic Fertiliser/Compost (any combination of) as evenly as you can and the mow your Lawn without the catcher or even better with a Mulching mower straight away, this breaks it down and gets it sitting on the soil ready to do its job. Again don't mow too low, keep a good cover of grass.

Water it straight away, plenty will be needed to wash it into the soil, apply before some good rain is even better. 

Keep the Lawn well watered for the next two weeks and don't use the catcher in that time as well otherwise all you are doing is transferring the Manure into your Compost heap.

This will need to be done at least twice in the first year, preferably during times of good rain or when the temperatures aren't too high when you are irrigating.

Annual applications will be fine once you are happy with the way your Lawn is looking.

Powered Fertiliser;

Rock Dust and Phosphate Rock,

Both don't contribute a lot of Organic Matter but they provide the critical Nutrient Phosphorus for good grass growth.

They are slow to release, best applied in conjunction with the above, apply at 100 grams m3.

Happy mowing,

Barry.

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