Peter H wrote:
R.Mariotti (at) FinancialDataCorp.com (Bob Mariotti) wrote in message
...

Hello All;

I live in New England and quite frankly "my lawn looks like hell!".

I have five grandchildred ages 8 and down

snip

I'd say that was a fair exchange for all the laughter, the giggles and
energy expended just for your enjoyment...what more could a man want?
When I read your post about your grand-children I could hear all the
giggles...


I would like to do something this fall that might yield some results
come spring.

And then, later, in the summer when all the 'giggles' arrive...what
then? The 'giggles' are good for the soul but bad for the lawn.

A few years ago when my kids were little I acquired an old rubber
lifeboat. It was 15 feet long and 5 or so feet across. I filled the
tubes with air (using a vacuum cleaner in reverse). I then put water in
the boat. The kids (mine and neighbors) would jump on the air filled
rubber into the water and had a great giggly time. Every so often it
needed to be drained, cleaned out etc. This wasn't a difficult thing to
do because the air would leak out in a short time and draining was easy.
But my lawn under the boat! (This is why I tell this story). The lawn
under the boat was, to say the least, non existent! Gone! I fretted for
a time and as you say "My lawn looks like hell!" But you know, as I do,
the giggles were worth it!

Today, there is no trace of that boat ever being there...damn! I did not
reseed the area, it just 'came back'.

I'm not sure what part of New England you live in or whether you live
near a farming community...horses, for example. Up here in Canada people
with horses have just too much manure. (for pollution reducing reasons,
we (they) are only allowed to put so much manure on the fields. The
excess must be disposed of responsibly...in some cases, they have to pay
to have it removed). So guess what, I help them out with thanks; it's a
two way thanks.

Without getting into to much detail, find if you can, a local farm. Help
them out by removing some of their manure. Not every farm will give it
up for free...they know how valuable it is. And it is for many reasons.

Another thing that I should tell you (you may already know this) most
manures have weed seeds in it; that's the nature of the beast. So,
compost it with your household compost. That will help destroy some of
the unwanted weeds.

Someone in another post mentioned the condition of the soil. This is a
very important point.

Most people have forgotten about Natures way to keep soil fertile. It's
the worms. They work 24/7 but they need food to keep things going.
Compost and horse/cow/etc. manures will give them something to eat. With
something to eat they multiply and work 24/7. With kids running on the
grass the soil gets compressed. Am I right? Just think, worms work when
the kids are asleep. Now that is something worthy of serious thought.

Chemical fertilizers don't help worms. In fact some studies indicate
that they are killed by chemical fertilizers. So kill the worms; then
the grass looks terrible; it won't grow. And when the ground gets
compacted it compounds the 'grass won't grow problem'. Worms add plant
available nutrients to the soil and aerates the soil. All they want is
something to eat to keep them going 24/7.

Feed the worms and your grass will come back when the little ones are
gone...my grass did. But, alas my kids did too. (sigh)

Gary
PS: Using a mulcher style lawn mower will give the worms something to
eat all year long.