"Gord" wrote in message
...
Does any body here have a recipe for lawn food. I am trying to steer away
from commercial fertilizers and would like to try making my own.

Thanks

Gord


By steering away from "commercial fertilizers", I assume you mean the
manufactured synthetic chemical kind normally favored for lawn care? Smart
move - perhaps the best thing you can do aside from removing the lawn
entirely. There are a number of option:

Get a mulching mower. Field studies conducted by the Center of Urban
Horticulture at the University of Washington have determined that the
regular use of a mulching lawn mower will reduce if not eliminate the need
for supplemental fertilizing, as well as keep your lawn healthy, reduce
thatch build up and supress weeds.

If you are prone to annual weeds, try corn gluten meal. This is an organic
product with the ability to prevent the complete germination of weed seeds.
Since it is a corn by-product, it also contains nitrogen (10-0-0), the most
critical of lawn nutrients.

Top dress your lawn twice yearly with screened compost or alfalfa meal.
Watering periodically with a seaweed supplement will provided an assortment
of needed trace elements. And there are scores of organic soil amendments
which can be used to supplement, depending on what you specific lawn
requires. When in doubt, do a soil test first.

Finally, there are dozens of web sites that address organic lawn care - no
synthetic fertilizers and no chemcial weed controls. Simply changing
fertilizing methods is not enough - you need to understand the correct
methods of irrigation and mowing as well. Just do a google search under
'organic lawn care' and do a bit of reading first. In proper combination,
these factors can release your lawn (and your checkbook)from chemical
bondage.

pam - gardengal