For a couple of articles on just this type of thing, try Howard
Garrett's website. People either love him or hate him, but I have
several of his books and have found them very helpful. And lots of the
stuff in the books is on his website.

http://www.dirtdoctor.com

hth,
John

"Pam - gardengal" wrote in message
news:yFLnc.19339$xw3.1297174@attbi_s04...

"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