Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Lawns?

If I need to fertilize an area, I use non-burning garden fertilizer, while is a mix of Milorganite and chemical. The Miloganite acts as a slow release that the plants can uptake, and the chemical give it a kick so that the grass will grow quickly and convert everything to biomass.

Ideally I prefer things like chicken meal and other mulching type fertilizers (pure milorganite), but notice no real effect since they are so slow-acting. The garden fertilizer is a balance of both, and seems to have a lasting impact when mulching the clippings back in.

My biggest gripe with chemical fertilizers (oil-derived) is only a small portion is usually taken up by the plants, the rest is washed away or percolates down into the water table. This all runs off into creeks and rivers. Up here in the Great Lakes, this causes huge BG algae blooms and other toxic algae that kill migrating birds that happen to eat the fish in it. Last year hundreds (thousands) of loons where killed, one of my favorite birds, on Lake Ontario for what? A green lawn? The shame.

I have no problem using fertilizers conservatively on crops, it is necessary, but lawns give me a heartache for the harm they do. We mash up all of the critters with mower blades and chemical the ecosystem to do as the Romans do.

IMHO be conservative, don't expect a green carpet, enjoy the diversity of the plants that grow in it if they are not poisonous. We still pick native strawberries out of our lawn in early June, and they are fantastic!

Do what you want, but please consider the consequences also. There are other things you can do.


I mow this about 3x a year, mostly to knock out the more woody plants in the early summer to give low-crowned plants a leg up. I use a weed-whacker as to not mash up the frogs and insects too much.
https://goo.gl/photos/R5UmeoeAAzj5dkW39
and
https://goo.gl/photos/RmU8aPENvpEno1PK9

Well this?
What it looks like when I am too lazy to mow. Note the diversity:
https://goo.gl/photos/RmU8aPENvpEno1PK9

You can see the transition from slightly fertilized lawn to "field" that is only mowed in the late fall to keep the brush out. That corner is FULL of life, and the deer love to bed in it. Never mind the largely neglected pond garden on the right. However, that cranked out THOUSANDS of cute little tree frogs this year.
https://goo.gl/photos/4obXrVbMwfeNPCTs9

The dandelions, most here fight them tooth and nail. It is pointless and futile. I embrace then, as the deep roots capture fertilizer the grass misses, and I find them pretty in the spring:
https://goo.gl/photos/GPreNtZA24u3ErV48

Lastly is my gripe of people mowing every last corner of a large lot. Let some portion go each year to give wildlife a home! You can rotate the area you let go wild, trace out cool patterns and paths if desired, plant some wildflowers, etc. Trust me, your property experience improves with a little wild added in (if you are not doing that already!)

Well, that is my stance on lawns. I hate their necessity to keep bugs away from the house and have a place to kick balls around with the kid and dog.

We don't fertilize, but have to mow about every 4 to 5 days in the peak of season, especially if it rains a lot.

I don't fertilize either, and like John we need to mow at least once a week when water is plentiful and frequent. I enjoy a lawn that is kept neat, and my philosophy is if I can tell the wind is blowing by looking at my grass, it needs mowed.

But that's my lawn....Lots of area on the outskirts of the lawn proper where we only mow every 3 weeks or so. Still looks pretty good, and frees up a lot of time.

I regularly mow about 1.5 acres total, where the 0.5 comes from small cul-de-sacs and trails. The other acre is around the house, pond, driveway, and my small apple orchard. The other 14.5 acres gets a variety of care to complete neglect. It is my playground to enjoy the changes over time, and watch the wildlife I can produce from my land.

About 1 acre is devoted to the church farm for World Hunger, which the deer I host ate all of the sweet corn, and in no way returned enough fertilizer to make up for it. The potatoes are what produce the best, and the deer don't touch them. The problem is we lost a lot of them this year to drowning. It was so wet in some areas, we lost probably 1/4 of the crop. That is a first.

You better fertilize quarterly and water weekly. You gotta keep those small engine shops in business!!

We have about 3 acres of lawn that the house and pond are in the middle of. I intend on planting more trees to cut down on the lawn.

I just fertilized with 13-13-13 with 300# per acre. We did get a nice shot of rain to wash it in and the grass is starting to even up. The hope is that the lawn will even up over time.

We cut it at about 3.5" and use a lawn stripper that makes it look very nice and tidy.

What I am battling is rust blite. So the nitrogen added in the 13-13-13 was ammonia sulfate. I am looking at using ammonia sulfate in the spring as well then if the Blite shows up again hitting it with liquid sulfur. I hate how the dog comes into the house with orange feed up 6"s from her paws. I hate that the wife needs to wear a mask when cutting the grass with the small mower.

I sure remember how unpleasant those drier seasons were. If it's too dry the grass doesn't grow....if the grass doesn't grow people don't mow....if people don't mow their equipment doesn't break down.....if equipment doesn't break down, small engine techs don't eat! Don't miss that part at all.

sprkplug, you reminded me of what my best friend told me once. He owned the only grocery store in town and I owned the only small engine repair shop in town. He thought we had it figured out. He said people gotta eat and the grass will always grow!! After 35 years of it, we're both out of business!! But... people still gotta eat and the grass still grows!!