Home Decorating Ideas - How to Start Your First Organic Garden (Part 9)

By taking a few easy steps, you can end up with the greenest, healthiest lawn on your block. Here's what to do!

?Grass-cycle? your grass clippings.
Grass-cycling involves letting your lawn reuse the grass clippings created by mowing. The great thing about grass-cycling is that it?s easy! You simply leave your grass clippings on the lawn instead of throwing them away. Why would you want to do this? Because it?s been proven that grass clippings will quickly decompose and return needed nutrients to the soil. The grass clippings also act as a natural mulch, helping your grass to retain water.

Grass-cycling is a way not only to improve your lawn, it will also help you save time taking care of it! Other benefits of grass cycling include: improved soil texture, reduced need for fertilizers, saved time when you mow, and reduced waste that goes to the landfill.

While you can convert most lawnmowers for grass-cycling, your best bet in to invest in a reel mower. Reel mowers are quiet, effective, easy to use, and most reel mowers leave the grass where it should be, on your lawn!

If you just can?t stand the sight of grass clippings on your yard, another option is to compost them. Invest in a simple compost bin and use the compost in your lawn and garden.

Cut your grass correctly and to the recommended cutting height.
Knowing what height to cut your grass is an important way to get your grass to grow healthy and strong. Setting your lawnmower to the highest or lowest setting is not necessarily the best thing for your grass. In fact, different grass species have different needs in terms of grass cutting height. You can look up recommended cutting heights here.

Additionally, you should keep the blades on your lawnmower nice and sharp so that it cuts your grass effectively. Also, consider buying a reel mower, which actually cuts the grass like scissors rather than tearing it like traditional rotary lawnmowers. This makes for healthier grass in general.

Compost your kitchen and garden waste for greener grass.
As mentioned above, composting your grass clippings is a great way reduce waste and help your garden and lawn grow. Additionally, you can compost other waste from the garden and even from your kitchen.

Adding compost to your soil is one of the best ways to green up your grass and all your garden plants. Compost has a number of other benefits, including:

# Compost improves water drainage in clay and sandy soils.
# Compost creates a slow release of plant nutrients and stimulates root growth.
# Compost helps reduce problems with soil-borne plant diseases and garden pests.
# Compost prevents erosion of precious topsoil.
# Compost recycles yard and kitchen wastes instead of sending it to the landfill.
# Compost balances the pH levels of most soils.
# Compost attracts beneficial insects, worms, and other organisms

Use corn gluten meal as a natural herbicide and lawn fertilizer.
Corn gluten meal is used most frequently as a natural preemergent herbicide for turf grass and organic crops. However, it has the added benefit of fertilizing your soil. Corn Gluten Meal is a totally natural byproduct of the wet-milling process for corn (Zea mays L.). It will help control annual weeds in your lawn and will keep your grass fertilized.

Use Mycor Root Builder to improve your soil.
Mycorrhizal fungi are beneficial soil organisms that provide a sort of secondary root system for your garden plants and grass. They attach themselves to the roots and help plants and grass make better use of water and organic nutrients in the soil.

With a Mycorrhizal fungi root builder, you can get mycorrhizal fungi to work more efficiently. GreenSense Mycor Root Builder is an excellent product that contains Endomycorrhiza, Ectomycorrhiza, Scleroderma, Kelp, Zeolite, and liquid Humate. It will work great on all the plants you grow, not just your turf grass.

For more information on Organic Gardening Software at absolutely no cost.