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JOHN A. STARNES JR.The next six months are the best time to get your grass in shape. The first step: Feed the soil.
When was the last time you playfully rolled across your lawn with the kids or dog because it was plush and green?
Can't remember?
Maybe that's because your lawn is about as attractive as Hulk Hogan in drag. Well, the next six months offer us a chance to make over our Bahia, Bermuda or St. Augustine lawns into "beauty queens" of the block.
The first step is to feed the soil. Grass is a plant and all plants need rich, fertile, pH-balanced soil to be healthy and green. My favorite "soil food" is menhaden fish meal (sold in 50-pound bags at feed stores). Loaded with organic nitrogen and all trace elements, it will nourish your lawn, beds and gardens. Cottonseed meal is a good "greener-upper" plus a good acidifier for alkaline coastal soils, but it lacks those trace elements.
Pour either one in your broadcast spreader (not drop spreader) with the slot about half open; walk with a steady pace so that it goes down about as heavily as Parmesan cheese on spaghetti. Fling it by hand right from the hopper into beds and gardens as you feed them. Two or three bags of either will feed an average-size yard. Keep in mind that your trees' roots are right below the lawn, so they are getting nourishment, too. You can forget about those expensive and ineffective tree fertilizer stakes. If you live inland and have acidic soil and lots of dollar weed and hawksbeard (looks like a miniature-flowered dandelion); or oxalis (looks like a pink- or yellow-flowered clover); or a Bermuda or St. Augustine lawn (a blend of both is easiest to care for), an annual sprinkling of dolomitic limestone is an ideal treat.
Often sold as as "dolomitic lime," this natural mineral is an antacid for your soil and also supplies the calcium and magnesium needed for healthy plants. As the acid wanes, the weeds disappear as the grass thickens and greens up. Don't give dolomite to Bahia because it likes acid soil, which is why it is usually teeming with weeds.
Now the fun part, the makeover finale. As soon as there is a chill in the air, look for bags of "winter rye" or "Oregon rye" seed. It's cheapest in 50-pound bags, then 25-pound bags, and most expensive in those plastic buckets.
Set your broadcast spreader (not a drop spreader) to about half-open, then pace back and forth across your lawn to spread the seeds evenly. Make a second set of passes at right angles for an especially thick, even winter rye lawn. Be sure not to fling the seeds into your landscape beds.
A deep watering twice weekly will soon bring a green glow to your lawn, and within a month you'll have that soft, inviting carpet to roll across. It grows fast, so mow every five days and mulch the clippings into your soil as fertilizer. By late spring, when the rye succumbs to the heat, it will add valuable organic matter to your sandy soil as it decays.
Winter is sheer heaven in Central Florida, and a classic winter rye lawn will herald its arrival with a green lushness that will be envy of everyone on the block.
- John A. Starnes Jr., born in Key West, is an avid organic gardener and rosarian who studies, collects, cultivates and hybridizes roses for the diverse regions of Florida. He can be reached at his new e-mail address: JohnAStarnes@aol.com