With the downtime between snowfalls, I have been going over our lawn treatment programs in detail and attending a few soil and plant seminars. We are continuously striving for better results on our lawns with little-to-no synthetic inputs and just use nutrition and organic materials to achieve these results. We do this by monitoring what is happening with the lawns throughout the year, both positive and negative. Soil reports help us find what is missing or sometimes the case, what is in excess, and how can we improve.
With new clients, if we don’t see the results we were expecting, a soil test can help us see what is going on in the soil. Many times, an excess of just one element in the soil can limit one, or a few other elements which can be vital to plant health. Sounds boring or overcomplicated right? I get it, you just want green grass. Green grass is pretty easy to obtain, sunlight and water. Add fertilizer, and it should just fill in and grow, right? But what if what is that bag of fertilizer is already in excess in your soil? Is your fertilizer application helping or hurting your lawn and at what cost to our water quality?
I believe we can do better. By applying only what the grass needs to succeed and be healthy, we will not only have a positive impact on the environment, but also limit disease and insect pressure in the process without pesticides. Grass has a tremendous ability to capture and hold carbon in the soil, which is a great benefit to not only your lawn, but also our environment. In turn, your lawn will require less and less inputs. We have seen great success in building topsoil on lawns, particularly in new developments where the topsoil has been stripped and the soil structure is compromised.
We know it is the middle of Winter, but are happy to discuss these topics any time. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and we can discuss ways to help improve your lawn quality for the coming warm weather season.