Congrats, it looks awesome! I did a similar thing this year, not because I am very "green", but because we have a one year old daughter, and I like the feeling of knowing she's safe when she runs and plays in the grass.

I've put some organic preemergent, but it was too late, and we still get some weeds. Not many, since I'm mowing on the maximum setting, but still, it takes a while to pull each one of them.

Keep it up!

Hi Tim,
I couldn't help but looking at the area around your 'Workhorse' and 'Soldiers' and thinking what beautiful, sunny, level ground you have for growing yummy, home-grown tomatoes (Aunt Gertie's Gold, Omar's Lebanese, Brandywine, etc.), as well as many other vegetables.

Now that you know the organic way of growing beautiful grass, it would probably not be difficult for you to grow veggies organically also. Your daughter would love helping you (and would discover that vegetables taste great).

It's not too late to start for this season; people are planting seeds of fall crops now (Swiss chard, kales, cole crops, carrots, peas, perhaps even bush beans) to mention a few.

If interested, an excellent book is Carolyn J. Male's "100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden," (Smith and Hawken), and excellent, fresh seeds can be had at Sandhill Preservation.

And there're lots of inspiration to be had on the Bean Forum, as well as on the Tomato, Vegetable, Soil, and other forums.

Good luck, and thanks for posting your pictures. Nice house! and deck for grilling (vegetables!)

Here is a link that might be useful: Sandhill Preservation

Tim, your killing me! Nice lawn.

Looks great! Congrats. By the way, what is "Coybean Meal"? Haha. Look at the ingredients section of the bag in the first bag picture; that's a pretty big typo. :)

Lets hear your organic regiment

Really does look great. But not just the lawn. Everything. The tractor, neighborhood, etc.. Can I ask where you live?

THanks for the comments guys!

It really is a great neighborhood, newly erected in the past 3 years, our house is one of the last to come in the 3rd and final phase. Home is located in Ontario County, New York (in the heart of the Finger Lakes Region)

The regiment is super simple. On the major holidays starting with Memorial day (....4th of july, labor day etc)

I put down about 15lbs per 1000sqft of the soybean meal. I cut my lawn at 3.75"-4" and try to cut frequently so im never cutting off more than 1" of grass. I mulch mow every cut and i sharpen my blades once in the spring, once in the summer and once in the fall (I feel this is a step most people over look and its very important.) Also, ive switched out my "stock" mower blades for a high performance mulching blade. You need the right tools for the job.

I water deeply, but infrequently.

I hand pull any weeds, as they are few and far between with the density of my lawn, its not easy for them to sprout.

This past spring i tried Corn Gluten Meal as an organic weed pre-emergent. I battled crabgrass early on (April-may) but its long gone now.

In the fall i apply my ONLY synthetic fertlizer, and put down the scotts winterizer once the soil temps drop and growth has stopped for the year (Typically around Thanksgiving where I'm from, but before the first snow fall)

THats it guys! its THAT simple!

I'll be doing a renovation on the back 1/4 of my lawn and chronicling the whole thing to show you guys just how easy it is.

I think this website can be overwhelming to first time readers, with so many opinions and theories. I hope that with my pictures, you can take this as PROOF that my method works! granted, not all pieces of land are th same, i think i was blessed with healthy soil that has a naturally stable pH as it was a farm field prior to the development of the neighborhood.

get off the weed and feed.........its JUNK!

Start mowing high, watering deeply and you'll see results from basic cultural practices!

-Tim

Not trying to hijack a thread, but mine could be titled the same. This is two years after buying the house, and one year after laying new sod and switching to organics. The first three sets are the befores and afters, the rest are just more gratuitous lawn porn. Note: the front of the house between my driveway and the driveway on the left is the new sod. What I think is more impressive is the right side of the house (pics 5, 6, 7, and 8.) That area has had nothing done to it except SBM, CGM, compost, coffee grounds, cornmeal, and proper cultural practices.

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Those mailboxes in your neighborhood are awesome Brizzyintx.

You've never seen those before? They're pretty common in the south - in particular the DFW area.

Needless to say, we don't play much mailbox baseball around here.

Not often. I like the brick and that everyone does the same thing. Where I live we don't have them at the curb either. Everyone has them either attached to their house or on a post in the ground, but by their front door. People around here would say they would hate to have to go to the street to pick up their mail, but something about I just like. Does your mailman drive a mail truck then or walk?

We have a mail truck.

The downside is with the Texas soil, a lot of the brick mailboxes will settle and start to lean. If you don't relevel them from time to time, they end up falling into the street.

But yeah - I really like the look, too. Especially how they're always done in the same brick the corresponding house is done in.