Mama, readsn'writes asked how to make her lawn look better, not about beds, so the lasagne beds won't help her. Rn'w, I would suggest that you can use any of the organic fertilizers, but, for whatever reason, you can frequently find the meals, etc., at a feed store for less than the cost of a bag of fertilizer - somehow, having someone else mix things up seems to double the cost. If money is really tight, them buying a bag of one this month, and a bag of another next month, might be in your budget. As said at the top of this thread, you need the OM, to feed your plants by feeding the organisms that then live in the soil which make the nutrients, etc. that your plants' roots take up. Since the increase of the microherd is slow, it will take time for great improvements to show. Making compost teas, with molasses added, and spraying them on the lawn, diluted, will greatly help with the microherd. If you can get and spread compost, whether bagged or your own, and also spread the meals, and anything else you can get, as well as using a mulching mower and leaving the clippings on the lawn, and letting the grass gow a bit longer than a "pretty", conventional lawn, then you will see a slow improvement in how the lawn looks, and by next year should see a lot of improvement.

Composting is a great way to deal with a very large amount of what would otherwise be "waste material." A properly managed compost pile should not smell or attract pests. The basic rule, if it looks bad or smells bad, it needs more cover material. Also, composting does not need to involve much work, a continuous pile does not get turned. In our composting (I'm more of a sustainable gardener than an organic gardener) we will swipe bags of leaves off the curb before yard waste pickup day and use them for our cover material. We also grab bags of grass clippings. I know there is no way of knowing what was used on those yards and the leaves and clippings could have been sprayed with something not organic. I'll risk it since I see composting those things as better than throwing them away. And I use the compost that I can get from the county that would be made with those things anyway. Back to the point of composting, Here are some links that tell about composting almost anything. http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html http://www.weblife.org/humanure/default.html And you don't have to compost human manure for this info to be useful. Proper compost requires some variety in the materials, management to make sure it heats up and to ensure that it doesn't become a smelly heap. We take out trash only about once a month since all organic stuff goes to the worms or compost pile. Another, free source of fertilizer is urine. In sandy soil especially near a river, be sure to use carefully since it can leach away just as chemical fertilizers do. It should be diluted between 10 or 20 to one. I've been using about a cup or urine to a gallon of water to fertilize some plants. There is some odor during mixing and application but you should not be able to smell in in the garden by the next morning. The fish oil spray I have to use on the sago palm lingers for weeks but urine isn't a problem so long as it is applied to plants, dirt, mulch etc. If urine is dumped on concrete or the like, the odor will linger. I really like the ideas about using grains and mulch to boost up the microbe life in sandy soil. It's all so connected!

Dandy, Sorry, I don't know how to link, but this is a copy of a post on this forum about 'gorilla hair'. Posted by jeff_zephyr Sunset 7 CA (My Page) on Wed, May 5, 10 at 12:17 I decided to try gorilla hair mulch around my roses last year. It was highly recommended by the garden center. After a year of observation, I am really disappointed. The biggest problem is that this mulch forms a waterproof barrier. Water gets trapped in the gorilla hair instead of percolating into the ground. This is a big problem for a dry climate like mine. Numerous times after it rained, I would lift the gorilla hair mulch only to see how dry the earth underneath was. Weed actually grows on the gorilla hair! Weeding was actually challenging this year, because the unwanted grass and weeds actually root into the gorilla hair. As a result, I ended up throwing away quite a bit of mulch along with the weed. Last, in our windy and dry environment, the gorilla hair actually gets blown away. I have to buy more mulch to replace the sections that disappeared. Conclusion: I'll never buy this product again because it is a waste of money and time. Jeff BACK TO ANDREARK AGAIN: I don't mind work, but I don't want to do what I don't have to do. The compost I use is from Navlet's. As I said before, it discourages weeds and 'MELTS' , eventually, into the soil. I do more 'talking to my babies' than working on them. This will be the first spring flush that I've really paid attention to. Lady Emma and Falstaff have already bloomed several times. And Molineux will open any moment, , , maybe tomorrow. I do sourdough baking, and I make cheeses, but this is the most exciting thing I do. Have a great spring!! andreark (SFO East Bay - Delta area)

Brian, just keep it simple. Take care of the ecosystem: (the worms, the bacteria, and the fungi, and they will take care of your plants for you. Here is all you need. Forget the chemical fertilizers which are harmful to worms and the environment. Forget the hard labor of composting. Get a bunch of dry leaf mulch, and layer it on the ground about 3-4 inch thick or so. Then go buy several large 99 cent bag of composted steer manure at Lowes or Home Depot, and mix that in with the leaves. This prevents any nitrogen deficiencies from the mulch composting. That is all you need. Dump a layer of manure on the ground every two months or so. 1 or 2 bags will do. At 99 cents a bag that goes a long way. The manure also improves water retention in the soil, and gives the worms food to eat. Plus, the nitrogen in the manure helps break down the leaf mulch. Simply leave the leaves as a mulch, and keep it mulched all year round. Add manure as neccessary. That is all you need to have superior growth and fruit quality. If you keep the environment under the leaf mulch moist for the worms, they will multiply like crazy. They will loosen the soil for you, eat the leaf mulch, and return the nutrients to the ground for your plant. Try digging into my soil, and you'll see dozens of worms in every scoop. I have simply made a worm haven for them, and created an environment where they are protect, and will thrive. The result is that my trees are in excellent conditions, and the soil is getting better and better each year. If you use chemical fertilizers, your soil will get worse and worse over time. Initially it will look as if the chemicals are working for your plant, but overtime, the plant becomes dependent on it, and you'll need more and more chemical fertilizer to do the same thing. This will worse over time, because the bacteria that the plants need to break down nutrients, and to convert them to what they need were destroyed by the chemical fertilizer. That is why you need more and more of it. Plus, your soil will deteriorate because all the worms are dead. Using this method, my soil has become very good. In a few years, I'll have the best soil on the entire block! By the way, plants aren't as simple as NPK. They are a living organism, and they need a wide array of nutrients like you and me. Nature has the BEST way of making sure the plants are healthy. Fungi and bacteria continually breaks down nutrients and release them back into the soil. Worms eat bacteria, mulch, and fungi, and release the nutrients back into the soil in a more stable form. Basically, with the right ecosystem. The plant has an increase ability to absorb nutrients, and thereby need even less of it that would otherwise have been. The above has worked for me. By the way, I also water my mulch with PISS every 1.5 months.