Tony, I think dethatching would be the way to go this fall. Also, If you cannot find corn meal reasonably priced, then try cracked corn. It will have the same affect only you may find a few corn stalks growing out of your lawn. They pull real easy plus they are kinda cute. Use corn meal or cracked corn preemptively against lawn fungus especially in areas you know are problematic. Good call on the compost. ThatÂs the best thing you could do for your organic lawn. Best of luck. - BillHill

I'm back, not that you've gotten bad service from morph. You could not be in better hands. I'm just more hands... Yes, the standard, $25 test is what you want at Logan Labs. When nothing seems to work, then the soil test usually provides the answer. And morph is the guy to read your soil test for you. I've been organic since 2002. My back yard is in half day sun and is too dense to mow. My front is in 90% filtered shade and mows easily, but would not be considered thin - at least not mostly. This is a lot of shade in the front. I realize you are committed to organics but maybe a couple pictures will help you stay on track. I collect these things for people like you. Here's the first one. That was taken by GW member mrmumbles back in 2011 to show the effect of using alfalfa pellets on his zoysia lawn. He applied the stuff in mid May and took the picture in mid June. You can easily see the effect. Density, color, and growth are all improved dramatically. Here is another picture taken by morph of his own lawn. I don't know why he doesn't use this picture more often. Maybe because he knows I use the heck out of it. That picture was taken in 2010. He will attribute the green of his yard to soil testing and improved chemistry, but you have to give credit to his organic program, too. He also has a different variety of grass and he waters differently. But the point is...WOW AREYOUFREAKINKIDDINME! Yes, you can have the yard of the month, month after month, on an organic program. What morph does to get that effect is to do things right. The cost of his lawn is not that much different from the cost of the neighbors' dead looking lawns. It's much more a matter of doing things right than spending more money.

Congrats on the new home. 1) Nutsedge is challenging whether you are trying to stay organic or not. Most chemicals don't work very well on it although there are a few products that specifically target this weed (sledgehammer etc.) The problem is the "nut" part. This weed forms little nut shaped bulbs in its roots a energy reserves. If you kill of the top, it just regrows from the "nut". The quickest way to get rid of them is just to dig them up - dig, not pull. If you pull, you will likely just get the topgrowth and miss the nut. 2) Getting on a consistent watering schedule and using organic fertilizers will slowly improve the soil. For a much quicker fix: Water for 15 minutes. Let it soak in. Water for 15 minutes. Let it soak in. Do this a bunch of times in a row until you can actually get a shovel into the ground. Then, wait a day and rent a plug aerator. Make a couple of passes over the whole area. Then, sprinkle a layer of compost over everything and then rake/broom the area to knock some of the compost into the holes. 3. Bermuda won't grow in shade. You can plant St Augustine grass there if you really want grass. I don't think it looks very good next to bermuda though. Personally, I would make beds, patios, sitting spots etc out of the shady spots. Grass likes to grow in the sun. If you walk in the forest, you aren't going to see a ton of grass growing there. It is a lot easier to follow nature than to fight against it.

Scotts Organic Choice Lawn Food packs less N than your typical fertilizer. It does, but goes down at a higher rate. For winterization, I used 22 lbs of Scott's Winterizer (or whatever they're now calling it) at around 30-3-10 or so. For organic feeding (the rest of the year), I use soybean meal at around 7-1-2 or so. The difference being that I use 90 lbs of soybean meal at a shot. Your listing--assuming 1 lb of actual N per thousand square feet per application, or 5 lbs N total for the year--isn't too much, particularly for very new KBG. New grass, like adolescents, eats a lot. I would use pure pre-M in March instead of the fertilizer mix and shift the dates a bit: March 15: Pre-M with no fertilizer April 1-15 (or so): After the second mow, fertilize (synthetic or organic). May 20-31 (or so): Five to six weeks after the first fertilization, fertilize again (organic). That won't force green-up of the lawn too early, and the winterizer you put down this year will be working next March anyway.