That more and more of those unwanted plants (some call them "weeds") are growing in that lawn it indicates the grass is under stress and not growing strong and healthy. To get the turf grass back to a good healthy condition requires an in depth look at the soil that grass is growing in.
What is the soils pH? Massachusetts soils are normally acidic.
How much organic matter is in that soil?
What kind of life is in that soil?
How well does that soil drain?
How well does the soil retain moisture?
UMASS does soil testing for soil pH and major nutrients fairly inexpensively and these simple soil tests may also be of some use.
1) Soil test for organic matter. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top.

2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drainsâ too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell.

5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.

Thanks Kimm, I havenâÂÂt done an official soil test in awhile. Last time I checked my soil was around 6 pH. ItâÂÂs a loamy clay soil, that has good tilth, has a good smell to it. Would be surprised if it drains too quickly or too slowly. I rarely have a puddle in the yard after rain.

Questionable would be organic matter and earthworms per shovelful. Because I do have a small property and I grow vegetables, so the materials that I have available for adding to the soil all go in the areas where I grow vegetables or perennials and shrubs. The poor lawn never gets anything. Our mower is not a mulching mower. I did add a small layer of compost to the soil about 5 years ago and hired someone to do it and they found it very difficult to spread it thin enough and it killed some of the grass in places and I didnâÂÂt find the results encouraged me to do it again.

I see earthworms in the soil in the beds, but not easy to get an actual shovelful of soil out of where the grass is growing.

ThatâÂÂs why I was considering adding the Alfalfa meal this year, to add some organic matter. I could add that spring/fall.

How many square feet are you talking? 5 lbs of any grain isn't very much, but if you only have a few hundred feet it woul probably suffice. By the way, one application of anything isn't going to do much.

Maybe 1200 sq ft of lawn, back and front.

Every fall, we spread leaves on the back lawn and then mow over them to chop them, so that leaves a little residue on the lawn.

So what would you recommend in order to add organic matter to the lawn? Is the Alfalfa the right material? Should I just increase the amount and how frequently should I do it?

Other suggestions?

Bumping - I want to learn from this discussion.

Have a question similar to the OP. I cannot physically add sufficient organic matter............too far for this frail old gal to haul.

I am hoping a couple of gents who lurk this board and I have used to learn organics jump in (morph and andy) and correct me if I am off base.

Building "organic matter" is a marathon, not a sprint. It's not going to happen overnight. Mulching leaves is a great start. You can't really over do it. The other is adding a good compost, but obviously more costly and physically harder. The alfalfa, soy, corn, etc. feed the microherd, but don't necessarily increase the organic matter.
A good alfalfa feeding would be about 20lbs per 1K sq. ft. it has a growth hormone, but is very low in NPK. Soybean meal, milorganite, feather meal have higher NPK.

I mulch leaves and by the time this season is over, I will have put down 800lbs of miloranite (mostly for the iron), 100lbs of feather meal, 400lbs of alfalfa, 250lbs of soybean, 300lbs of cracked corn on 11K sq. ft. After this year, I would be thrilled to have a jump in the organic matter of "point" something (I did about the same last year and my OM went from 5.44 to 5.49). It really comes down to what your wallet can take.

One last thing, I would suggest getting a soil test which gives you your present organic matter, as well as other deficiencies. Check out Logan Labs which cost $25.

That is a lot of materials that you've added to your lawn. I realize it's about 10x larger than mine. Was last year the first year you tried that? Have you seen any difference in the quality of your lawn? Did you apply it just the one time?

Does spreading cracked corn attract critters? Or any of the other products? Never heard of 'feather meal'.

Although the currently recommended 36 pounds of Milorganite per 2,500 square feet is lower then it used to be that still says that 800 pounds spread over 11,000 square feet is too much and that simply results in environmental pollution, not something an organic grower would do. At that price Logan Labs is about twice what UMASS charges with the added advantage that you have someone close by, your counties horticultural agent, to answer questions you may have.
Feather meal is a high Nitrogen source (12 to 14 percent) that is not very readily available and can be fairly costly (about $15.00 per 50 pounds).
Any grain spread on the lawn has the potential of attracting critters, just as spilled bird seed would, for a while, and just as Milorganite can be attractive to some dogs, for a while.

This is my second year. I have a common Bermuda called T10, so my nitrogen requirements would be higher than yours in MA (assuming you would have a northern grass). I really went organic more for avoiding thatch that can occur with synthetics on bermuda. Unfortunately, had nothing to do with me and the "environment".

Keep in mind, your working on the soil, not the grass, when doing organics. I love the way my lawn looks using organics. I apply something every 3 weeks in my case. You can't put what I note down in one shot or you would smother the grass. I developed a plan before the season starts and go with that. I mix it up through the season.

Yes, cracked corn does attract squirrels, birds, and chipmunks in my case. Neighbors have a blast breaking my chops! Feather Meal is 13-0-0, NPK. Probably the highest nitrogen count of any organic fertilizer. Extremely slow release though.

Thanks Kimm for that clarification.

TNJDM, everything you do affects the environment in one way or another. Adding excess nutrients to soils is environmentally unsound since the excess nutrients simply flow out of the soil with the water where they enter the ground water and more often then not become pollutants. People that put too much Nitrogen on their lawns are contributing to the nitrate poisoning some places are experiencing and those that put too much Phosphorus are contributing to the algae blooms, such as occurred in Lake Erie recently.
The organic way to grow anything is to determine what the soil needs and add that and no more because organic growers are concerned about the impact they have on the environment. What I do here in Michigan will one day affect prairiemoon in Massachusetts, as well as you, where ever you are. Even too much organic matter in the soil can have an adverse affect.

kimm,

Hard for me to argue with common sense. Just doesn't ring with me persoanlly living in rural TN. Probably an age and political thing with me.