Organic Lawn: One Year Later
Recently Nicole Selby, our gardener leading the organic lawn effort, interviewed with local garden reporter Virginia Smith of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Nicole discussed upon our philosophy, efforts, and challenges to date.
Organic lawn during the wet month of August. photo credit: L. Stiebitz
How is it working? The 2011 growing season has been extreme from hot and dry to wet and soaked. At the moment, though, the conventional and organic lawns all look the same – green.
Learn more about the organic lawn in these past posts.
Announcing the Organic Lawn Brochure and Blossoming Research Effort
Remediating Compaction on our Organic Lawn
Organic Lawn Consultation with Eric Fleischer
Categorized as Sustainability Topics
Gian-Angelo Gallace August 29, 2012 at 4:34 pm
How has the lawn fared in the heat of the summer of 2012?
Nicole Selby September 3, 2012 at 1:49 pm
The organic lawn took a noticeable dip toward dormancy over the scorching Fourth of July weekend, and it brightened up to green again with those August rains. Both basically matched the performance of our conventional lawns. We do hope to achieve even better drought tolerance, in time. One step toward that end is coming soon: In September, we’ll topdress with a 1/4″ layer of compost. Over the years, repeating this process will increase the organic matter in the soil substantially. As with any garden bed, that is a great way to retain moisture. On turf, you have to build up slowly so you don’t smother the established plants.