Question
I've been reading through many of past answers you've provided, and I like the idea of organic lawn care.  I'm a relatively new homeowner, and am just now starting to focus on the outside of my house, vs. renovating the inside.  I have two small children, so I like the idea of no chemicals, no pesticides, just 100% natural lawn care.  I just ordered my soil testing kits from Cornell Lab, but I did have a few questions that I wanted to ask while I wait.

My lawn at this point (Zip Code 12065) has more crabgrass than real grass.  The real grass is a nice tall fescue, and I've raised my mowing height to 3" after seeing some of your previous posts.  What I don't understand is how to go from crabgrass -> real grass.  My understanding is that the crabgrass will die off with the first frost.  In the springtime, about the time the Forsythia blooms, I apply Corn Gluten Meal to the lawn, and that prevents new crabgrass from growing.  Now, if I wanted to either plant a cover crop (perhaps White Clover) or more tall fescue, when do I try to plant it?  The Corn Gluten Meal would prevent my new clover or grass seeds from sprouting just like the crabgrass.  Is there a certain time after applying the CGM that I can then plant regular seed without interference?  

Also, if I were to plant a cover crop (let's say White Clover), how do you transition from that to regular grass?  Would I just overseed with Tall Fescue and wait for the fescue to overtake the clover?  I'm not familiar on which would be the more aggressive plant.

Lastly, I have both white and yellow clover currently growing in spots in my yard.  Does the yellow clover "fix" nitrogen as the white does?  Can I leave it around (mowing at a 3" height) until I'm ready to go gung ho on the lawn?  Or would it be better to start pulling it now to get ahead of it.

Thanks,

-Chris


Answer
Welcome to the clean, fresh world of green grass.  Don't you love the way Grass smells when you mow it?  I mean, there's nothing like it.  Lots of people don't really know what that smells like.  People whose Lawns are covered with weedkiller and grubkiller rarely have any idea that all those chemicals stick to the soles of your shoes; when you go inside, they go with you, get all over the floor and the rugs, and then you're living with them.  No Sunlight indoors means there's no UV to break them down.  And since children are by definition low to the ground, they get the biggest doses of it all.  We don't have hard, criminal evidence -- yet -- that will tell us which chemical gives you which cancer or disease, but I can't see that we need to add even more of this stuff to our lives.  Not if we have a choice.

Besides, plants grow better without the interference of this stuff.

Let's get to your questions.

You have the first paragraph down pretty well.  I'm impressed.  If you want to save yourself some money, you can buy buckets of Corn Gluten Meal at any farm stand -- do we have any of those left in New York?  Maybe you have some in your area.  The more you use, the better your chances of screwing up sprouting Weeds.

Next: About that Cover Crop you want to plant... That would probably be something you could put in now, but I have to point out that Cover Crops are really designed as combination 'placeholders/fertility boosters' for people with a lot of blank spaces in their Lawns.  It sounds like you may not have that problem.  You have Weeds and Fescue, and probably some fertility issues as well.  If you want to be adventurous, hand eliminate any large patches of Weeds, then top dress with something nice and organic like Humus or Compost, and get yourself a patch of cover Crop.  It won't look like much but it will be fun to do, and it's only temporary - for the next few months.  Then you turn it over, and you're ready to try some real Grass.

You mention Yellow Clover.  This is NOT Clover.  It's actually a Weed, Medicago lupulina, aka 'Black Medic' - photographed and posted by Colorado State University Extension:

www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/4DMG/Weed/black.htm

When you see Black Medic, pull it up by the roots and NEVER let it bloom or it will just continuously spread.

White and Red Clover are a little different from Cover Crops.  Because you don't have to get rid of them at the end of the Season.  You want to keep them around so they can fix Nitrogen for the Grass growing around it.

In their review of White Clover, Trifolium repens, as a living lawn amendment, the Versicolor website notes: 'When White Clover invades a Lawn naturally, it develops initially in discrete clonal patches of almost pure Clover, each one derived from a single plant.  Because the patches stand out, they can look unsightly and often the first reaction is to get rid of them.  However, if the Lawn is managed to encourage Clover, it will eventually be distributed throughout the Lawn and, with the associated Grasses and Herbs, contribute to a thick turf and a pleasing mosaic of leaf textures.'

Here's the URL:

versicolor.ca/lawns/docs/clover.html

There are compelling reasons to grow Clover in a Grass Lawn.  Carefree Clover sails through drought and heat even as your Grass shrivels away into a state of Brown at the height of Summer.  Clover fixes Nitrogen so effectively that budgeting for a Lawn care company's fertilizer services becomes a complete waste of cash.  Clover brings biodiversity to the Lawn, reducing all kinds of unwanted side effects.

The downside: Clover is a short-lived perennial.  In 2 or 3 years, it must be re-sowed.

Also, foot traffic is murder on Clover.  That includes the pitterpatter of little feet.  Clover is just not a tough plant; it is ruined by pedestrians.  Slates and stone pavers needed.

But it's a personal choice.  Nothing's written in stone here.

White Clover:

www.msuturfweeds.net/details/_/white_clover_28/

(note the pretty trefoil watermark on the leaves)

Yellow Wood Sorrel, 'Oxalis corniculata':

www.msuturfweeds.net/details/_/yellow_woodsorrel_30/

The latter is an Oxalis, one of 900 Clover lookalikes classified in the Wood Sorrel Family ('Oxalidaceae'), usually spurned as a Weed by Long Island Gardeners and embraced as Produce by Salad-lovers (thanks to the zingy Oxalic Acid in their leaves).  To the untrained eye, Yellow Wood Sorrel LOOKS like real Clover.  But it DOES NOT FIX NITROGEN!  Side by side, they can be distinguished.  They are as different as ketchup and mustard.  Rip out, then compost or donate it to your favorite Vegetarian.

Next: Because you have Tall Fescue in the ground, surrounded by Weeds, which by the way burst into growth when the Summer heat kicks in (just as Cool Season Grass begins its Summer nap), you should use a mild, slow release fertilizer.

Milorganite is great; slow release and steady.  Bloodmeal and Alfalfa are pure organic and terrific.  The latter are Soil builders, not real fertilizers; they help generate all the right microbes and macrobes in your Soil.  They make it a great place to grow.

But there's a really good extra reason to fertilize your Grass right now.

You may have seen my notes about a University of Illinois study of Nitrogen fertilizer on Tall Fescue Grass:

www.turf.uiuc.edu/research/summaries/1994/94_3.1.pdf#search='university%20test%20mowing%20height'

What they found:  'Even a low annual rate of Nitrogen fertilization can decrease broadleaf weed populations and reduce or ELIMINATE the need for herbicide control.'

See that?

Just by giving your Fescue a gentle dose of N, you can ELIMINATE Weedkillers.

University of Illinois made another point clear, this one about mowing:  'Annual Bluegrass populations were greatest in Tall Fescue maintained at a 1 or 2 inch mowing height.'  FYI, Annual Bluegrass -- Poa annua -- is one of the most troublesome Weeds going.  Only one Grass I know can be mowed that low, and that's Bentgrass.  I don't know any gas or electric lawnmowers that can get that low.

When it came to Crabgrass, the lower the Grass was mowed, the better the Crabgrass grew.

'Crabgrass populations increased as mowing height decreased.'

Translation: LOW mowing leads to MORE Weeds, LESS Grass.  Weeds are low on the ground.  They need light like everybody else.  With thick, Tall Fescue all over the place, they get less of it.  And the thick, Tall Fescue gets more.

Now, if you're thinking of overseeding, you should prepare to do that soon.  Overseeding is one little secret of a terrific Lawn - ANY terrific Lawn, in full Sun (you have that, yes?), with perfect Soil, perfect mowing, etc - is overseeding every few years.  Even the best Grass grows past its prime, gets thing and runs out of steam.  So even under the best of circumstances, putting seed down over bare spots is going to be on the list of things to do.

Now it's past my bedtime.  Your followups invited -- you can pick up a bag of Milorganite any time this weekend.  Thanks for writing,

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER