Spring 2008

We are yearning for some warm weather to appear. While we wait, we have planned our soil amendments for the spring.

1) When the soil temperature warms up a bit, we will be spreading Espoma Organic lawn fertilizer that we purchased at Pesche's for $30. The 30 lb. bag will cover 2500 sq. ft. Brian is planning to purchase a better spreader before we put it down.
2) We have decided to use Milky Spore to battle our grubs. It is a natural bacteria that will kill the grubs when they consume it. The downside is that it must be applied at least 3 times a year for 2 years to build up enough bacteria in the soil. The upside is that once you build those levels up, you can stop applying milky spore. The bag we bought at Pesche's covers 7000 square feet (3 applications for our lawn) and cost $50. Wally recommended that we apply it more frequently in the later spring and early summer (every 3 weeks) to make sure we get the bacteria levels built up enough to battle the new grubs that start feeding in July and August. If you want to learn about grubs, click here.
There are other natural options such as beneficial nematodes and neem seed-derived products. We'll keep you posted on how the milky spore works!