How to Compost Your Lawn

Compost is one of the easiest was to keep your lawn healthy and green. This is preferable because it's safe and organic. Your are not constantly adding chemical based fertilizers to your lawn or garden. It is best to compost your lawn or garden 2 to 3 times a year.

Compast is great fertilizer because besides having nutrients like nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus it often has trace elements in it. You normally do not find trace elements in commercial fertilizers.

Some additional benefits to using compost are:

Compost will not burn your grass

Compost won't smell smell as old manure-based fertilizers do

Compost won't stain your concrete or brick walkways

Compost works fast

Compast is not expensive compared to commercial fertilizers

So lets get started

Step 1
Start with good, fine-textured compost. Garden centers carrry good, bagged compost that is ready to use. You can also use home made compost if you have some that you have produced yourself. You just must make sure that it is fine textured so it will rake out evenly without leaving clumps. I suggest using some fine hardware screen to sift out the lumps with.

Step 2
Spread the Compost
You can use a shovel or just start dumping the compost out of the bag around your lawn. Do not apply it thickly.

Step 3
With a flexible garden rack spread out the compost over your lawn until it is about 1/4" thick. You want a fairly thin layer. Do not apply it much thicker thinking the more is better. This will only cause you problems such as smothering your grass.

When you are done racking you should not see very much compost showing through the grass.

Step 4
Water It In and Don't Mow your Lawn for One Week

Once you have racked a nice thin evenly applied layer of compost, water it in for 15 to 20 minutes.

Take care of your lawn as you normally do, applying water regularly. Do not mow your lawn for about 1 week. This is allow the compost 7 to 8 days to break down and release its nutrients. After one week you can return to mowing your lawn just as you regularly would.

Thats It!
If you compost your lawn 2 or 3 times a year, it will be very lush and healthy. You will never want to use regular chemical lawn fertilizers again. If you are looking for an organic way to ahve a healthier lawn, this is it.