“I don’t have a green thumb,” Nadine said. “That’s my sister Sonja. She’s practically a homesteader. Her tomato bushes grow like twelve feet tall. And she tells me that the secret is compost. So what I want to know is should I be spreading compost on the lawn to make the grass grow?”
As a Carver lawn care service, we can tell you that compost does have a lot to offer to your yard. The process of applying compost to your lawn is called topdressing. This does give the landscape a powerful boost of nutrition derived from the organic material compost is made of. Compost helps balance soil density. It also helps all the tiny microorganisms that are alive within your soil stay healthy and strong.
Compost does a lot of good things for your lawn. But it doesn’t do everything. In Carver, lawn fertilization has to address the other nutrients, minerals and compounds grass needs to grow properly. Compost is a vital part of the mix, but you need everything for your lawn to look its best.
What’s the Difference Between Compost and Fertilizer?
Fertilizer mixes, such as the type your lawn service will apply, can contain compost, but compost generally does not contain fertilizer. Compost is composed of organic materials, such as leaf litter, decomposed veggies, rotten wood, etc. Compost’s purpose is to improve the soil your grass is going to grow in. Fertilizer contains inorganic materials (rocks and minerals) that are processed to allow the nutrients they contain to be easily absorbed by the grass that’s already going. Fertilizer can also help encourage new grass growth – important if you want to put a new lawn in.
Most lawns need fertilizer applied three to four times during the growing season. We recommend a spring, mid-summer, and late fall application. As climate change appears to be extending our growing season, some local homeowners have started opting for two summertime applications of fertilizer. This has resulted in some very green, lush lawns – well worth considering for your property!
