Under the snow sits a beautiful lawn waiting to stretch out and capture some rays.

In an effort to help the grass enjoy the summer and grow happy and healthy, we are offering two separate programs this year:

1. Traditional lawn care proposal is essentially the same program we’ve used the last few years. It provides nourishment for the plant and soil biology. The applications are designed to help a healthy lawn survive the rigors of summer heat and drought while flourishing in the spring and fall. I assume most people would go with this program.
2. Compost lawn proposal concentrates more on improving the soil. Lawns that have problems with compaction, water retention and weeds usually need better soil. Compost helps address these issues while adding organic matter and biology. This program is more expensive for most size lawns and has fewer applications. We kept the normal square footage to top dress at 3,000 square feet, which is 3 yards of compost. That should be enough to address problem areas on most large lawns, but it can be adjusted. We would spread seed before top dressing and slice seed in the fall. We are investing in new compost spreaders and dump trucks to do the work effectively.

As of the end of February, we’ve received back 240 proposals from our mailing in January. About 160 chose our traditional lawn care and 80 are going with the compost.

We have moved to a new facility that can handle the increased volume of compost and are buying a new dump truck. The challenge of spreading compost is getting enough volume to the site. Our present dump truck groans under the weight of 4 yards. We’ve seen dramatic results from compost top dressing in the past. It is really the only way to improve soil fairly quickly. Of course the real results won’t show up until we slice seed in the fall.