Great Lawn and Soil Tips

Get a great summer lawn using natural lawn care practices!

Keeping your grass and soil healthy means you need less water, here are some tips to achieving a beautiful lawn, the natural way.  View the 2011 Olympia Gardens brochure.

Natural Lawn Care Calendar 

Is brown the new green?  Consider letting little-used or unseen areas of the lawn go dormant - yes, that means not watering!  The grass will come back in fall.  For a compromise, water deeply only a few times in July and August for a lighter green lawn.  For those that aren't ready to go dormant, follow these monthly tasks (PDF) to keep your grass green and healthy! 

Grass & Soil Tips

Whether you prefer a green summer lawn or let yours go dormant, achieving and maintaining healthy grass is dependent on healthy soil.  With healthy soil, grass stays green without a lot of products and effort;  brown grass comes back to life with vigor when the fall rain begins.

• Build healthy soil by adding compost lightly sprinkled over the grass in the spring or fall.  The compost will improve both soil drainage and water retention, help balance the nutrients and pH, and build rich microbial life.
• Mow regularly with a sharp blade; dull blades shred the grass.  Mulch mowing provides free fertilizer for your lawn all through the growing season.
• Fertilize in the fall with an organic or slow-release fertilizer that contains at least 50% water insoluble nitrogen.  Most fertilizer brands have an organic lawn fertilizer available in stores, though they may be tucked away in the back.  Always follow the directions on the package.
• Get a FREE soil test kit from us - just print a coupon (PDF) or find on in your Olympia Garden's utility bill insert!
• Download our printer-friendly brochure (PDF) "Before You Dig In - Using Your Soil Test Kit" on how to do a soil test using your free soil test kit!

Watering Tips

On average, home water use triples in the summer due to outdoor watering.  Save water and money by following these simple tips.

Grass Removal

Too much lawn?  Consider removing some grass and replacing it with a garden.  Unfortunately, there is no quick and easy way to remove grass for do-it-yourselfers.  There is a quick, but difficult, way using a sod cutter or shovel, or there is an easy, but slow, way using cardboard.  We have both methods for sod removal, choose the one that is best for you! 

 

Contact WATER WISE Staff:

• Water Conservation Program Office, 360.753.8271
• Email: waterwise@ci.olympia.wa.us