Want to give your lawn an advantage over heat, drought, weeds and bugs?

Set your mower to one of the highest cut settings, advise the experts from Scotts, a company known for numerous organic gardening products.

Roots will remain deep, and water will reach soil more effectively.

Longer blades of grass also:

• Crowd out weeds
• Capture more rainwater
• Reduce moisture loss from soil
• Make your lawn look greener

And while we’re on the subject, be sure to keep clippings so you can mow and feed your lawn at the same time. Clippings break down quickly, recycling nutrients back into the soil.

If clippings land on your driveway or sidewalk, return them to your lawn so they can feed it naturally.

Image Credit: Camera Lass

Grass is like any other living entity: It requires nutrients and regular meals to grow. 

The following guide from Scotts, a company known for numerous organic gardening products, will help you maintain a healthy lawn.

Fall 

Think of fall as breakfast for your grass: the most important meal of the day. 

Many experts say fall marks the single most important lawn feeding of the year, with one exception: Southern grasses, which benefit from fertilization during the June–July rainy season. 

Feeding right before the winter months gives grass the nutrients it needs to recover from summer damage and increases nitrogen storage for early spring.

Early Spring

Spring feeding is the lunch that strengthens roots, getting them off to a good start before the heavy growing season. 

If you’ve had crabgrass in the past, now’s the time to apply an organic combo: fertilizer and a pre-emergent weed killer.

Late Spring

By late spring, grass is busy growing and using up stored energy. 

If you’re bothered by dandelions and other emerging weeds, use an organic weed and feed combination product that provides your lawn with nutrients and helps control broadleaf weeds. 

If your lawn has only a few weeds, use an organic liquid spot-weed treatment. And if weeds don’t bother you, a dinner of lawn food will continue to maintain grass health.

Summer

 Heat, drought, foot traffic and insects can stress out your grass. Your lawn may appreciate a snack to help protect and strengthen it. 

If weeds or bugs don’t pose problems, you can substitute an application of straight lawn fertilizer for any of the meals on our menu. 

Photo courtesy of Scotts

Growing your own organic groceries will be one of the hottest gardening trends this year.

In fact, a National Gardening Association survey reveals a 19% increase in new hobby country farms and urban edible gardens over the last year.

“It’s time to reclaim our land for our greater good,” says Margie Grace, the 2009 International Landscape Designer of the Year, as awarded by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers.

Americans can “take that food-­producing garden from the back 40 and put it wherever we want,” she says. “Reunite the ornamental with the edible—roses beside tomatoes, beds edged with herbs and veggies used as annuals.”

Grace and many of her colleagues are encouraging gardeners to “de­lawn” America by substituting vegetable and rain gardens. They want to eradicate “hell strips”—the wasted plots of grass between sidewalks and streets—and replace them with sustainable plants.

Ready to take the plunge?

For Your Organic Bookshelf 

• Organic Gardening for Dummies
• The Complete Vegetable & Herb Gardener: A Guide to Growing Your Garden Organically
• The Kitchen Garden Grower’s Guide: A Practical Vegetable and Herb Garden Encyclopedia