Fertilizer Tea

Recently, neighbors have asked me a flattering question: how do I keep our lawn greener than theirs as an organic gardener...I responded-

I am the organic mechanic
I bleed seed
I feed seed
I am mean and green.

Just kidding, of course, we organic gardeners should never take on a condescending tone or posture.  It takes a long time to learn and hone organic gardening techniques and none of us have the soil, weather, seeds, plants, pollinators, and wildlife figured out.  No one.  So, we are all learning.

Back to the real answer to the question.  The only thing I use on my lawn is homemade fertilizer tea.  As mentioned previously on this forum, I am aiming to minimize the surface area of my lawn in favor of productive plants, plants that benefit the consumption of pollinators and humans.  However, some lawn space is inevitable in American-designed homescapes.  For that space, I use fertilizer tea.

I aim to cut the lawn only once every couple weeks.  I set the mower at the highest setting and allow the grass clippings to return to the soil.  I have not yet spread compost on the lawn because I have many more uses for it, namely my trees and productive plants.  Compost is gold, man, that is yet another reason to reduce the surface area of one's lawn.

So, in my bi-weekly routine, on the days I mow the lawn, I pull all the unwanted weeds in my entire property.  I never, ever, use a weed killer.  "Products" like RoundUp are the devil incarnate, as they will disturb your habitat's ecosystem.  I will write more about this later.  For now, I can vouch for the relative ease for just pulling the weeds yourself.  It does not take much time.

I place all the weeds in a five gallon plastic bucket, like the large orange ones from Home Depot.  In two weeks, I fill about 1/2 the bucket with weed clippings.  I fill the remaining half of the bucket with water,  Then, I let the bucket sit (in the sun) for two weeks until I repeat the process.

After a couple weeks, I take the five gallon bucket and pour the contents into a watering can, if possible before a rain fall.  I then water my lawn with the fertilizer tea from the watering can.

Heads-up: the fertilizer tea stinks.  In a way it stinks pretty bad.  It smells like this sort of moth balled, bacteria rampant body odor.  On the one hand, it stinks so bad you do not want to go near the bucket, on the other, you create an organic circular system of fertilizer that motivates you to repeat.  Like most aspects of gardening, you just need to commit to something and then your senses, i.e. your nose, adjust to the malodorous situation.

Essentially, you are taking weeds that are pulling nutrients from your lawn and retunring those nutrients to the lawn and soil.  It is a simple, yet rewarding exercise.  Good luck!