Organic Feeding...When?

Q: When should I put down the first feeding, and what should I use?

A: Around here, no earlier than March first (or, about three weeks before you expect the lawn to start awakening). My first feeding is around 15 pounds of alfalfa (OK, gerbil food from the local pet supply house) meal per thousand square feet, for a minimal feeding. The gerbil food is around 2.5% nitrogen, 0.5% phosphorous, 1.5% potassium, so it's a fairly weak feeding. That's correct for March.

Adding too much nitrogen to a cool-season lawn early in the season is a very bad idea (I covered that in the crabgrass post just below). This is a gentle boost to carry me over until I feed more heavily later on.