Feed your lawn a balanced, organic diet

Ever wonder why the desert hillsides stay green so long after the rains while your own plants suffer?

Before bulldozers and tractors came through your plot of land, removing the top layers of soil and preparing the earth for your home, those inches of earth were nature's own, desert-brand potting soil. Years of decomposing plants, beneficial insects and animal "contributions" meshed to provide native plants with essential nourishment and store moisture.

Healthy soil hosts an ecosystem of bacteria, microorganisms, insects and organic matter, all working toward feeding plants the essential nutrients they crave. Regular applications of organic compost and fertilizer can create a balanced ecosystem in your own yard.

Compost tips

The organic matter found in compost is an essential component of healthy soil. The particles act as tiny sponges retaining water around plant roots. The matter gives soil the fluffy properties of potting soil, allowing air and water to travel through it easily, and feeding good bacteria and other organisms.

A twice yearly application of good, dark compost will help restore life and balance to your soil. When shopping for compost remember that finer mixtures are further broken-down making nutrients more "easily digestible" and readily available to your plants.

Varied ingredients are also important. Our bodies, requiring vitamins and minerals from different sources, can't subsist on zucchini alone... so it goes with plants. You can combine composts to create a more complete mixture.

Organic fertilizer

At best, the difference between chemical and organic fertilizer can be likened to the difference between taking a vitamin supplement or eating a balanced diet. The vitamins and minerals in food are more diverse, available and digestible.

Applied quarterly, organic fertilizers provide a more balanced diet than their synthetic counterparts. Look for easily spreadable granules (not manure) with a good balance of nutrient sources.

Chemical fertilizers artificially boost the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium that plants use to grow healthy without returning other vitamins, minerals and nutrients into the ground and effectively starving beneficial organisms.

Organic fertilizers are more nutritionally complete, contributing to the well-being of your soil and releasing over a longer period of time. As a bonus, organic treatments are safer for animals and people and do not contribute to chemical run-off.

Allen and Brittney Walker are residents of Chandler. Allen owns Green Dreamin' LLC landscape repair, servicing Ahwatukee Foothills and the East Valley, and Brittney is a local writer. Reach them at (480) 862-4647 or awalker@greendreamin.com.