If there's one thing homeowners can do to get their lawn thicker and less weedy, it's over-seeding in the late-summer/early fall. Spring is another good time to over-seed, but August and September really are the ideal time. 

Most weeds in our lawns are perennial weeds, so as the growing season comes to a close, they die out. That means there's going to be some openings in your lawn for something to germinate there in the spring. If you put down some grass seed in August or September, those seeds will germinate before winter, and come spring, there will be fewer spots for weeds pop up. For even application, it helps to have a spreader, but you can distribute the seed by hand too. 

When customers ask what type of seed we recommend, 9 times out of 10, we tell them to get a sun/shade mixture. This means, no matter how much sun each part of your yard receives at any given point in the day, the right grass will germinate there and flourish. 

I've seen more than my share of lawns that have thick, healthy grass under a tree, while the rest of the lawn looks sparse and weak. Chances are, only one type of grass was planted in this yard initially (a shade grass), and the parts of the yard that receive a lot of sun just can't thrive. Over-seeding with a sun/shade blend will help with that.

Over the past few years, we've tried out various grass seed mixes, and we've found one that we really like. The seeds are uncoated (no synthetic chemical coating), establish nicely when watered properly, and fill in the gaps very well. So instead of just recommending a grass seed, we're now selling it.

There's no need to buy more than you'll use-- we'll help you figure out exactly how much you need, and you can purchase that amount. When you click here, there's a yard measurement tool that you can use to figure out the size of the area you're over-seeding. Then, once you have a number, you can purchase the amount of seed you need for that space. 

Live in West Michigan? We offer free delivery anywhere in Kent, Ottawa, Allegan or Muskegon Counties. Live outside of our delivery area? We ship! Got questions? Feel free to email our lawn guy Steve at Steve@GoodSweetEarth.com

Interested in White Dutch Clover seed? We've got that too.

Looking for Worm Compost? Here's the link to our specialty vermicompost.

This has been a strange year. COVID-19 has slowed production down a little for us, especially when it came to having Worm Compost available for sale. You can read a bit more about why we were "sold out" of Worm Compost for much of this spring here.

​But now we've finally got enough Worm Compost to ensure that our pre-paid customers (those who purchased shares of our Worm Compost CSA) will have the Compost they need when they need it, AND enough to sell it by the bag again. We're even able to sell some more shares of our Worm Compost CSA again, so if you're interested in pre-paying for 100, 200 or 300 pounds of our Worm Compost, click here.

We're limiting the amount of Worm Compost that we have "available" on our website's store for the time being, so we don't run out again. If you stop by our online store and the Worm Compost is listed as "out of stock" or there aren't enough bags in the inventory for what you need, just shoot us an email at office@GoodSweetEarth.com and we'll see if we have enough to get you the amount you are looking for. Thanks for you patience this year!

You ever notice grass growing in your garden? Or in a flower bed? It can be downright tenacious. It grows, it spreads, and left unchecked for a few weeks, it can just overwhelm the area. Grass is essentially an aggressive weed when it grows in the wrong place.

Do you know why grass aggressively infiltrates your garden and flower space? It's because most of us work really hard to give our tomatoes and peppers and marigolds and petunias and basil plants healthy soil. It's that healthy soil that draws the grass in.

So now let me ask you: Does it grow tenaciously in your lawn? Or is it thinner than you'd like? Are there bare spots? Are there spots in your lawn where other things have taken over and the grass is just non-existent? If so, you're not alone.

The problem is that we focus on creating healthy soil for our garden beds and flower beds (with mulch and compost and other soil amendments), but then just don't think about the soil under our grass. And then we wonder why grass grows tenaciously in our gardens, which has soil chock full of organic matter, but there are bald and weak spots all over our lawn.

Getting healthy soil under your lawn isn't something that you can fix by dumping on synthetic chemicals (like Scotts). To get that nice healthy tenacious grass, you need to put as much attention into getting organic matter into your lawn's soil as you do with your garden's soil.

How do you do that? With organic fertilizer and topdressing. Getting more organic matter into your soil is critically important for your turf.

Our fertilization service includes an Alfalfa Blend Fertilizer to do just that (a blend of alfalfa meal, spent distillers grains, kelp and Worm Compost). But you can also DIY by topdressing with compost, or fertilizing with something like Milorganite (32 pounds per 5,200 square feet of turf), alfalfa pellets (40 pounds per 1000 square feet of turf), or Purely Organic Lawn Food (25 pounds per 5000 square feet of turf). Topdressing and/or fertilizing should be done twice a year, in spring (April/May) and late summer (late August to mid September). You want to build up the soil and get those nutrients down just before the grass's growing season starts, which in Michigan is spring and fall.

If you've got questions about adding organic matter to your lawn, or are interested in learning more about our organic lawn fertilization, shoot me an email at Steve@GoodSweetEarth.com

So here it is, spring of 2020, people are putting their gardens in, and Good Sweet Earth is...out of Worm Compost? Uh, what?!

Yeah, for the past several weeks, if you've tried to purchase Living Worm Compost on our website, you've probably noticed that we're sold out. So just what the heck's going on here? Isn't Worm Compost what put us on the map?

Here's the scoop: Last summer, we began selling CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares of our Worm Compost. Basically, that means, people can pre-pay for either 100, 200 or 300 pounds of our Worm Compost, and then when they need some, we deliver the amount they need right to their doorstep.

So the CSA program was pretty popular with local gardeners. We sold a lot of shares of the CSA over the past year. And that means we need to have enough Worm Compost on-hand to deliver to our shareholders  at all times. We also had a quick burst of Worm Compost sales in March.

Now normally, we would have no problem having enough Worm Compost to provide our shareholders with what they purchased AND enough to sell by the bagful to gardeners throughout the spring. But then COVID-19 hit, and our usual sources of worm food sorta dried up for a while, which means our worms are running a few weeks behind schedule. They weren't getting fed the normal amount of rotten produce, so we're not able to bag up the normal amount of castings.

But fear not! We're again collecting that unused produce from our local sources. And we're shoving those rotten fruits and veggies into our bins as fast as our hungry worms can eat them. We're expecting to have Worm Compost available for sale again by mid-June.

We know it's not ideal, and we really do apologize for the delay. But we also thank you for your continued interest in our Living Worm Compost! (And might we suggest buying into our Worm Compost CSA once it's available for purchase again, because when you pre-pay for the stuff, you've always got dibs; you're guaranteed Worm Compost even when it's not available for the general public to purchase!)

In the meantime, we've got plenty of our Worm Tea, Raw Biochar, Alfalfa Meal and Bold Tomato.

Like most Americans, our family has been hunkered down for the past couple of weeks, avoiding as much social contact as possible to help slow down the spread of COVID-19. It’s meant a lot more “home time” for us, which means more board games, reading, Disney+ and even a little yard work when the weather permits.

But even as the weather warms, we expect to spend a lot more time at home this summer than in years past. Events like Holland’s Tulip Time have already been cancelled, and it’s uncertain what other outdoor events and activities will look like in the months ahead. And so we’re already looking forward to some fun activities we can do in our yard.

1. We’ve talked for a couple years about putting up a tetherball pole in the backyard, but just have never gotten around to doing it. This spring might be the time we make it happen. The kids enjoyed it at a summer camp a couple years ago, so we may surprise them with it as a gift from the Easter Bunny.
2. We’ve got a lot of useless brush and a mid-sized dead trees around our property. Cutting that stuff down will make our landscape look better, but it’ll also give us some free firewood for campfires in the backyard. Even if the dead trees don’t give us enough wood to last a season, there are plenty of roadside firewood stands here in West Michigan to grab a few bundles (or even a rick) to help us produce some memories around the firepit this year. We’ve always enjoyed evening campfires, but this year we may find ourselves doing this even more.
3. In past years, we haven’t been able to give as much attention to our garden as we would like. Yes, we own a lawn and garden company, so the irony isn’t lost on us. Actually, it’s because we own a lawn and garden company that we don’t have as much time to work in our garden as we’d like. Summers are busy times for us! But maybe if we’re staying closer to home in our free time this year, we’ll be able to actually do a lot of the things we’ve been dreaming about: constructing some trellises, fixing the rabbit and chicken runs, and just giving more attention to the pulling of weeds in our beds.
4. We were talking about clearing an area of our yard and constructing a play area for the kids last year, but just didn’t have the time. With spending more time around the home this year, we may now have the opportunity to do so. Plus, it’ll give the kids something fun and new to experience this summer without even leaving the yard.

While this current situation of social distancing can seem a bit nerve-wracking, especially when we’re cooped up in our homes while the weather is still a bit wintry, it’s important to think ahead to how we can experience time with our family a bit differently this summer. Perhaps some of our normal warm-weather routines and traditions will have to be paused or changed. But that’s okay! We are an adaptable people with an opportunity before us to create new warm-weather routines and traditions…right in our own yards!

As we get ready for spring to hit, it’s important to think about your turf, especially if there will be increased traffic on it this year. Chemical fertilizers, while giving an immediate burst of color and growth, don’t actually do much for the overall health of your grass. Plus, chemical fertilizers and weed killers can be harmful for people and pets.

Good Sweet Earth offers an alternative that can make your turf better suited for increased foot traffic and playtime, as well as keeping it healthy for kids and pets to roll around on. We use only things found in nature to feed your turf—vermicompost, kelp, alfalfa meal and grains. Sound simple? It is, but we’ve been doing this for more than a decade now, and it really, really works. If you’re interested in getting a quote for services, or learning more, give us a call at 616.594.0693 or email our lawn guy Steve at Steve@GoodSweetEarth.com.
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More time spent on your lawn means it’s more important than ever to have turf that is both safe for your family AND looks great.