QUESTION: “We have zoysia in our sunny front yard that we plugged 9 years ago. We decided on zoysia to get a lawn that we would not have to water and pamper as much as a fescue lawn. It is doing okay but much of the top soil was scrapped from the yard when the house was built 15 years ago and all the yard seems to be rather heavy clay. There are a lot of weeds, also.

”I put out an application of Espoma Corn Gluten to discourage the spring weeds last February and later in the spring put a 1/4 inch of compost on the entire yard last year. The corn gluten didn't seem to help much, though.

”I want to build up the soil and have not used any artificial fertilizers or pesticides in three years. Would you recommend the Green Tek ECO for our zoysia lawn? Do you think we should continue to put compost on the lawn to help build it up? Would you have any other recommendations for us?” – Laura Robertson

ANSWER: With the corn gluten, weeds will not die off like they do when using a pre-emergent or post emergent. It has more to do with the germination of the newer weeds than an effect on weeds already growing. And remember weed seed can lie dormant in the ground for up to 3 years. As with any project such as this, it takes time for the change to take hold. I think your 3 years time line is doable. The first step is always to build up your soil. Healthy soil grows healthy grass and doesn’t produce many weeds.

Here is a Web site that will explain how the corn gluten meal works as an herbicide. http://www.pesticide.org/pubs/alts/cgm/cornglutenmeal.html If you haven’t already read up on it, the article is very good and will fill you in on the purpose of corn gluten.

There are a number of informative Web sites that describe the benefits of organic lawn care and how to go about it. Start out at http://www.organiclawncare101.com The site states that Americans are spending $40 billion annually on seed, sod and chemicals. Among the other facts at the site: Mowers in the USA use 580 million gallons of gas per year and 60-70 million birds die from pesticide poisoning each year in the US alone. The organic lawn care site includes a lot of useful articles on topics such as lawn rehab, creating healthy soil and alternatives to grass.

You can also find a great online article titled “Organic lawn care for the cheap and lazy” (not that I’m suggesting you are either of those!) at http://www.richsoil.com/lawn-care.jsp Among the recommendations: Set your mower as high as it will go (3 to 4 inches) and you’ll reap the following benefits:

More shade to the soil leads to less watering Deeper roots which lead to less watering Thicker turf which leads to fewer weeds Slower growth which leads to less mowing

As I have said on many occasions in this column, the site advises you to water infrequently. This will force your grass roots to go deep into the soil. Deeper than most weed roots. As the top few inches of soil becomes bone dry, the weeds and weed seedlings up there die while the grass still enjoys moisture from a little deeper.

As for the Green Tek ECO, it will go a long way in helping to build up your soil’s health and it is easier than adding in compost.

QUESTION: “I have read your answer on saw dust mulch, but i have recently scattered maybe month old sawdust all around my freshly planted Indian Hawthorne bushes. We have clay soil but I did use topsoil for planting. Will the sawdust affect the bush?” – Terry Haddon

ANSWER: The problem with fresh sawdust is that it might burn the plants. Sawdust needs to age about a year before using. Some say it can be used after about 6 months, but closer to a year generally gets the “burn” out, just as you would age firewood no less than one full season before burning (which would be about a year).

The Plant Man is here to help. Send your questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org and for resources and additional information, including archived columns, visit www.landsteward.org