Maintaining a healthy green yard is important, but not at the expense of your pet’s health. Applying fertilizer is especially tricky. Many fertilizers are dangerous, even deadly for dogs, cats, and other pets, making it necessary to find dog-friendly fertilizers to help your lawn thrive in Provo.
If you have pets that spend time outside, then it’s important to know the signs of chemical poisoning. These include:
- Swelling
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Muscle tremors
- Seizures
It’s easy to avoid these dangers, here are our dog-friendly fertilizers for your Provo, UT lawn.
Grass Clippings
A great fertilizer for your grass is more grass! After mowing your lawn, just leave the clippings where they fall. As the grass decomposes, it will put nitrogen and other essential nutrients back into the soil. These benefits, combined with the fact that you’ll spend less time cleaning up after mowing your lawn makes this an appealing solution.
Keep in mind, when using grass clippings as fertilizer, less is more. Grass clippings that are too long can actually harm your lawn. If you see the clippings are weighing down your grass, rake some of them and compost them. If your mower is able to chop the grass up into fine pieces, you’ll have more fertilizer every time you mow the lawn!
Compost
Composting is a great way to fertilize your garden and lawn. Topdressing a lawn with fine particle compost can rejuvenate a struggling lawn and provide a boost for healthy grass. Applying a ¼ inch layer of compost to the top of your lawn can deliver essential nutrients and increase the water retention of your soil.
Top dressing composting is best to pair with aeration. Water immediately after applying to allow it to distribute evenly.
Kelp Meal and Seaweed Extract
Kelp meal is basically a superfood for your lawns. It’s made of kelp seaweed and contains over 60 nutrients to aid in plant growth. Not only is kelp meal and other seaweed-based fertilizers great for lawns and gardens, it’s also safe for pets.
This completely natural fertilizer can be applied as a liquid, dug into the soil of your lawn in its natural form, or applied as a ground-up granule or powder. All three methods will protect your lawn and plants from diseases while promoting healthy bacteria growth which will naturally replenish nutrients in the soil.
If you’re looking for extra help maintaining your lawn while caring for the health of your pets, visit our Provo lawn care page for more information!