There's something quite amazing with my lawn this year, it looks incredible. What did I do different? I applied alfalfa pellets from the farm supply store, instead of chemical fertilizer. I remember my dad the farmer telling me of the benefits of green manure, the alfalfa and clover that he would grow on land scheduled for corn which got plowed under before the corn seed was planted. I don't understand all of the stories about microbial action and trace nutrients, but I do know what I see and that is a definite improvement in the lawn. Come fall, I'm planning on using corn gluten meal -- the fellow at the farm feed store is a bit aghast that I would use animal feed on my lawn but I really prefer the non-polluting nature of corn over all of the chemicals that normally get used.