What is best and what will keep your lawn the healthiest is a soil that is well endowed with organic matter that is evenly moist but well drained, so the place to start is with the soil.

What is the pH of the soil?

How much organic matter is in the soil?

How well does that soil drain?

How well does that soil retain moisture?

What kind of life is in that soil?

What does the soil smell like?

Perhaps these simple soil tests may be of some help.

1. Soil test for organic
   material. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in
   a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and
   replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24
   hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight.
   For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the
   bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above
   that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top.

2) Drainage. Dig a hole
1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains
away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain
away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains’ too quickly and needs
more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the
soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful
of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is
released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a
finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your
soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant
odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria
will be and the nicer your soil will smell, to a point. Too much organic matter
can be bad as well.

5) Life. How many
earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5,
according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that
is not healthy.

Also contact the local office of the Cornell Cooperative Extension Service about having a good reliable soil test done for soil pH and major nutrient levels. Once you know what you have now you can make plans to correct any deficiencies.

kimmq is kimmsr

That's quite a lot of information! I was just trying to decide between soybean meal and alfalfa, not a PHD in soil chemistry! but thanks anyway.

I think the best is to just go with a wide variety of lawn "food". Just like us... variety is good for you. Soybean is the highest protein, though depending on how green you are has it drawbacks being a GMO. Alfalfa has other growth stimulants but less protein. Leaf compost has it own benefits too. Poke around here for more detailed info on each one if you are interested... but I always fall back to variety of "foods"... and then I get as many leaves in the fall as possible (from neighbors, strangers, shady individuals giving it away from the back of trunks down by the river, etc) and mulch mow them into the lawn in the fall.

(from neighbors, strangers, shady individuals giving it away from the back of trunks down by the river, etc)

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I went from thinking that I could never use all the leafs my trees drop in the fall, to scavenging through the woods nextdoor for all I can scavenge. I too feel like an addict...