Keep away from horse manure unless it is well rotted. I had some delivered, guarenteed to be well rotted but it wasn't. It's slower to break down because of the shavings I find and horses eat ANYTHING. I've had better luck with cow poop.
You can't go wrong if you get mushroom compost. That stuff was already sitting around a long time before mushrooms were introduced.

That's my 2 cents, I dunno where you can buy it. I'm looking for some and top soil too for the new raised veg. beds I'm doing.

GGG

I'm told that you can get free compost from DeKalb county, over by the extension service, so maybe Forsyth county does that too?

And to the best of my understanding, most weed seeds (excepting things like tomatoes and a couple other veggies) are killed by the heat of composting, but you could maybe pile it all up in your yard for a few extra weeks of composting, just to be sure.

thanks, I know that Forsyth county doesn't have free anything. And I can't pile it up anywhere, I have no flat surfaces except part of my driveway. I am already worrying that my neighbors are going to have a fit when I have it delivered if it stinks at all. I know that the mushroom compost I buy in bags still stinks pretty bad and I have neighbors whose kids regularly run across my front lawn while they are playing (I don't mind since they are usually playing with my kid) so I am also wondering if the compost topdressing is going to become a huge issue with litle feet tracking it into the house? Do I want to do this? Will it be worth the effort? I know the sod went down on pure fill dirt, we have no topsoil so I am guessing I should do it, but since bermuda is such a weed anyway will it be worth it. If I just continue to fertilize but use something organic like corn meal now, will that be enough? We had a lawn service for a couple of years so our lawn is okay looking. I know I should post this in the organinc forum, but figure since not too many areas use Bermuda grass you guys might know better.

well, i've never paid much attention to my grass... and you can really tell :) but i do i hear that adding compost to a lawn works wonders, and i know for a fact that plain compost that's finished shouldn't smell bad at all.

i don't know if you want to drive this far, but the dekalb free compost place doesn't care where you're coming from- you don't have to be dekalb yourself. it's just off 285 at the memorial exit, and there's just a big pile. the main problem with it is that it's not very balanced compost, so you might need to add some nitrogen fertilizer to it.

Kathy,

Not sure what you fertilize with, but if you use a mulching mower and don't bag the clippings you'll actually deposit all the composting material you'll need (via the clippings.) Over time it'll create it's own layer of decomposing nutrients and feed the lawn as you continue to mulch-mow.

Bulk mushroom compost will stink. Well rotted manure will not. Any manure not well composted (and it's hard to tell what heated up enough to kill the weed seeds) will spread weeds, too.

Garden's Alive and a few others have organic fertilizer (bermuda is a heavy feeder) for lawn's, but unfortunately "organic" anything usually ain't cheap.

Kathy,

By now, you have solved your composting dilemma. If you are now working with which organic material to use for fertilize, I am on my second season with the Bio-Green (www.biogreeninc.com) products (TurfMaster among them), and believe the products are outstanding. I am 100% organic and my grass is Zoysia. The lawn was greener longer than all others in the neighborhood, and it stood up better during the drought, which I attribute to having not used chemical based fertilizers. I decided on Bio-Green after an extensive search based on some specific criteria I had (i.e., the Albrecht Principles). I cannot speak to Bermuda, and the part of my lawn that has Bermuda is going to be replaced with Zoysia.

Good luck,
Mark