Do-It-Yourself Lawn Fertilizer

Perform a soil test on your lawn. You can buy a home test kit at most plant nurseries or hardware stores. Or send a sample of your soil to a local university extension service center, and for a small fee, it can test your lawn and send you a report of the nutrients in your lawn. Wait to read the nutrient makeup of your lawn before selecting and use the correct fertilizer.

Prepare a fertilizer well-suited for your lawn by composting. Gather together nutrient-rich materials like cut grass, vegetable and fruit scraps, and place them into a compost bin, which you can purchase at many gardening stores. Add oxygen-rich materials to the bin as well, such as shredded newspaper, fallen leaves, wheat or hay. Water the bin regularly so it stays very moist, and mix it to keep it aerated. After approximately one month, you will be able to use the compost to fertilize the lawn.

Put the compost into a fertilizer spreader. Opt for a broadcast cyclone fertilizer spreader, as it is designed for larger areas such as lawns and can spread the fertilizer quickly.

Push the fertilizer spreader up and down on your lawn in narrow rows. Overlap the rows slightly to ensure your entire lawn receives the fertilizer.

Water your lawn immediately after your fertilizer so the nutrients seep into the soil and are available to the grass roots.