Put food scraps through a food processor. To avoid fruit flies, freeze food scraps until you are ready to compost them To kill fruit flies, place into bin a 12 oz. The flies get into the beer, but can't get out. That just happens to be the title of my book, which tells you everything you need to know about how to set up your own vermicomposting system. You can even drop herbicide applications out of the system.
Fertilizers make grass grow faster, requiring more mowing.
Also, they dry lawns out quicker. The EPA continues to rely heavily upon research and reporting by industry. Without effective government oversight, it is difficult for the homeowner to determine if even 'natural' treatments are safe. Carrboro, North Carolina , is killing weeds with water instead of chemicals. The town is using a machine, manufactured by Waipuna International Limited of New Zealand, that superheats water and dispenses it in a carefully controlled stream to kill weeds without using toxic chemical herbicides.