It's Fall, so Think Spring!

I know, it's been a long hot summer and some of you may be getting to the point of the year where you're thinking about winter and being able to put your lawn mower away for a while, but this is when you need to be thinking about your lawn for next year.  So, hang in there and make sure to do the following before you put your lawn mower and other gardening tools away for winter months and come next Spring you will be glad you didn't call it quits too soon.

1.  Summer temperatures are behind us, so now you will want to cut your lawn to a shorter height.  You do not want to leave your grass long in the winter as the snow will compact the longer grass and reduce circulation in your lawn and may ultimately cause certain lawn diseases come next spring.  So lower your mower deck so that you cut your lawn to about 2 1/2 inches in length

2.  Rake those leaves!  Luckily I live in a new development so the trees aren't mature enough to produce mass quantities of leaves, but you do want to make sure that you remove the leaves that you do have from your lawn.  With the snow on top of the leaves, which are ultimately on top of your grass, this will also contribute to the reduction of the circulation in your soil and make your lawn prone to mold, which will produce those unsightly yellow patches next spring. Raking is the best route, but if you don't have too many leaves a good mulching lawn mower will do the trick.

3. Have you aerated your lawn?   Aerating puts holes into your lawn and this provides better water, nutrient absorption & enhances oxygen levels which stimulates root growth.  While buying an aerator isn't feasible for a lot of homeowners, you can check with a local hardware or rental store and you could go in with a group of neighbors and rent one for the weekend and your whole neighborhood could benefit from this.

4.  Apply gypsum!  Over time the soil becomes very compacted, or in the case of my lawn I live in an area where a lot of clay makes up a lot of our "soil". Whatever the case is, you want to make a habit of aerating your lawn. A lot homeowners in our neighborhood had their sod laid on top of clay and very little black soil. It has been a 7 year process of aeration & application of gypsum to break that clay down so that my lawn can thrive in the hot summer months.  Gypsum is very inexpensive (bought mine this past weekend for $8.99/bag) and it should be applied to your lawn at least once a year (fall and/or spring, for best results do both).  This works in breaking down the clay so that water and nutrients can flow to the roots of your grass.

5. Over-seed your lawn:  No matter how much TLC you give your lawn, grass inevitably will die.  Grass will start to slow down after only 5 or 6 years, so you need to replenish the grass that eventually doesn't come back.  So, over-seed your lawn every fall, more specifically late August or (preferably) September.  The nights are nice and cool and the days aren't too hot, but warm enough to provide ideal conditions for germination of your new grass seed.  (Please see my post on over-seeding to get the details on how to do this properly).