As summer fades into the sunset and fall approaches its important to prepare your lawn for its long winter nap. Not to mention, the early fall temperatures and common moisture are a great for recovering and repairing any stress the summer time may have brought. With the right bit of care your lawn will be well positioned to pop up again next year.
Now, let’s look at Our Top Lawn Care Tips for Fall:
Mow the grass
Until the temperatures consistently drop below 50 degrees your lawn will keep growing. As long as there is no danger of freezing and damaging your irrigation system pipes, you can keep watering to make sure its optimally hydrated.
Your standard mowing height can be maintained in early fall and then you may want to gradually lower the blade height so that by your last mow you are 1” to 2” lower than your peak height.
Weed Control
Many spring lawns are get off to a bad start with an onslaught of weeds largely because of the lack of care in the fall of the prior year. The reason being is that weeds germinate in the Fall and like grass love the cooler temperatures to get established. By addressing your weeds in the fall with a herbicide you are getting at them when they are small-seedlings and the weed control can have more efficacy.
As you treat your lawn for weeds, remember to be careful not to apply the control on areas that you have recently patched as it can have a negative effect on those areas where you are looking for growth.
Dethatching and Aeration
Fall is a great time to grow grass and a good time to dethatch provided your grass is still sprouting. Dethatching early with time for new growth is ideal and much better than waiting for the spring when lawns can be very wet and walking on them could do more harm than good.
Aerating your lawn in the fall helps get oxygen, water, and fertilizer to the root system. Fall aeration leads to a much greener and thicker lawn come spring. We advise waiting until October when the temperatures are a bit cooler but the grass can still recover from a little abuse.
Rake the leaves
Once the leaves start dropping from the trees and covering the lawn you want to make sure not to let them sit for too long. Unattended leaves can kill the underlying grass and introduce fungal issues and leave you with a real mess come spring - lots of bald spots and the need for reseeding and resodding.
Fertilize
Fall is the best time to Fertilize your lawn for a few reasons:
The morning dew provides plenty of moisture and will help work the fertilizer into the soil where it is most effective.
The grass can use fertilization to grow stable roots before the winter and provide for a green lawn in the spring
Nutrients can be reserved by your grass so when it awakens in the spring it can get a jump start.
The best time to spread fertilizer is in the evening right after giving your lawn a good mow. You’ll avoid the higher heat of the day and be able to take advantage of that next morning dew. Make sure to leave 4-6 weeks on the calendar before the winter temps start setting in (ground freeze) for the fertilization to take effect.
Patch Bare Spots
Early Fall, when the soil temperatures are still warm from the summer yet mild day time temps and cooler nights prevail, provides a great environment for fast seed germination. Before laying down seed - and we recommend using a lawn repair mixture - make sure you take the time to prep the area and tend to it.
Rake it clear of old grass and debris
Score the ground with a garden rake to make the surface more porous
Scatter your mixture and/or seed
Lightly cover with top soil
Water area every other day
The Essentials on Fall Lawn Care
Fall lawn care needs to be a priority to make sure you’re off to a fast start next spring, and you may need extra help to manage your lawn during the season. Fortunately, Shady Tree Landscaping & Irrigation can take care of your fall maintenance needs from general lawn care, irrigation shut downs to leaf pick up.
As a leading New England landscaping and lawn maintenance company, we care about our customer’s lawn and lawn care goals. We then craft a plan to help you manage your lawn as the seasons turn, so you can maximize it health.
We’ve even built a skill on Alexa so you can just ask Alexa to “Open Shady Tree and Rake My Lawn” to schedule our services.
If Alexa isn’t your thing, we're also available to discuss your lawn care needs via more traditional methods. To learn more or to schedule a consultation, please send us an email or call us today at 508-359-6082.