Fall Lawn Care Tips
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Any initial fall lawn survey begins by thinking in terms of its food, air and water requirements. Of the handful of commercial cool season grass brands, bluegrass, ryegrass and fescue stand out. While each type is suited to different conditions, many lawns, and most of the best kept natural turf athletic fields, use a combination of ryegrass and bluegrass.
Many experts suggest fall as the perfect season for a once yearly grass feeding effort, better known as fertilizing. A good rule of thumb for applying fertilizer is to wait until after the first rainy week in order for the soil to readily accept the food.
Organic fertilizers work great for most lawns, keeping in mind they generally have lower levels of nitrogen than their petroleum based manufactured equivalent (see Organic vs. Manufactured Fertilizers).
Once the fertilizer dissolves into the soil, the bare spots are ready for a fall patch, which often translates into little more effort than sprinkling some ryegrass or a ryegrass mixture on top of the bare areas. Keeping the soil moist during the patching process aides with seed germination.
For the more ambitious, reseeding on a grander scale generally starts with aeratingaerating the entire lawn and systematically covering the lawn with the amount of seed recommended for the type of grass desired.
Mowing the lawn ends of fall maintenance liste, and during the fall, cool season grasses grow best an average height of three inches in early fall. By the end of fall, as the winter dormant lwan season lawn approaches, a shorter cut is recommended. As always, different grass mixes might call for different optimal growing heights.
In the warmer climates, fall also markis the traditional end of the grass growing season, although many home owners opt to force a winter growing season by re-seeding with a fast growing ryegrass. Southern home owners more inclinced to a low maintenance winter lawn, normally can get by with mowing at regular intervals and picking up leaves to insure that clumps do not form and cause bare spots on the lawn during its winter nap.
© 2006-2009. Patricia A. Michaels