Fall In Love With Your Lawn

What comes to mind when you hear ‘fall?’ Perhaps it’s pumpkins, vibrant colours, cozy sweaters, Thanksgiving, football...the list could be a long one! How about lawn care? More than likely, your lawn drops to the bottom of your priority list at the first sign of changing seasons. While it may be tempting to shift your focus to the cooler days ahead, hang on to that lawn care ‘to do’ list for just a little bit longer.

To help keep you in a lawn care state of mind, we’ve pieced together our go-to dos for homeowners looking to prep their lawns for the seasons ahead.

Rake Leaves + Remove Debris

Like people, lawns need to breathe. A thick layer of leaves will smother your grass and can lead to the development of damaging cooler season diseases. Leaf coverage also prevents your lawn from receiving the sunlight it requires for healthy, active growth. It doesn’t hurt that a freshly-raked lawn is a beautiful sight to see (or that the piles of leaves can provide hours of free entertainment for the kids!).

As the winter starts to set in, relocate lawn furniture, continue to rake or mulch fallen leaves and move toys and tools to your garage or shed. Leaving these items on the lawn over the winter will suffocate your turf and cause brown patches to appear on your lawn next spring.

Seed

Bare spots? Thinning grass? If this sound familiar, your lawn is likely feeling the need for seed. Overseeding is a beneficial lawn care treatment that includes sowing additional seed over top of your existing turf. Not only will overseeding encourage the growth of healthy grass come spring, it will also improve your lawn’s overall tolerance to disease and drought damage by introducing newer, superior cultivars to your turf.

In some regions, Mechanical Core Aeration is also recommended. Consult with your local Weed Man for more information.

Fertilize

Think of fall fertilization as the refueling of your lawn after an active (and exhausting!) summer. Fall fertilizers provide your lawn with valuable nutrients that will help it endure the tougher seasons ahead. A final feeding of the year will also assist in keeping your lawn’s roots healthy and intact.

Mow + Maintain

Once leaves start changing colour and temperatures drop, homeowners begin retiring their mowers for the year. However, we have a saying around Weed Man: keep mowing if it’s still growing. Mow your lawn regularly until growth ceases. Depending on the type of autumn weather we see this year, active growth could continue well into October or even November. Be sure to mow low for your last cut of the season.

Your mower worked hard this season and it could use a little TLC! In order to make sure it is working its best next spring you should clean any debris off of the mower deck, sharpen the blade, drain any remaining gasoline from the tank or use a fuel stabilizer, check the oil and store it in a dry place. Keeping up with regular maintenance will increase your mower’s life span and ensure your turf is getting a good cut!

If applicable to your region, a few weeks before the first frost you will want to make sure that you give your lawn a short cut around 2 ½ inches. Having shorter grass over the winter is ideal because when the grass is cut short, it stands up like a wire brush preventing it from getting matted down and lying flat. This helps reduce the damage caused by ice and snow throughout the winter months.

Mark the Edges of Your Lawn

During the winter our lawns take a beating. Often in the spring homeowners notice the edges of their lawns are in rough shape. One of the reasons for this is that when your lawn is covered in snow it can be hard to determine where the edges are. This becomes an issue when it comes to snow removal. You may be accidentally damaging the edges of your turf with a snow shovel or snowplough. Make sure to mark the edge of your lawn before the first snowfall. This will help you avoid causing any additional damage.

Brought to you by Weed Man: We Care for Your Lawn