If you want a beautiful lawn next year, it all starts with performing a few key lawn chores this fall!
Fall is the perfect time to set the stage for a healthy, lush lawn next spring.
With cooler temperatures, and a long winter resting period ahead, patchy, damaged lawns finally have a chance to recover from the rigors of the past summer.
But they need a little help in the process. And with these 3 simple fall lawn chores, your grass will look better than ever next year!
3 Must Do Fall Lawn Chores
#1 Aerate – Give Your Lawn Some Air
Your lawn has had a long, tough spring and summer. Loads of foot traffic and heavy mowers rolling over it have compacted the soil.
And compacted soil means that water and nutrients have trouble breaking through the surface to nourish the root system below.
Fall is the perfect time to open up your lawn by aerating. Whether with a pull behind aerator, a self-propelled plug aerator, or even turf spikes, opening up the soil is a must to keep a lawn healthy.
And it doesn’t have to be expensive. Most local rental shops carry aerators that can make quick work of the job! (See: How To Aerate Your Lawn)
Product Links : Pull Behind / Lawn Aerator – Push Lawn Aerator
#2 Overseeding
And one of the best fall lawn chores to do after aerating is overseeding!
Overseeding is a simple and effective ways to thicken your lawn up with new grass. All without having to tear any of your existing lawn up.
And not only is it easy to do, fall is the perfect time to do it!
Overseeding is simply “planting” new seed into an existing lawn. It can be done easily with a regular lawn spreader, or even by hand by hand by simply broadcasting out.
Begin by mowing your lawn down to a lower level of about 2 inches. Then simply spread seed out over the lawn.
The new seed will be protected by the existing grass, and have enough time to become established before winter sets in. And by next spring, it will be ready to take off and fill in for a thick, lush lawn.
#3 The Biggest Fall Lawn Chore – Keep Those Leaves Raked!
And finally, the biggest fall chore of all – keep those leaves raked!
A thick coating of leaves left for long periods on a lawn will cause a lot of damage. And in quick fashion!
Whole leaves that pile up on top of the lawn’s surface rapidly deteriorate healthy grass below. Especially once they become wet and heavy.
Healthy turf needs oxygen and light to survive. And a heavy coat of leaves keeps both from reaching the surface of the lawn.
Remove leaves regularly, by either mowing in as a mulch, or raking or vacuuming.
Mowing and mulching leaves is actually one of the best things you can do to feed your lawn. But the key is to do it often enough to keep the coating of leaves from becoming too thick.
And if you can’t mulch them in, take them to the compost pile! (See : How To Make Great Compost From Leaves)
Here’s to getting after those fall lawn chores for a thick, lush lawn next spring! Happy Gardening – Jim and Mary.
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