Your Lawn in the Fall

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The hot, dog-days of summer are behind us.  The cool fall is here.  You may be enjoying football and the colored leaves but now is time now to renovate your lawn to make it look great this fall and next spring too. This summer most lawns took a beating from drought, heat, fungus and insects.  Your lawn is probably in need of repair.  Remember, fall is the best time to seed and feed your lawn with Jonathan Green’s Fall Magic Mixture and Jonathan Green’s Winter Survival Fall Fertilizer.

If you applied Jonathan Green grass seed in September the seed should have germinated and the lawn areas filling in from summer damage.  October and November are still good months to make your lawn thick and green.  The heat of summer has passed, the rainfall is more consistent and most weeds have completed their life cycle.  The soil is warm which speeds the germination of grass seed. 

If you need to apply grass seed, be sure to properly prepare your lawn first. You would not just spread paint on your house; you would scrap and prime it first to get it ready for the final coat.  Be sure to rake out any debris and dead grass.  Use a rake to loosen the soil, where you are planting grass seed, in order to get good seed-to-soil contact.  Apply a new seeding fertilizer, like Jonathan Green’s New Seeding Lawn Fertilizer, with a high middle number, that’s the phosphorus, which builds strong root systems.  Apply a quality grass seed at the correct rates.  Choose grass seed appropriate to the area you are seeding, whether heavy traffic, full sun, or densely shaded areas.

Leaves change in the fall and the colors can be beautiful, but they can become a lawn problem.  Your main concern is not to have leaf cover over your lawn, especially if they are wet or covered with snow.  If leaves are left on the ground, they will suffocate the turf and harbor fungus for the next season.  Leaves should be raked and removed, or mulched.  Most trees and shrubs have a lower pH and that is why the tree leaves can make a fine mulch or soil additive. Leaf compost can be used around for shrub, trees and landscape beds.

I would recommend liming your lawn at this time of the year.  Limestone and calcium helps to release nutrients for the turf.  The lime will breakdown over the winter just at the right time for the turf in the spring.  Use Jonathan Green MAG-I-CAL to correct soil pH.  Test the soil for proper pH value with Jonathan Green’s Soil pH Test Kit, if you have not done so in the last 2-3 years.  Grass seed grows best when your soil pH is between 6.0 to 6.5.  Apply MAG-I-CAL to the area according to suggestions from your dealer and rates on the bags.     

Apply Jonathan Green Winter Survival Fall Fertilizer to your lawn in the fall for the best results. This will help with root development next spring.  The reason for this is the soil temperature is warm promoting root growth.  In the spring it is the opposite, the cooler soil temperatures delay seed germination.  This type of fertilizer will also promote winter hardness so your lawn survives cold weather better.  You may even feed your lawn again between Thanksgiving and Christmas to keep it green through December.  You will be the envy of the neighborhood.  Keep growing!