If you don’t know already, fall is the very best time to get your lawn back in shape! It seems that we have been conditioned to start our lawn care trek in the spring, but I have always gotten much better success by starting in the fall. This is because of a few reasons:
1) In Fall, grass roots expand naturally, thickening. Grass grows on top in the spring, and below in the fall. Roots are really what we are concerned with. Thicker roots=thicker lawn. Simple!
2) There is less weed pressure in the fall. Sure, we do get a slight resurgence of weeds in September and October, but nothing like we see in the later spring. Since we have less weeds to deal with in the fall, we can concentrate efforts on other things.
3) Temperatures are perfect in the fall to promote very healthy turf. In northern areas, we want to grow grass when it is in the mid-upper-70s. That is perfect for turf.
4) We also have sufficient moisture in the fall time. It’s a great time to grow grass seed too because you don’t really need to worry about watering too much.
5) Fall is the best time to aerate your lawn.
6) You should also plan to fertilize your lawn well in the fall. What type and how much and how often will be determined by how thick your lawn is already. The key is to use only what you need and nothing more and to use a fertilizer that has some nutrients in it other than just nitrogen. We want some natural phosphorous in there too as phos encourages more root growth. Get my book for the specifics.
