Ok guys, so depending where you live, your time is limited here for the season! I live in Indiana and we have about 2 more weeks where we can do some fall lawn care and actually make a difference. In fact, if you will perform these three actions NOW, you will be thanking me come spring next year because your lawn will be off to a great start.
Stop Crab Grass Now
You guys ask a ton of questions about corn gluten meal and using it as an effective preventor of crabgrass. I always tell you that you will get minimal results but this will improve over time. That is because the corn gluten needs to essentially build up in the soil and that takes several applications. So I say “put down corn gluten NOW just before winter” and start up the process early. I also recommend you apply corn gluten again in the spring as early as possible, as well as again in mid-spring.
The key with corn gluten is to apply it at a rate that is heavy enough to work. Keep in mind that with organics you oftentimes need to apply ALOT to get the desired result. Follow the labeling on your product you buy so you can be assured you are getting the biggest bang for your lawn care dollars.
Mulch Your Leaves Into The Soil
I highly recommend you keep mowing your lawn every single week until the leaves are done falling. Use that mulching blade to mish and mash those leaves up into bits and send them back into the soil. Now this may require you mow over the lawn a couple times each week, but guys, remember, we are ORGANIC here and the commitment to “go green” sometimes requires a bit of extra work.
Now, this won’t work if you have 10 large oaks in your back yard, but within reason, I highly recommend you recycle leaves back into the soil. In some cases I’ve had people become concerned about soil pH in regards to oak leaves, but if you follow my other lawn care 
tips here, you will be just fine.
The idea is that leaves represent free organic fertilizer as well as general conditioning for the soil… so why rake them all up and get rid of them? Use them when possible!
Apply Organic Lawn Fertilizer
I am a big fan of Milorganite as you guys know. It’s the best all around organic fertilizer I have ever used. With that in mind, just before winter is a great time to apply a solid application to your lawn. I recommend your fall treatment be at 7 lbs of milorganite per 1,000 square feet of turf area. This is enough to sit in the thatch layer and be worked slowly into the soil over the winter. Keep in mind that organics need heat and friction to break down. We want the Milorganite to be “imbedded” in the soil so that when temps warm up next spring, it begins to immediately release nutrients.
I also recommend you apply a small amount of sharp sand on top of the Milorganite to help it penetrate faster.
So to recap our little fall-winter lawn care schedule here.. we want to first apply corn gluten, then immediately apply milorganite and sand.. all the wile mulching in some of the fall leaves. Simple, effective! (and, no, you won’t “burn” the lawn with any of this, I promise)
