If you haven’t seeded grass yet – wait

As you can probably tell, fall is a great time for lawns to really grow and recover from this summers drought. Fall is the time of year that turf really puts on quite a bit root growth and we have had excellent conditions for this to occur.

If you have bare spots and havent seeded by now, its best to wait. Your next option is winter seeding and this can be done when temperatures are colder, usually after the holidays.

Winter seeding is the second best time of the year because the freezing and thawing of the ground helps to work the seeds into the soil. They wont germinate until spring.

Now is a fantastic time to control some of the broadleaf weeds. Dont wait too much longer, however, because growth will soon slow down and the weeds wont take in the herbicides.

We generally spot treat dandelions, clover, and other broadleaf weeds in the fall. These plants are actively storing sugar in the root systems and therefore, take the herbicides into the plant much more effectively.

Soon we will be mowing the lawn one final time. Dont scalp the lawn, however. It has been a practice in the past for homeowners to scalp the lawn one last time before winter sets in.

Mow your lawn on the normal height that you should be using all season. For Kentucky bluegrass, the proper height is 1 1/2-2, turf type tall fescue height is 2 1/2-3, and perennial ryegrass is 2-21/2.

If you continually remove a large portion of the leaf blade, you stress the roots. Higher mowing favors a deeper root system. Without a good root system, the turf is more likely to struggle through a dry spell.

In addition, this is a great time of the year to sharpen and repair any tools before you put them away for the winter. For some reason, I love to sharpen my pruning tools. There is something soothing about it.

The first step is to clean the tools and remove all of the gunk and soil with steel wool and soapy water. If you have sticky sap on the tool, one of the abrasive cleaners does a good job in removing the sap.

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If you haven’t seeded grass yet - wait