Fall Lawn Care Guide | Family Handyman

Ensure a greener yard in the spring by preparing your lawn in the fall

If you have heavy, clay-rich soil, its really important to aerate. Forget those gadgets that look like golf spikes that you strap to your shoes; rent a power aerator from any rental center for around $40 a day. The aerator extracts plugs from your lawn and topsoil to loosen compacted coil and break up thatch. Your lawn will look like a mess when youre through but dont worry, the plugs will dissolve in a few days. Dont bother aerating if you have sandy soilyoure just wasting your time. The time to aerate in colder climates is after dew begins forming in August. If you live in warmer, or more arid states aerate in the spring before warm-climate grasses go dormant in mid-summer. Mow your lawn and water it the day before aerating. Make two passes across the lawn with the aerating machine, perpendicular to each other, so that the aeration holes are spaced 2-3 in. apart.

Reseed your lawn in late summer/early fall. Make this apart of your fall lawn care routine

Late summer and early fall is the best time to reseed those dead areas. Summer is just too hot for the seed to thrive. Water the new seed a couple of times a day until the grass is around 1-1/2 in. high. Dont use normal fertilizers, however. Use a product like Scotts Starter Fertilizer, which is designed for new grass. Spread the seed so that you have around 15 seeds per square inch. Dont overdo it or the grass wont thrive due to overcrowding.

Use a broadcast spreader for a more consistent coverage.

Well after the grass appears brown and dormant, the roots are still hard at work absorbing nutrients and moisture. Just as bears gorge themselves before hibernating, your grass is storing up reserves to make it through the winter and thrive in the spring.

Set your broadcast spreader for half the recommended setting on the bag. Then make a header strip around the perimeter of the lawn. Next fertilize the entire lawn first in one direction, then the other (just as you did with the aerator). Be sure the shut off the spreader as you reach the spreader strip or youll over-fertilize the grass at the end of each pass.

The last mowing of the season, cut your grass shorter than normal.

Get out that rake and remove all of those dead leaves before the snow flies. Otherwise theyll be sodden mats in the spring and smother the sprouting grass below. (Plus its lots easier to rake dry leaves!)

Just this one time of the year, set your mower to cut 1-1/2 or 2-in. and mow your grass short. Thatll do a couple of things. First itll lessen the chance of snow mold forming. And secondly, tall grass blades wont lie down and smother the new grass next spring.

Major lawn-care manufacturers, such as Scotts, have a full line of fall lawn care fertilizers and other products to help you make your lawn the greenest yard in the neighborhood come spring.

Excerpt from:
Fall Lawn Care Guide | Family Handyman