Now that it is November, many of you are thinking that your lawn care for the season is over. Trust me, I understand you are looking forward to putting up Christmas lights and getting all snug by the fire, but don’t let that lawn go to bed just yet! Winterizing your lawn is pretty easy guys, and very very important! Here are some simple tasks that I do for my lawn every November.

1) Winter Fertilization: Fertilizing your lawn just before winter is the most important of all the tips I give you here. A good dose of nitrogen, potassium, and even a little phosphorus will help your lawn recover quickly next Spring, making you the first green lawn on the block. In addition, a good nutrient balance in the soil will help turf recover from winter stresses and snow mold. When looking for a winter fertilizer, don’t get one with “mostly” nitrogen. Instead, find one with a good balance of all three elements.

2) Core Aeration and Seeding: If you are a regular reader of this lawn blog, then you know that I am a big proponent of lawn aeration. Aerating the lawn opens up the soil and sends air, water and nutrients directly in the root zone. It also loosens compacted soil and helps the thatch layer remain in check. Just so you know, it is OK to aerate your lawn as long as the ground is not frozen. If you can’t aerate, hire a contractor to do it here.

Now the seeding part is a little different. You actually CAN seed your lawn now, but the results will be different. Seeding this late in the year (like November or even early December) is called “dormant seeding.” This basically means that you throw down the grass seed now, and it overwinters in the turf zone and germinates in the spring. I have had great results with dormant lawn seeding, but you do need to use twice as much to get good results. I recommend about 5lbs per 1,000 square feet of turf area when you dormant seed.

GOOD news?… well, many places put grass seed on clearance this time of year so they can get rid of it! Better for you, but just make sure you don’t get anything called “quick grow” or “quick lawn.” These are most normally annual grasses that sprout fast and die faster. If you are going to overseed your lawn now, use perennial rye and kentucky bluegrass mixes. Turf type tall fescue will also work well for dormant seeding.

3) Final Lawn Mowing: There is some misconception going around about cutting your lawn low in the later parts of the year, so let me clear that up for you. You do want to mow lower on your FINAL cut of the season, and I recommend you take it down one inch lower than the normal 3″ I recommend. (Final cut = 2″ tall). The trick is to make sure that it is indeed the final cut of the season. If you can’t guess right, then wait until the end of November and cut it low at that time. Your neighbors may stare at you, but you are doing the right thing for the grass. If you cut it low too soon, and warm temps push growth, things are going to get funky in a hurry, especially with that fertilizer in the lawn.

The reason we want to cut the lawn a little lower on the very last cut is to cut down on fungal formation and also to help reduce dead spots that appear in the early spring. If your grass is tall, it will lay over and pack down, smashing the grass crowns.

4) Lime Application: Fall is a great time to apply lime to your lawn. Not all lawns need lime, however.

5) Rake Those Leaves: I know you hate it, but you have to get those leaves up before the snow flies. If you allow piles of leaves to stay on your lawn, you will most certainly have dead or thin spots appear there in the winter. Imagine how you would look if I left a blanket of wet, soggy leaves on top of your face for 4 months.

6) Stop Walking On The Grass: Well, you gotta be wondering why I would tell you to do all of the above tasks, and now I am telling you not to walk on the grass; am I nuts? Well, maybe, but you still need to stay off the grass. What I mean is be sure you don’t step on it constantly getting in and out of the car, for example. Also, don’t play football on it either; you get the point. The reason is that when it is cold, the grass plants get brittle and can crack and die easily.

That’s it for the simple winterizing tips. Of course, if you want, you can still get my book on lawn care and start reading up for next year too!

Now that September is fast leaving us (can you believe that?) and October is about to blow in, it’s time to consider our fall lawn care strategy. Now it does not matter if you have been reading this lawn care blog for a long time, or if you just started, this advice will apply to you. It also applies to those of you who have already forked over the $7 to buy my lawn care book that gives you step by step instructions of what to put down on your grass and when to put it down.

The reason this all applies to all of you is that I know for a fact that the majority of you have NOT been caring for your lawns like you should; and that’s ok. I understand that summer gets hectic and your lawn care maintenance practices can take a back seat. But now that fall time is almost here, you can make up time and catch up to where you need to be fairly easily. With that in mind, here are some very basic tips on turning your lawn around this fall.

1) First off, your mindset needs to change, and what I mean by that is you cannot think about “starting next spring.” No Way! In fact, starting a lawn care program in the early Fall will yield much faster and long-lasting results than the alternative of waiting until next year. This is because lawns spread out and thicken their root systems in fall and we can take advantage of that by feeding the turf properly at the right time. In addition, there is less weed pressure in the fall, making our efforts that much more effective.

2) Next, you need to get my book. Seriously, it has changed the way a lot of people think about lawn care. You see, the products you put on your lawn (fertilizers, weed controls, etc) are what make the difference, but many of you think that you either need some industrial strength witches brew, or you think that some basic 4-step generic plan at the local hardware store will work. The truth is that neither of those extremes will help your lawn. My plan, which provides a balanced approach, shows you the products to use and where to get them. Of course, most if not all of my recommendations can be found at the local Home Depot, Lowe’s or Menards, but you just don’t know what to look for. In addition to that, I tell you exactly what time of year to use each particular product, and that makes a huge difference as well. Get the book ok?

3) This is in the book too, but it bares mentioning here: YOU MUST AERATE YOUR LAWN THIS FALL! This is not a choice but rather a necessity. My lawn here is as thick as Buckwheat’s Afro but you can dang skippy expect that I will be aerating my lawn this fall and every fall to come. Aeration is just one of those things you need to do at least once a year, like visiting your dentist for a tooth scraping!

When you aerate your lawn you loosen soil and allow those expanding grass roots to get in deeper and wider. You also allow the nutrients you put down in the form of fertilizer to penetrate into the zone faster, thus maximizing your results. Finally, and most importantly, you help release soil microbes that will be spread around to different areas of the lawn, making the soil healthier, Healthy soil is really the foundation for everything else ya know?

Get an estimate to have aeration done by a pro: Click Here For Estimates

So here’s what I want you to do guys: Resolve in your mind that you are going to get out starting this weekend and begin a program to revamp and rejuvenate your lawn this fall. You’ll find that a little work now will really help you have to do less work next spring, no kidding! just get out and do it guys… you will love the results… I promise!!!!