1) Your lawn is the only living thing that was included in your purchase price. I know that sounds strange, but when you buy a house, pretty much everything there is a non-living except the lawn grass and the landscape. That means that taking care of your lawn is keeping your house “alive!”

2) Your lawn is the “welcome mat to your home” and tells people you care about your abode and your neighborhood. If your grass is all dead and full of weeds, it looks like someone who is uncaring resides there; don’t let that be you!

3) Lawns help the environment too. Grass gets a bad rap because it is simple, doesn’t make flowers, and is basically the same in everyone’s place. But grass, be as common as it is, is one of the best air cleaners around. It makes fresh air in the same way that any plant does, but it also grabs dust out of the air and prevents erosion. That is super cool!

4) Grass smells good when it is cut – enough said!

5) Grass makes a great platform for meeting with family and friends. There is nothing better than a picnic on the grass with a group of friends and family. Throw in some cold beverages and you have the makings of a great weekend.

So with these quick ideas in mind, I recommend you head out this weekend and get to work on that beautiful patch of green love you call your yard. It will reward you many times over – I promise!

Here are some of the most basic, yet most important fall tasks you should put on your lawn care list.

1) Core Aeration: If you read this lawn blog often, you know that I mention core aeration every spring and every fall. That is because it is an essential procedure no matter what condition your turf is in right now. Aeration removes plugs from the lawn, opening up the root system to air, water and nutrients allowing it to spread and thicken. Aeration also relieves soil compaction that occurs from summer heat and foot traffic.

2) Fall Seeding: I also recommend you over seed your lawn right after the aeration. It is always a good idea to add fresh grass cultivars to your lawn. This helps keep things healthy and new and new grass varieties are more disease and drought resistant.

3) Fall Fertilization: The last piece of the fall lawn care pie is the fertilizing. We want to use a good, balanced fertilizer that contains equal amounts of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. These elements will encourage the roots to spread even more, especially after the aeration.

These are really simple tips and not Earth shattering, but I assure you they are very important. Set a schedule now of when you’ll get them completed, starting anytime in September.

More Features To Look For

The next feature I would recommend you look at when buying your next lawn mower would be the depth of the actual mower deck. The deeper the deck, the better the mulching will be. If the deck is shallow, the clippings will fall out prior to being ground up (if you are in mulching mode) or being shot into the bag (if you are catching). The best mowers will be around 4 or 5 inches deep graduating upward towards the back of the blade swath.

I mentioned before that I recommend rear wheel drive self-propelled mowers, and in addition, I highly recommend a mower that is variable speed. There are times when your lawn is super flat and wide open and you will want to run in high speed gear, but going up and down hills or in tight spaces, you will want to slow down a bit. If you have variable speed at your fingertips, you will be good to go!

Finally, I want you to look for fat tires! Yep, you read that right, fat tires. The fatter the tire on your next lawn mower, the better stripes you can mow in the turf. Stripes are what make your lawn stand out in the neighborhood, and a lot of homeowner-style mowers are featuring wider tires to give you what you are looking for.

Keep all of this in mind when you head out this weekend, and see if you can find a mower that includes all of these features!