Is your lawn still looking sickly and distressed even though fall temperatures and moisture have improved? Is your neighbor on his front porch looking at you and laughing as you dig out weeds and dead spots every weekend in hopes of recovering your patch of green? If so, here are the most basic of tips you must follow in order to kick his grass before winter!The key is to work the lawn both now, and later to get double the results in just a few short weeks.1) Fertilize now and later. Get out this weekend and lay down a nice dose of balanced lawn fertilizer. Keep in mind that fertilizing now will not only create results now, but into the future. Nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus will help grass plants expand in softer soils and utilize moisture and available nutrients better. It will also make your lawn green which is the most important prospect here.Put down fertilizer now, and again in 4 weeks. That will surely make a big difference.2) Aerate now and later. Aeration will loosen up the compacted soil and allow your fertilizer to get right into the root system of the lawn. In addition, air and water will circulate beneath, stimulating more growth where it counts; in the roots. If you aerate now, do it again in about 4 weeks for optimum results.3) Apply sand now and later. Many folks don’t know this, but the very best soil conditioner for clay based lawns is sand. Sand will effectively keep the clay aerated during the winter, spring and summer and also help your lawn breath better overall. Apply 2 lbs of sand per 1,000 square feet of lawn both now and later, in conjunction with your aerations.If you do these three tasks now and later, I can bet your neighbor will be asking you your secret come Thanksgiving!

It’s hard to believe, but you can have too much grass! If you want more from your lawn than just green turf but not sure what to do or how to do it, read on.

First off, think about adding some color and texture to it. A lawn is great but an expanse of just one thing can be a bit boring to look at. Here are a few suggestions for what you can do.

Try working with your walkway, sidewalk or pathway. Even if your walkway goes around the yard and down the side, placing stone alongside can enhance it and help frame the turf spaces a bit. Stone that can come in a variety of sizes and colors for any detail you can imagine making the pathway stand alone as a focal element in the lawn. If you can manage it, try to extend the walkway symmetrically down and along the other side of the lawn as well. This will effectively frame the grass and provide more walking area and options which will keep traffic off your grass.

Accenting an expanse of lawn could be as easy as adding a few dome shaped lights wherever your eye likes them. Many of these lights are solar powered or run on a battery and do not necessarily need to be plugged in, which is good depending on where you may want to place them. They can change colors to suit how you feel they should look with something as simple as a color filter. Add with these some nice sized but not overpowering plants and you will no longer have a boring green carpet. Your eyes will move from spot to spot trying to get in as many interesting details as possible. It is important, however, not to overdo it.

If you want to try a few small trees, consider dwarf varieties that can be planted in pots and moved around depending on where you live. These can be put into long stone finished raised trenches so to speak and the pots surrounded with sand to give another color to the overall look.