Late Season Lawn Care

~ September 21, 2011

Now that the intense summer heat is behind us for the year it is a good time to focus on the lawn. This time of year is perfect for lawn maintenance, repairs and laying sod. The weather and soil are still warm and more importantly fall rains have returned. This means that grass seed will germinate with ease and new sod will put down roots.

To repair any bare spots that occurred over the summer rake away any debris. Spread an even layer of lawn soil 2-4cm (1 to 2”) thick over the patch. Sow quality grass seed. I use CIL Golfgreen All Purpose Grass Seed (Home Hardware #: 5065-644). Spread this over the soil and gently rake it in. Lightly firm the soil to put the grass seed into good contact with the soil and water well. Keep the soil moist but not wet to encourage faster germination.

Also apply CIL Golfgreen Starter fertilizer (Home Hardware #: 5024-617) to help get it off to a good start and put down a good root system before cold weather sets in.

In one to two weeks the grass seed will germinate and begin to fill in the area

This is a great time of year to over seed your entire lawn to thicken it up around this time as well. The process is much the same as above except over the entire lawn. When doing this, concentrate on filling in the depressions with the triple mix or Mark’s Choice lawn soil to create a level lawn surface.

In a few weeks (mid to late October is optimal) you will give your lawn the most important feeding of the year with a fall fertilizer application. This application will help encourage good root growth and get the lawn off to a running start come next spring.

Your lawn will thank you.