Putting Your Lawn to Bed

Putting Your Lawn to Bed.

Autumn is a good time to start putting your lawn to bed for the winter season. Throughout the summer your grass has taken a beating. This year we had the driest June/July in about 60 years and it showed. Brown and burnt, thin and patchy, your lawn needs some love now to make sure it lasts over the cold months ahead.
Fertilize to help the damaged areas recover. Be sure to use a proper mix of nitrogen and potash that best suits the type of grass you have. The more you can strengthen the root structure of your existing grass before the cold weather hits, the better it will bounce back once the snow melts. A good general rate for fertilizer delivery is to spread approximately 0.5 kg of nitrogen for every 100 square meters. Be sure not to overdo it and burn your lawn further. This is best to apply when the grass has essentially stopped growing, but still remains green.
Overseed any bare and patchy areas. When seeding you need good contact between the seed and the fresh topsoil. Rolling these areas can help. And be sure to water! There are many varieties of grass available, and depending on how many hours of sun your grass gets, the amount of moisture, type of soil, etc. you’ll want to choose a seed to fit your needs. There’s no sense in putting down a drought tolerant full sun Arizona mix in a wet shaded area.
Get out the thatch. Thatch in your lawn can help cultivate diseases like snow mould. Too much thatch causes the growing point of the grass to sit above the soil. This removes insulation that soil naturally provides, making it prone to damage. You can control the thatch by either ‘dethatching’ with a sweeper. Or you can us a ‘core aerator’ that cuts out plugs and breaks up the excess thatch. If you are using the sweeper, be sure to remove the swept up thatch from your lawn.
The final cut. People often go back and forth arguing about what length to make the final cut. For colder climates like ours it’s important to keep in mind that the root system of your grass is approximately as deep as the grass is tall. So scalping your lawn at the end of the season leaves it exposed and with a shallow root. We recommend leaving some meat on the bone to help with regeneration in the spring. If left too long however, you are inviting similar problems to having too much thatch. By the time the snow melts you’ll end up with patches of snow mold. Don’t bother changing your deck height and keep cutting at 3-4 inches.
Of course each lawn is different and you’ll need to find what works best for yours year after year. But if you want to take the guess work out of it, and would prefer the expertise of a professional, call Harbourview Property Management. “You’re busy. Let us do the work!”