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With cooler seasons rapidly approaching, you’re probably not spending much time thinking about your lawn. However, autumn is the ideal time to prepare your lawn for next spring! In fact, your lawn needs more care during this time of year because the grass is busily absorbing energy, moisture, and nutrients in preparation for a long, dormant winter. Follow these quick tips to make sure your yard is fall ready.

Keep Mowing

Make sure you continue to water and mow your lawn, as needed, throughout the fall. As the season starts giving way to winter, drop the mower’s blade to its lowest setting for the last two cuttings of the year. Doing this will allow more sunlight to reach the crown of the grass and means there will be less leaf to turn brown during the winter. As a note: when you’re lowering the blade, try no to trim off more than one-third of the grass blades at any one time. To help avoid this, you can gradually lower the cutting height until the time of the final two cuttings.

Aerate the Soil

Fall is the ideal time to aerate your lawn so that oxygen, water, and fertilizer can easily reach the grass’s roots. A walk-behind lawn aerator is self-propelled and will quickly punch holes into the soil and extract plugs of dirt. Of course, if you’ve got a very large yard and don’t feel like aerating it yourself, look into local landscaping contractors to get the job done easily.

Rake the Leaves

Try to stay on top of fallen leaves and remove them from your lawn as soon as possible. You don’t want to wait until they’ve all fallen to the ground to start raking, otherwise, the leaves will become wet from rain and morning dew. This causes them to stick together and form an impenetrable mat that, if left unmoved, will suffocate the grass and breed fungal diseases. If you absolutely can’t stand raking, use a lawnmower fitted with a collection bag or vacuum system.

Fertilize

If you fertilize your lawn only once a year, be sure to do it in the fall. Grass leaves grow much more slowly as the weather turns cool, but their roots continue to grow quickly. A fall application of fertilizer will deliver essential nutrients for the grass to grow deep roots and will help to keep nutrients on reserve for a healthy start next spring. Wait until mid-to-late fall, then apply a dry lawn fertilizer to all grassy areas using a walk-behind drop spreader. It may take a little longer, but a drop spreader provides the best way to apply an even, consistent layer of fertilizer.

Weed Control

If weeds like dandelions have taken over your lawn, now’s the time to fight back! Like most plants, weeds are in the energy-absorbing mode during the fall. This means that they’re drinking in everything that comes their way, including weed killers. If you apply an herbicide now, those weeds won’t return in the spring.

There you have it! With these 5 tips, you’ll have your lawn all set for a great fall season. The wonderful thing about starting in the fall is if you give your lawn a little attention now, you’ll be rewarded with a lush, healthy lawn in the spring! Be sure to follow Falconcrest Homes’ blog series for more helpful tips and tricks like these.