Fall Lawn Care Revival- no singing needed

Drought, drought, drought and a lot of humidity

Fall lawn care revival is desperately needed. Ugh, it has been a very humid, sticky and dry (sounds like an oxymoron) August. Our lawns have become straw and any teenie-weenie bit of rain we do get just bounces off like a superball on the driveway. The only green that exist in the barren waste land you once took pride in are weeds.  (ie. crabgrass, purslane, knotweed and so so many more.) So now what? Is there any salvation ahead?Fall has become the #1 season for seeding and over seeding your lawns. Now that the air temperatures are cooler and the soil temperatures are still warm, it is the perfect time to seed or reseed your lawns. Grass seed optimally needs a soil temperature of about 60-65 degrees. Here on the cape that doesn’t usually happen until late May, therefor the fall is best. We also, usually get better rains so you won’t feel chained to the hoses and sprinklers.Fall lawn care also includes testing your soil pH.  It is very important this time of year. If you need to add lime to the lawn, now is the time to do it so it is available to the grass roots in the spring. Our soil is typically acidic because all of our native pines, maples and oaks. You can also use these next two months to get rid of those pesky weeds that are still lingering in the lawn, aerate, patch up the dead spots in the lawn and lay down a winter fertilizer to get your lawn ready for the dormant months of winter.So here it is and if you have any questions or need further explanation call us or come in for a consult. We prefer to call them visits :)1. Seed or overseed your lawn. Lay down a good top soil or scratch up your soil surface so the seed isn’t laying on hard pan. The seed always needs to be in contact with a softer soil to root. Again I come back to the driveway - nothing can root into concrete and that is what our lawns are right now without the adequate rains.2. Lightly cover your seed with peat moss, apply lawn starter fertilizer with a spreader.3. Your newly laid grass seed will need water, especially since Mother Nature is not providing it for us. We recommend keeping the soil damp. NOT soaking wet where there are puddles. If you let the seed dry out it will not germinate and you will be sitting there wondering what you did wrong or even more so, blaming us for giving you the wrong information.4. DO NOT apply any weed killer during the germination process. You can take care of any weeds 6 weeks after your lawn has sprouted.*We also like to tell people it takes a good two seasons for a lawn to get fully established. NO not two years, two seasons. ie. Spring and fall or fall and spring. So be patient, especially after this “droughtful” summer. It will take time for your lawns to bounce back. But the care you take now will show next spring.If your lawn has been under irrigation and looking pretty good, patch up any bare spots, apply weed killer if needed and always lime so the soil pH is ready for spring. Mid to late October you can apply your winterizer lawn fertilizer. Irrigate as needed while the grass is still growing, but unless it is an unusually dry fall, you’ll need to water less. The water won’t evaporate as quickly and the lawn growth will be slowing down as the weather is cooling. So hint,hint- readjust your irrigation timers accordingly!