If you want a thick, healthy, and green lawn in the spring, you need to show some love to your lawn in the fall. Fall is the best time to care for your lawn so it’ll be ush and vibrant in time for spring. To help homeowners with their fall yard care, we’ve compiled a list of handy tips. Read on to learn more!

Key Fall Lawn Care Tips for your Lawn to Thrive in Spring

1. Remove Leaves

You might like that colorful autumn leaf carpet, but they’re no good for your grass. They trap moisture and block sunlight, interfering with the health of the turf beneath. So, get rid of those falling leaves as often as possible.

Even after the trees become bare, keep raking the corners where leaves tend to pile up. This will prevent the grass under there from dying by the time spring comes around.

2. Keep Mowing to the Right Height

Don’t stop mowing just yet! The grass keeps growing till the first hard frost, and therefore, you’ll need to cut it regularly to maintain it at the ideal height of 2 ½ to 3 inches. Allowing the grass to grow too long may make it vulnerable to fungi, such as snow mold.

Also, be wary of cutting the grass too short. When grass is cut too short, it directly affects the root system – depth of the root is proportional to the cutting height – and hinders the ability of the lawn to tolerate the winter dryness and cold. With regular mowing, you can also remove those pesky leaves, which when chopped up become a soil-enhancing mulch.

3. Keep Watering

People often tend to stop watering their lawns in autumn as the weather cools down. Although there’s more dew, more rain, and less evaporation in the fall, this might not be enough for keeping the grass roots healthy and well hydrated, even in winter.

If at least one inch of water per week is not available to your lawn, which you can keep track of with a simple rain gauge, then keep your irrigation system or sprinklers running until October’s end. After that you can disconnect the hoses and flush your irrigation system to avoid any frozen spigots and pipes.

4. Loosen the Soil

Lawn aeration, when done once every two years, prevents the soil from getting compacted and covered by thatch. You can rectify both issues with a core aerator, which punches holes through the thatch and pulls up soil plugs. Consider aerating your lawn right before fertilization, since the holes in the turf will allow fertilizer to reach the roots directly and can help with grass growth and improve overall health of your lawn.

5. Fertilize your Lawn

Contrary to popular belief, water and plant sugars are critical for grass to successfully survive the winter. Plant sugars are responsible for safeguarding roots from freezing as well as providing energy to the whole plant so that it can bounce back come spring. These sugars are generated by chlorophyll that’s abundantly produced by grass when sufficient nitrogen is present.

Due to this, it’s recommended to apply a slow-release granular fertilizer in late fall. A lawn care expert can help you choose the right fertilizer for this application.

Potassium too plays a chief role during this time as it helps with cold resistance, drought tolerance, disease protection, and root growth.

Make sure to avoid spreading any fertilizer close to the waterways to prevent any contamination from runoff.

6. Seed your Lawn

You should be overseeding your lawn because a dense lawn effectively repels weeds. Overseeding not only fills in bare patches or thin spots on your lawn, but also lets you introduce new drought-tolerant, resilient grasses.

It’s best to overseed during the fall since the sun isn’t scorching, nights are cool, moisture is ample, and the soil is still warm. However, the task of overseeding should be done carefully.

It’s not wise to simply spread seeds over a lawn and expect the seeds to take hold or stay put. The seeds should be fully in contact with soil and kept moist till they germinate, which will help them become well established before the weather gets too cold.

In Conclusion

To have a beautiful, healthy lawn in the spring, each of the fall lawn care tips above need to be performed at the right time. If you’re not a pro at lawn care, consider hiring a reliable lawn care company specializing in fall lawn maintenance, to get the best results.

If you’re a homeowner in or around Iowa, All American Turf Beauty’s fall lawn care experts can effectively handle all your fall lawn care chores, letting you peacefully enjoy a lush lawn in the spring.