September is a great month to give your lawn a boost before it goes to sleep for the winter.  Set your lawn up for success next season with these 3 essential steps.

#1:  Give your lawn a little breathing room with a core aeration!

What is aeration?  Aeration is the process of removing soil cores (aka “plugs”) from your lawn by extracting little chunks of dirt from the lawn surface.

How does aerating benefit my lawn?  
The benefits of aeration are numerous.  Aerating helps water, air, and nutrients penetrate deeper into the soil and root system resulting in less compaction, deeper rooting, better water retention, less runoff, and reduced water requirements. 

What are some signs that I need to aerate my lawn? Not all lawn care problems are solved with aeration alone, however some telltale signs that your lawn could benefit from aeration include unsightly spots and patches, areas of stunted growth, frequent foot (and paw) traffic, and visible standing water or excessive water runoff. 

How often should I aerate my lawn? How often to aerate depends on a few factors. For lawns with healthier soils and lower foot traffic, one aeration per year  during Fall may be adequate. For lawns with more compacted and/or unhealthy soils, adding an additional aeration in the spring is a good idea. 

#2:  Feed it with a healthy dose of organic fertilizer!  

For a host of reasons including high functioning soil health and keeping water clean,  we only use, and highly recommend the use of organic fertilizers. But since organic fertilizer ingredients are not immediately available for plant uptake and they need some time for them to break down to where their ingredients can be absorbed by lawns and plants, timing is important!  Organic fertilizers  should be applied earlier than synthetic fertilizers, during the first few weeks of September.  By doing this the nutrients will have the appropriate amount of time to break down efficiently and be ready for lawns to absorb and use by mid October when the lawns begin to enter their Fall/Winter dormant period.

Treat #3  Give your lawn some fresh friends by overseeding!

Continuing to thicken and diversify your grass stand is effective for minimizing bare, thin or weedy patches. If you haven’t overseeded your lawn in a while, it could naturally be thin and bare because of not doing so. In the same way, when you kill weeds but don’t replace the space with new grass, you’re omitting a large part of the process that helps develop a healthy, thick lawn that can naturally crowd out weeds.

What Is Overseeding?
Overseeding is adding new grass seed over your already existing turf—without turning the soil. By overseeding a lawn, you can thicken grass density, introduce enhanced varieties of grass to your lawn’s microclimate, and improve color to an ideal lush green. 

In addition, different grasses help “hedge your bets” against insect, weeds, and disease pressures. Some grasses, for example, are more resistant to certain diseases, so diversifying your stand helps you protect against the unforeseen.  Diversity also helps sun-loving grasses thrive in the sun, while shade-loving grasses will stick to the shady spots

When Is the Best Time to Overseed a Lawn?
Overseeding is ideally performed soon after core aeration in late summer to early October—when the weather is moderate enough to provide the perfect germination balance of warm soil and cooler air temperature. 

Fall seeding is better than Spring because Spring seeding has high weed competition, and the immature grass roots will struggle with the stresses of summer (i.e., their root structure is weak and immature and you will have to baby it along in a hot/dry summer).

Get In Touch
To schedule a consultation or request a quote for services please call 303-245-9166, send an email to information@nativeedgelandscapes.com or Get In Touch through our website. One of our Customer Care Representatives will be happy to help.