Even though I have been designing some fun gardens that include removing high needs grass from your yards, I know everyone isn’t ready to give up on their green carpets just yet, especially in the front yard.
So for those of you still determined to have a healthy green, weed free lawn here are some important fall tips:
- Remove Crab Grass. Try to remove as much crab grass as possible, especially the seed heads. And yes this means digging it up by hand!
- Aerate Your Lawn. Done regularly, aeration helps give your grass a better medium to grow in with loose soil and better air circulation.
- Remove Thatch. Thatch is a layer of dead grass and grass roots that has built up on top of the soil surface. More than ½ inch of this will block water and nutrients from penetrating the lawn. Lawns with severe thatch problems become a great host for pests and weeds.
- Overseed. Once thatch is removed and lawn is aerated, now is the time for a top dressing of good quality compost and an overseeding of grass seed. September and early October is the best time.
- Fertilize. Mid-October to mid-November is the time to apply a slow release fall fertilizer.
In researching information about improving our lawns for this article and many customer questions that I receive, I found out about a Canadian grass seed product called Eco-Lawn. It claims:
“Eco-Lawn™ is a blend of carefully selected fine fescue grass seeds developed by Wildflower Farm. Eco-Lawn™ is a lawn grass that grows in full sun, part shade and even deep shade! Eco-Lawn™ is highly drought tolerant once established, and has a beautiful green grass colour. Eco-Lawn™ requires less fertilizing and can be mown like a regular lawn or left un-mown for a free-flowing carpet effect. You can read more about it at www.wildflowerfarm.com“
You can also find this testimonial from a customer on their blog. But to summarize, the customer grew 4 different brands of grass seed, including Eco-Lawn in 4 separate containers of peat moss. Once growing well he stopped watering for 13 days…
More expensive than other grass seeds on the market, I am intrigued.
And lastly, if you feel your lawn is too far gone and that frankly all these steps are too much work, then maybe your best bet is to re-sod your lawn and then stay on top of it so that it doesn’t get out of hand again. Having a contractor re-sod your lawn starts at $1 a square foot. Keep in mind you may also need a bin and sod cutter for removal of old sod. If you would like a quote from a contractor to once again restore your lawn then please give me a call.