When it comes to landscape maintenance, your lawn requires consistent work from early spring until growth stops in late fall. The special tasks that take place in the fall are crucial for the health of your lawn through the winter in order for it to emerge healthy in the spring. Here’s how a lawn service can prepare your landscaping for the cooler weather in Buffalo Grove and Winnetka, IL.
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Site Assessment
Summer can take a real toll on your lawn. Between heavy foot traffic, sun-baked soil, weeds, insects, and drought, your grass could enter the colder months already stressed, which could mean problems next year. Your lawn care professional should do an end-of-summer assessment of your lawn and recommend steps to mitigate damage and prevent further decline.
Diseased or dead grass, fungus growth, areas of low growth, areas of too much growth, weeds, thatch, and other red flags mean that immediate action is needed.
Taking Care of Damage
The first priority of fall care is to replace larger diseased, damaged, and dead parts of the lawn with fresh sod. While overseeding can be used on small damaged or dead patches, sod will yield much faster and better results on larger lawn areas. Instead of waging an uphill battle by starting grass from seeds, sod will quickly build root systems into the soil by the time winter comes, and it’ll be ready for robust growth next spring.
Aeration and Dethatching
Aeration and dethatching are two key lawn care measures that ensure the roots get the water, air, and nutrients needed to keep the grass alive through the winter.
Mowing
Even though summer is over, mowing needs to continue until the grass naturally ceases its growth cycles. Your lawn service professionals will mow the grass to the correct height to avoid drying out the soil or causing too much moisture to become trapped on the surface.
Eliminating Weeds
Invasive weeds often go to seed in the late summer. Ideally, your lawn service professionals worked hard earlier in the season to prevent weed seeds from germinating; but if there are mature plants, the application of post-emergent herbicide will be necessary to prevent yet another generation of weeds from taking root in your lawn.
Applying Fertilizer
Your grass will need some assistance to make it through the winter in great shape. Your lawn service professionals will carefully apply targeted fertilizers to specific areas according to what the grass needs. This fertilizer will be gradually absorbed by the root systems throughout the cold season so that the grass can emerge happy and healthy as soon as snow melts in spring. If your lawn care professionals haven’t tested the soil, now is a good time to do it, to ensure the right fertilizer will support the turf grasses through the winter.
Fall Debris Removal
No matter all the work your lawn service professionals have done up to this point, fallen leaves could spell disaster for your lawn. The dry leaves that cover your lawn will eventually break down and work themselves into the soil; but it’s a rare fall that’s completely rain-free. Once leaves are saturated with water, the leaves will stick together in a gooey mass that can suffocate your grass if not removed within the first few days. Lawn service professionals should always include leaf removal as part of the contract. Whether you choose to have the leaves mulched or removed, it’s a task that shouldn’t be ignored.
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