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Fall Lawn & Garden Cleanup
To maintain a healthy lawn and garden year round, it’s important to clean your yard once the summer ends. Come springtime, this maintenance will pay off in healthy growth. With the right tools and advice, you can successfully winterize your outdoors over a single weekend.
The experts at your local True Value hardware store can help.
Step 1. Rake
Raking removes leaves and other debris from your lawn, making your yard more attractive. Moreover, removing leaves and debris prevents mold and other diseases from forming over the winter months. A thick layer of leaves can create a dense blanket over the lawn, keeping it from “breathing" and growing into its full potential. Raking also removes thatch – the layer of dead turf grass tissue between the green vegetation and surface of the soil. Be sure to rake deeply enough to remove thatch as well as fallen leaves.
Helpful Tip:
- Mowing your lawn disperses debris and leaves, creating a natural compost that will help your lawn flourish.
Step 2. Weed
Until the first major frost, you’ll need to keep weeding your lawn and garden. Otherwise, any new weeds that pop up during the fall will quickly become large weeds. Manually pulling weeds usually does not get the entire root, so try a post-emergent herbicide to kill the weeds that have already sprouted. If you are working in a new lawn or garden area, try a pre-emergent herbicide.
You’ll also want to remove fully matured flowers that can self-seed. This will you save hours of weeding out unwanted flowers come spring.
Safety Alert!
- Many herbicides are highly toxic. You should wear protective clothing and garden gloves when handling any herbicide. Purchase only as much as you need and dispose of an extra herbicide according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Helpful Tip:
- As your winterizing your lawn and garden, use a pruner to cut dead or diseased branches from tress and shrubs to promote plant health.
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Step 3. Reseed
Harsh summer weather can take a toll on your lawn. You may need to repair any bare patches with new seed. If more than half of your lawn is damaged or bare, it’s time to completely reseed.
Make sure you reseed several weeks before the first big frost. To begin, loosen the soil with a rake. If the soil is extremely compacted, you may need to rent an aerating machine. This removes small plugs of dirt and turf from your lawn, allowing water and nutrients to better penetrate and nourish the roots of grass.
Choose the appropriate grass seed for your yard and use a mechanical spreader to disperse the seed. Rake the seed into the soil to be sure it makes good contact. To get the grass growing well, keep the soil moist by watering it twice daily. It’s important to avoid heavy traffic on the newly planted lawn, but keep it mowed regularly.
If you need to patch just a few areas of your lawn, opt for overseeding. To begin, mow your lawn shorter than you normally would. This will give the new seed a better chance to take root and prosper. Spread seed either by hand or by spreader. As with any reseeding project, keep the soil moist, avoid heavy traffic and mow regularly.
Step 4. Fertilize
When the intense heat of summer is over, it’s time to fertilize. Fall fertilizing keeps your lawn healthy and strong over the winter months. It also helps keep the grass green and weed-free. Choose a fertilizer consistent with your grass type and be sure to use the correct dial setting on the package. Using a mechanical spreader (it can be the same one you would use to seed your lawn), cover the entire area of the lawn one time. After you finish, be sure to thoroughly clean the spreader with a hose, but do this away from any grassy areas.
You’ll also want to remove fully matured flowers that can self-seed. This will you save hours of weeding out unwanted flowers come spring.
Congratulations! You are well on your way to having a healthy, attractive lawn and garden come springtime. Ask the experts at your local True Value hardware store for more helpful lawn and garden tips.
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