This is the month to make it happen. Even if you don’t do any other lawn care the rest of the year, the few steps you take in October will give you beautiful results! Simple things like removing fallen leaves and debris will help since your grass can not grow if the sun is literally blocking out the sunshine. Once that is done, sit back and consider your lawn’s current condition: do you have a few bare spots here and there? Some larger areas that need to be addressed that may not encompass the whole lawn? Or maybe it’s time for an overall renovation. Start with EJC and our pros will never steer you wrong.
To repair or enhance select areas of your lawn grass – or if you just want to thicken it up – put a little time into preparing the soil. It will go a long way toward getting you the great results you want! So lightly cultivate the surface of the soil to remove any dead grass and weeds. Lightly cultivating the soil involves literally scratching the surface of the soil where you sprinkle the seed. This can be done with a “hard garden or bow rake – not a easy chore but one that will greatly increase the germination of the grass seed. By loosening up the soil this way, you are preparing it for the steps that follow. After sprinkling on the seed, cover with any type of organic media – we love our Baccto Compost which is made of lawn clippings and is OMRI listed so it’s super safe!
For smaller spot treatments made necessary by neighborhood dogs (or maybe your own!) who found their “favorite place” in your yard, try our Encap Dog Repair Kit. It contains the mulch, seed and fertilizer altogether – just water it in!
For a total renovation, in sun to part shade areas, apply The Falcons grass seed to the area/areas you are treating. The Falcons is the perfect blend of hybrid fescue grass seed – one that our professionals even use on their own lawns! If the area is mostly shaded, then choose the Emerald Park Deep Shade mix. After spreading the grass seed, apply some Fertilome New Lawn Starter fertilizer and lime as well. Once this is done, IF the area is heavily exposed, cover it will some wheat straw or an organic soil media like bagged topsoil or cow manure or – best of all – Foxfarm Soil Conditioner.
Aerating the soil is also of tremendous benefit to your lawn. Also known as Core Cultivating, it is achieved by walking behind an aerating machine that punctures and removes cores from the top 2-3″ of the soil. By loosening the soil in this manner, it improves oxygen content and improves water and nutrient flow into the soil. It also reduces runoff during rainfalls or irrigating procedures. There are machines that can be rented from local rental companies to do this job and again, October is the best time of the entire year!! If you have moss, this is very beneficial especially if you can apply lime concurrently.
Whatever your lawn questions are – just give us a call or stop in and one of our EofJC pros will be glad to help!
