As the cooler fall temperatures arrive, it is time to refresh your Bedford and Irvington, NY, backyard with thoughtful lawn care. Here are some of the tasks your landscaper can do to give you an amazing fall lawn.
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Spruce Up the Lawn
After the heat of summer, your lawn can use some TLC. The first step your landscapers can take is to clean up the debris and leftover plants from summer. The summer heat is harsh and can cause plants and trees to struggle.
They will assess your trees for good health. If there are trees that need to be cut down, they have the expertise to do this without harming the rest of the landscape. With the dead trees and stumps gone, this leaves a fresh palette to design if you want to add other landscape features and plantings.
Clearing away any brush and the old mulch is another way to spruce up your lawn for fall. A clean backyard can let your imagination envision what is possible there.
Aerate the Lawn
Fall is the time to aerate the lawn for new grass growth in the spring when the warm weather arrives. Your landscapers can use an aerating machine to pull small plugs of dirt from the ground. The grass seed falls into the holes and it can germinate.
With the milder but still warm sun of fall, the extra oxygen that reaches the grass roots, and the water, your grass can have a new growth period before the winter weather. Then it will be ready for vigorous spring and summer growth.
Feed the Lawn
Feeding your grass after the heat of summer is often another fall essential task. The hot sun and dry days can take a toll on your lawn and leave it dull and lackluster. Your landscapers will apply fertilizer for a boost of nutrients that your lawn needs to use and store for the dormant winter months.
It is often considered best to let a landscaper spread fertilizer on your yard because too much fertilizer can burn the grass while too little does no good. Fertilizer is made up of three primary nutrients that each bring necessary nutrition to the grass.
Nitrogen is essential to plant development and healthy plant tissue. Potassium supplies food for plant quality and disease resistance while phosphorus helps with photosynthesis, which is how a plant makes and uses its food.
Water the Lawn
Your backyard needs plenty of water to help the young grass growth and to allow the slow-release fertilizer to seep into the ground. It is best if you water early in the morning before the sun rises to let the water fully saturate the soil.
Watering two to three times per week can give the backyard the moisture it needs to produce an amazing fall lawn. If you have an automatic irrigation system, your landscaper can program it for ideal watering times and amounts.
Mow the Lawn
Continue to mow the lawn until the first frost. As long as the grass grows, it needs to be mowed at a tall height to allow the roots to grow strong and store plenty of food for the winter months. This also allows your grass to be ready to burst forth in the spring when the growing season starts in full force.