Give your lawn some love this Fall

When Fall arrives, it can only mean….

Back to school, football, Halloween, shorter days, less vacations, sweaters and jackets, leaves changing, AND of course remembering to perform an aeration and overseeding of the lawn!

Aeration

This is one of the biggest bangs for your buck when it comes to improving your lawn. There are many reasons to have this done to your turfgrass including:

a) Loosening of ground compaction
b) Promotion of a deeper root system
c) Better absorption of water and other nutrients
d) Allowing oxygen to enter soil (hence “aeration”)
e) Providing soil-to-seed contact (in the case of overseeding)
f) Decrease thatch buildup
g) Safe for the environment (no chemicals and it helps to improve runoff)

The benefits go on and on but the bottom line is that this mechanical method to improve the health and aesthetic appeal of your turfgrass REALLY WORKS!

Overseeding

This task is most often performed alongside the aeration for best results due to the seed-to-soil contact. Overseeding is performed on an established lawn (has grass already) and is very important in that it adds a newer generation of seedlings that help to take the place of older dying grass in the lawn, introduce a new species that is better selected and tested for the environment, and provide a fresh start to many bare areas that might have been damaged over the course of the year.

We select the best seed varieties according to a national turfgrass evaluation program (NTEP) which tests the newest varieties on many different qualities (i.e disease resistance, drought tolerance, color, texture, etc.) and this allows for a better adapted grass species to overtake weaker species in your lawn.

The above pictured machine is actually a bit smaller than the ones we are accustomed to using. There are two 50lb weights located in these machines that are added on to really increase the weight and the depth at which the tines are pushed into the ground. We prefer to aerate when the ground is moist (not soaking) to better help us pull some good sized plugs out of the ground. Although these machines look a little bigger than a mower they can weigh over 350lbs, talk about a workout!

Seed being loaded into a drop spreader. We normally use a broadcast spreader unless it’s a narrow area that needs seeding. The rate at which the seed is spread (depends on the seed type and size of seed) is just as important as the type of seed selected for the location. Too much seed spread will mean over-competition between seedlings and leave gaps in the turf and too little would leave the area thin and sparse.