The Best Fall Lawn Care

Raking

• Remove fall leaves from the lawn with a brush or rake, then use a lawn rake to remove the thatch of dead grass, clippings and moss. If you have a large lawn you should consider using a powered lawn rake, which will collect fall leaves at the same time.

Aerate

• Use a garden fork or aerator to aerate the lawn. You should mark the lawn off in strips and work in straight lines across the strips of grass, digging your aerator into turf to a depth of about 6 inches and in gaps about 4 to 6 inches apart. Condition your soil by brushing sand into the holes created by aerating for clay soils or brushing peat into sandy soils.

Moss and Weeds

• If you have a bad problem with moss in the lawn, use a moss killer recommended for fall use. Do not use lawn sand as it contains nitrogen fertilizer; which is unsuitable for most lawns in fall, as it promotes new growth. Using broadleaf weed applications in late fall will reduce risk to perennial plants in the garden and is an effective way of controlling weeds in the lawn, according to the University of Illinois Extension.

Fertilizer

• If the lawn appears in poor condition, use an appropriate fall lawn fertilizer to feed it. Do not use spring or summer fertilizers as they contain high amounts of fast-release nitrogen, which will encourage fresh new growth. Use a fertilizer containing slow-release or controlled-release nitrogen, such as ureaform or sulfur-coated urea, North Dakota State University Extension recommends. Although slow-release nitrogen fertilizers are more expensive, they will encourage better lawn performance over a period of time.

Inspect and Tidy

• Finally, inspect the appearance of your lawn and use a half-moon edger to straighten up any uneven edges in the grass.

Cutting the Grass and Winter Care

• The above fall lawn treatment will condition your lawn through the winter and it only remains to cut the grass once a month, when weather permits. Grass should be kept at a height of 1.5 to 2 inches through fall and around 1.5 inches in winter, to prevent damage from snow mold or powdery mildew, says the University of Illinois Extension. Keep off the lawn as much as possible during winter months, particularly when it is frosty, as walking on frozen grass can damage the lawn.