Fall/Winter 2016

Fall is the right time to think about your lawn and to ensure that it will be healthy and beautiful next year. After this year’s hot and dry summer, it is probably suffering. Fortunately, a little care to it now will not only enhance how it looks for the rest of the fall but will prepare it for the approaching cold season and the year ahead.

Key lawn services that you should take advantage of during this time of year include core aeration, over-seeding, and fertilization.

Core Aeration:

It involves creating small holes in the soil to allow air, water and nutrients to penetrate the roots of the grass. When soil is compacted, the movement of oxygen, nutrients, and water to the turfs roots is restricted and results in a slow-growing, thin lawn. Since the flow of nutrients is also decreased, turf grown in compacted soils can quickly become vulnerable to drought, disease, and insect damage.

Core aeration in the fall addresses the results of compaction of the soil from prolonged hot and dry weather conditions in addition to traffic. It will allow your turf to extend it’s root system — which will make your lawn grow faster, your turf greener, and strengthen it before the winter season.

Over-Seeding:

After core aerating your lawn, it is beneficial to over-seed it with desirable blends of turfgrass. Over-seeding is done by adding grass seeds directly into existing turf. It is an easy way to fill in bare spots, improve the color and density of the turf and make it less susceptible to diseases by adding a variety of hardy grass types based upon the site conditions. We use a superior mix enriched with endophytes that naturally repel various pests, as well as custom-blends to resolve issues typically related to sun exposure on your specific site. Talk to your Almstead lawn care professional about the best seeding options for your landscape.

Fertilization:

In fall, the active growth of plants and trees slows down and nutrients taken in from the soil are instead used for health-promoting functions such as root development and disease resistance. It is therefore important for soil to be nutrient-rich and healthy at this time.

After a visual inspection, your Almstead arborist may conduct a soil test. Based on the results, we prepare a custom blend of fertilizer that addresses the deficiencies of macro-nutrients in the soil. Fall fertilization is important because proper nutrients in the soil will help your plants and lawn survive the harsh winter conditions and make them thrive in the next growing season.