With fall just around the corner, the new season brings a new set of tasks that you need to do to take care of your lawn. Whether you’re responsible for your own lawn care or you hire a company to take care of your lawn, it’s important to know what needs to be done to make your lawn look as great as it can be.
Stay on Top of Those Leaves
Autumn brings the gorgeous coloring of trees and many falling leaves. While they may be a pretty decoration, leaving the leaves on your lawn for too long can actually have detrimental effects on your lawn’s health. A blanket of leaves prevents your grass from getting the sunlight and air that it needs to grow. The blanket also provides the perfect place for pests to make their home in or for mold to grow. Rake your lawn regularly throughout the season. This could be every few days or every two weeks depending on how much falls on your lawn during a given time.
Continue to Mow Your Lawn
Just because your lawn’s growth season is coming to an end doesn’t mean that you should disregard the regular mowing schedule you’ve been maintaining. Fall is a significant time for grass growth, and you want to keep your lawn at the appropriate height to maintain its health throughout the winter. Be careful, however, to not cut your lawn too short and “scalp” your lawn. This would leave your lawn vulnerable to certain winter damage. The correct height for your lawn will depend on where you live and the climate you experience during the winter months.
Seed Your Lawn
If you have a cool-season lawn, it’s time to lay down the seeds in preparation for spring. Fall is a great time to overseed your lawn because the ground is still warm enough for the seeds to germinate, but the air is cool enough to reduce stress on the seeds themselves. Depending on the type of grass you want to grow, you’ll need to plant it at a certain time to make sure it’s safe before the cold sets in. By overseeding your lawn, you’ll have a flourishing green yard by the time spring comes around.
Don’t Forget Fertilization
Fertilization is a key component of maintaining a healthy lawn. While it may seem counterintuitive to fertilize a lawn right before the winter comes, it can actually benefit your lawn greatly. Even though the grass isn’t growing much above the soil in the winter months, the roots spend a great deal of time growing while it’s cold outside. Fertilizing your lawn in the fall means that your grass’s roots will store those nutrients while becoming strong and be ready when spring comes to grow healthy grass once more.
Winterize Your Sprinklers
As the temperature starts to drop and your lawn care duties dry up for the year, your last step needs to be preparing your sprinkler system for the cold of winter (a process called winterization). As the temperature drops, water expands, and it has the potential to ruin your sprinkler system. Having to fix the various cracks in your pipes or sprinkler heads is an expensive cost for something fairly simple to do.
Before the first cold snap of the season, make sure you drain all of your hoses and sprinkler lines, so they’re clear of any water. Shut off the water valve to those lines if you need to. Removing the water eliminates the danger to your sprinkler system and sets you up well to keep up your lawn care come spring.
Melissa Williams 
Headlines Team