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As the growing season winds down, your landscape plants are preparing for a long winter’s “rest.” Over the winter months, your turf won’t be actively producing new top growth, and your trees and shrubs will no longer be expending their energy on sustaining leaf cover. This period of seeming inactivity is known as winter dormancy. But the truth is that your lawn and landscape plants will be anything but inactive. During this time, your lawn, trees and shrubs will be building up food reserves, setting down new roots and strengthening their old ones. In addition, they’ll be busy repairing any stress damage that may have occurred during the hot summer months (such as insect and disease damage, or root damage from too much or too little water).

Fall Feeding Makes the Winter Season More Productive

A heavy dose of fertilizer in the fall will give your lawn, trees and shrubs the energy they need for their yearly building and repair work. By treating them to a fall feast, you can expect: Improved winter hardiness – Since their ability to hold water will be increased, your lawn and landscape plants will suffer less from the effects of dry winter winds and severe weather.

Earlier, improved spring green-up – Increased root expansion and larger food reserves will help thin areas to grow denser, thicker and greener.

Better blooming – Flowering trees and shrubs will put on a more beautiful display when warm weather returns.

Healthier growth for trees, shrubs and lawns planted this fall – Faster and more complete establishment of new plantings throughout the winter will promote better growth in the spring.

Improved disease resistance – When plants are well-fed, their natural resistance to disease organisms is greatly increased.

Remember...your lawn, trees and shrubs are counting on you for a big meal this fall, so don’t let them down! Our regular fall fertilization treatment will provide for your lawn’s nutrition needs this fall. If you’re not scheduled for our LawnAmerica deep-root tree and shrub fertilization for later this fall, contact us now.

At LawnAmerica, we emphasize the importance of core aeration as part of a good overall lawn maintenance program. And combining aeration with overseeding in the fall is a great way to thicken up a thin lawn while giving your turf a great head start on next year’s growing season. If your cool-season turf needs overseeding with tall fescue or bluegrass, contact LawnAmerica now to set up this important service. If you have a Bermudagrass lawn, and you’re interested in overseeding with perennial ryegrass to have a green lawn all winter, contact LawnAmerica now and we’ll provide you with the information you need to make your decision.

Here are some points to keep in mind:

• If your lawn has been seeded, the soil should be kept moist with light, frequent sprinklings (at least twice a day).
• New grass should be mowed several times before top growth slows down for the winter, and you don’t want to let your lawn grow too long between mowings.
• New turf should be well-fed throughout the fall to promote as much growth as possible.
• If a few weeds pop up, it’s nothing to be concerned about. This is normal, and the weeds will best be controlled in the spring.

Raise your mowing height one level in order to keep your lawn height at a level that will help keep winter weeds out, while insulating the root system from possible damaging winter temperatures.

If you have a cool-season lawn, now is the time to overseed grass in order to thicken up turf and fill in thin areas.

As leaves begin to fall later, don’t allow them to accumulate on cool-season grass to the point of damaging the tender seedlings.

Now is the time to plant spring flowering bulbs such as Tulips. It’s best to plant those in your beds, and not out in the lawn. Tulips and other flowers in the lawn will prevent us from being able to apply weed-control in those areas next spring.