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| #4 - 3 Step Lawn Fertilization | ||||||||||||||||||
| #5 - Right Plant in Right Spot | ||||||||||||||||||
| #3 - Rose Certificates and Gift Cards | #6 - Preview of Coming Attractions | |||||||||||||||||
| #7 - Begin to Repair Lawn Turf Now | ||||||||||||||||||
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Begin to Repair Lawn Turf Now
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| The very best time of the year to plant grass seed is the Fall, September into the first two weeks of October. Looking back over the last two falls, we had weather of opposite extremes. Fall of 2010 was very hot and dry with no decent rainfall till November. Last year we lived in a rain forest, setting a record high in rain all year long. Those two extremes made it impossible to be successful planting grass seed at what should have been the best period of the year. If you fit into this category or just want to plant some grass seed and thicken that lawn, take heart in the fact that the second best time to plant grass seed (and the easiest) is during the month of February and the first ten days of March. I say easiest because the only labor necessary at this time would be to remove any leaves or other debris that would keep your new seed from making good seed to soil contact. No raking or other soil prep is necessary. Mom nature will finish planting the seed through her heaving and thawing process that occurs through mid-March. Your grass seed will germinate when your soil temperature reaches into the 50° range. The only type of grass seed I would recommend planting would be a Turf type Fescue like Fine Lawn or Avenger to name a couple of good ones. Turf Fescue is the best grass for sun or shade and is very drought tolerant. Turf Fescue also blends well with other types of lawn grasses that might be present. Place the seed on your lawn where the existing grass is thin to missing. A lawn spreader is the best and most even way to apply your seed. Adjust the setting on your applicator so 4 to 5 seeds per inch of lawn are being applied. Ground moss should be removed before putting any seed down (it rakes off easy). Do not apply any pre-emergent crab grass control until your new grass is up and growing. For those using a lawn service, notify them that you have winter seeded and you’ll notify them when the new seed starts to grow. No fertilizer is needed especially for lawns that were fed last fall. You can apply a light feeding when you do apply your pre-emergent. Do not use a lawn roller. Lawns can be very bumpy coming out of winter due to the natural heaving and thawing that occurs, magnified by your existing lawn grass laying flat. This is nature’s free aeration and the lawn will smooth out naturally as the lawn starts to grow new blades. |
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Keep foot traffic to a minimum, especially if the lawn is wet or frozen. Take your mower in for service now before the line gets long. Get the blade sharpened professionally while it’s at the shop. For additional lawn tips to keep your lawn looking its very best go to http://bloomingarden.com/tipsheethome.html and click on the lawn tip sheets. You can also check out the report from Ohio State University on successful lawns at http://bloomingarden.com/falllawn.html |
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