It's not too late to fix a less than perfect lawn. In fact, fall is the perfect time for overseeding.
With overseeding you plant new grass seeds with your already existing grass. It can accomplish several things:
 | Repair damaged areas |
| Improve overall appearance |
| Improve your lawn's ability to cope with: |
 | Weather extremes |
| Adverse planting conditions |
| Diseases |
| Insects |
New seeds are most commonly planted to fix any bare spots and other damaged areas on your turf. Also, a thinning lawn can soon be made lush with the grass from new seeds. But new seeds can do more than just fix blemishes on your lawn. Certain genetically selected seeds have the power to resist the very things that cause the blemishes in the first place.
For appearance's sake, you will want to get a seed that will produce grass matching the shade of the particular kind of grass you have now. That is, perhaps the only given.
When it comes to picking new seed, your biggest challenge will be in deciding which one you want out of the hundreds of varieties available. Of course you can choose the exact same kind of seed used to grow your present lawn, but consider the alternatives.
Why? You can choose a superior seed which produces grass giving the exact same look but with increased ability to withstand diseases, insects, weather extremes or negative conditions that may be present in certain places within your landscape.
You can buy strains that are either drought-resistant, shade-tolerant, insect-repelling, rain-adaptive, or engineered for superior wear and tear for high traffic areas. Some varieties may contain more than one of these qualities
One way to get a lot of these benefits in one planting is to combine seeds of several different varieties. Grass from such a combination of resistant/tolerant seeds will hold up under a variety of conditions and stresses.
If you have an apple tree, on your lawn, keep these fall harvest tips in mind:
| Save your apples from fruit-eating birds by tying strips of aluminum foil to branches bearing apples. |
| Remove any bad apples that may have insects or diseases that could, spread to the good apples. |
| Retrieve any apples that fall to the ground. If you get them in time they can be used for cooking. Make them into apple pies, turnovers, cider, etc. |
| Taste, smell and color should guide you when determining the best time to harvest. |
| Keep picked apples in their prime by keeping them cold: Between 32 and 34 degrees is best. |
Fall is a great time for landscape work, with its cooler temperatures, good soil conditions and less competition from weeds, and it is the only time to plant flower bulbs. If you want tulips, irises, crocuses or any of the many flowers that grow from bulbs in next year's garden, you must plant now.
Keep these tips in mind when planting bulbs:
| Decide on blooming arrangement -- do you want them in rows bouquets or scattered throughout your landscape? |
| Plant in a place that gets intermittent sunlight |
| Plant in an area with adequate drainage |
| Add nutrients to the soil |
| Dig holes 5 to 8 inches deep and anywhere from 3 to 12 inches apart (depth and spacing needs vary by type of bulb) |
| Place bulbs in holes with pointed ends up and cover with soil |
| Mark the planting sites (this can be done on the ground itself or on a map of your landscape) |
| Apply plenty of water |
| Wait for spring! |
"… Autumn, nodding o'er the yellow plain, comes jovial on."
-- James Thomson
This information is provided as a public
service by Alan Horticultural Enterprises, a full-service landscape management company.
Although we've been in business 20 years and service over 80 multifamily properties, we
maintain personal, one-on-one relationships with all of our clients to ensure customer
satisfaction. We are an environmentally conscious company, using EPA-approved products to
maintain healthy lawns that are beneficial for humans, pets and wildlife. If we can help
you with your lawn needs or questions, please call us at 630-739-0205.
ALAN HORTICULTURAL ENTERPRISES, INC.