A lawn is a universal solution for a suburban area, as it can be planted once and will be enjoyed for several years. For a lawn to be beautiful, it needs to be looked after all year round: watered, trimmed and fed. In the fall, you need to take care of preparing for winter.
Watering
If the autumn turns out to be dry, you need to moisten the lawn regularly. If there is no rain, this should be done every week or more often. As in summer, it is better to use the sprinkling method. The soil should not be over-moistened, otherwise it will lead to the appearance of fungus.
At the beginning of October, watering should be stopped completely to maintain optimal water balance. Then the root system will not be afraid of frost.
A haircut
In September, they continue to mow the lawn in the same way as in the summer. The last haircut should be done 2 weeks before frost. During this time, the grass will grow by 6 cm, so it is more resistant to frost.
If you do the last cutting later, the short grass will freeze. And if you don’t mow the lawn in the fall, the long grass in the area will wither and bald spots will appear.
Top dressing
Regular mowing causes lawn grass to consume more nutrients. In order for the lawn to be pleasing to the eye next year, you need to apply fertilizer in the fall.
Nitrogen fertilizers should be removed, as they promote the growth of the above-ground parts of plants. In autumn, potassium and phosphorus fertilizing is relevant. You can use ready-made mixtures to prepare your lawn for winter.A good alternative to store-bought mixtures is ash. In addition to phosphorus and potassium, it contains essential microelements.
Every couple of years it is recommended to apply organic fertilizers - compost or humus. They must first be crushed and sifted through a sieve.
Aeration
Supplying roots with air is one of the important conditions for a lush green lawn. Gardeners constantly loosen vegetable beds, but this cannot be done with a lawn. To provide lawn grass with air, another technique was invented - piercing the soil to a shallow depth or aeration.
If you aerate in the fall, the root system will be strong and the grass will be protected from freezing in winter. During autumn rainfalls, aeration prevents water from stagnating in the soil.
The lawn can be saturated with air using various devices:
- garden forks;
- aerator sandals;
- mechanical aerator.
In a small area you can get by with views or sandals. For a large area, you will need a mechanical device that runs on a battery or an electrical network.
If only forks are available, they need to be buried half the length of the teeth and thus process the entire area. Aerator sandals do this job with virtually no human intervention: you just need to walk across the entire area in them, and the spikes on the sole will make all the holes.
Mechanical devices quickly cope with large areas. They improve air and water permeability of the soil.
Aeration is carried out after rain on wet soil. After it, you can’t walk on the lawn for a couple of days, so as not to compact the holes made.
Autumn lawn care is not difficult. Fertilizing and aerating will take some time, depending on the area and the availability of the necessary equipment, but it will pay off next spring when a lush green lawn grows.
