Realistically, when the fall season begins, we can retire from our yard and garden chores anytime we choose. There are very few things that need to be done to prepare the yard, garden or plants for the winter. Most of what you do in the garden in the fall involves transitioning and preparing for next spring.
In my opinion, the most beneficial chore you can perform in the fall is to fertilize your lawn one more time. Fall is the best time of the year to feed the lawn. Ideally, you should feed in September and then again in November.
It’s time to get your hands dirty:It’s time to get your hands dirty. Get ready for fall planting season
If you did not feed you lawn in September, or if you have not fertilized this year, or ever, November would be a great time to start. When you fertilize in November, more of the fertilizer gets to the grass than any other time of the year.
Grass and other plants know they need to be well supplied with food for the winter. As plants head into the dormant season, they increase the rate which they take in nutrients from the soil. It’s part of nature’s engineering and enables plants to survive the winter.
Applying fertilizer to the lawn in November will serve multiple purposes. It provides extra nutrients to strengthen the grass for winter, and it will keep the grass green through the winter. Then in the spring, the stored nutrients and energy will enable the grass to start anew with strong growth.
For this feeding, you’ll want to use a fertilizer that provides one pound of nitrogen for every 1000 square feet you are fertilizing. There is a formula to figure this out, but math doesn’t fit in my writing. Hopefully you can ask when you are buying. To be sure you are getting the needed amount, you can use Fertilome’s Lawn Food with Iron. This will give you the recommended amount of nitrogen.
We sometimes say that if you are only going to feed your lawn once a season, November would be the time to do it. I am an advocate of a three-step fertilizer program. The November feeding is one of the three steps. You may notice that I did not say it was the “last step.” This is because with the Three-Step program you can start with any of the applications.
If you want to continue, your next application would be in March. Here you will be applying another Fertilome product called All Season Weed Preventer with Fertilizer. This is pre-emergent weed control combined with a light amount of fertilizer. The fertilizer is light because you are still gaining the benefit of the November feeding,
The advantage of this product is the weed control. This product contains a pre-emergent herbicide that lasts for up to six months. Most other similar products only work for 60-90 days. This product will keep weed seeds like crabgrass from growing in the spring. Then it will continue to work through the summer keeping new seeds landing in the lawn from growing.
The third application is a duplicate application of the Fertilome Lawn Food with Iron and is applied in September. This application helps the lawn recover and bounce back after the summer.
At this time, you might be thinking ahead to the holidays. You may have mentally put the lawn to bed for the winter. Before you physically let it go to bed, it’s a great time to give it a late, bedtime feeding. The lawn will sleep better through the winter. Then it will wake up in the spring ready to grow.