Avoid These Common Fall Lawn Care Mistakes

Even though the temperatures are starting to drop, it’s important not to abandon lawn care in the DFW area yet. To help ensure that your grass has a healthy start in spring, try to avoid these common fall lawn care mistakes:

Leaving Fallen Leaves

With autumn comes a vibrant display of leaves in hues of orange, gold, and red. Once these leaves fall to the ground, you may be tempted to ignore them. However, it’s important to realize that keeping leaves on your grass can set your lawn up for trouble. First, too much leaf cover can suffocate your grass and prevent sufficient oxygen from reaching its roots. Second, the leaves can trap moisture beneath them and prevent sunlight from reaching your lawn, creating a good environment for lawn disease to thrive. To help promote your lawn’s health, clean up fallen leaves or mulch them with your mower.

Watering as Usual

It’s important that you wean off the amount of water you give your lawn once fall arrives. As the weather gets cooler and the days grow shorter, your turf grass will not need as much supplemental water to survive. To help prevent fungal growth and help prepare your lawn for winter, cut back on how much you water it in autumn.

Forgetting to Fertilize

If you have low maintenance grass and only end up fertilizing once per year, then fall is the time to do it. Feeding your lawn in autumn can help it thrive for several reasons. First, it helps ensure that the grass will remain nourished throughout the colder months, and it will also provide the grass with the nutrients that it needs to get off to a good start in spring. Additionally, root growth continues for a time after the grass growth slows in fall. By fertilizing your lawn with an autumn-specific fertilizer as part of your fall lawn care routine, you can feed the roots that are still growing and help your lawn establish a healthy root system.