Mark my words [and pardon the pun]: this is the best time of year to pay attention to your lawn. Why? It has come back to life after a long, hot summer. 

Grass is a ‘cool crop’ -- in other words it thrives on cool temperatures, short days, lots of sunshine and heavy morning dew.  Hmmmm -- sound like your yard when you wake up each morning these days? 

To minimize weeds AND enjoy a thick, green, healthy lawn, here is what I recommend that you do:

  1. Cut your lawn at 6 to 8 cm.  do this all season long [sorry if you have heard me say this before] but the benefits are greatest this time of year.  Your lawn      will grow stronger, thicker and as a result will compete weeds out of existence better. 
  2. Use a mulching mower – return the nitrogen-rich goodness of grass cuttings to your lawn by way of the cuttings that you mulch down to the root zone.
  3. Fertilize with an Iron Based fertilizer.  Don’t be in a hurry to apply a ‘winterizer’ fertilizer – you will do that in late October or November.  Slow release nitrogen is the other key ingredient to a great looking lawn.
  4. Bald patches? Heavy weeds in some areas? Rake a 3 to 5 cm. layer of Lawn Soil or triple mix over the area and broadcast fresh grass seed over the area, rake it smooth, step on it to make firm contact between the soil and seed and water it.  It will germinate in 7 days or so.  Do not skimp on the quality of the seed as the pedigree of your lawn is in the bag. 
  5. Dig out weeds.  This is always a good idea but moreso now as you thicken your lawn with my recipe above.

Remember to apply Winterizer lawn food in late October/early November. 

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