Fall Projects - Lawn Health

Fall is a great time to improve the health of your lawn. Among the various projects that a home owner can do, or hire a professional to do, are dethatching, over-seeding, fertilizing and weed prevention.

Right now, I am going to recommend dethatching, a simple way to improve the health of your lawn. For those of you who mulch your leaves and grass clippings into your lawn, this is an important step in the care of your lawn. Mulching clippings is a great way to insulate your grass from excessive heat and cold as well as drought that can strain the lawn and open it up to disease and insect damage. Insects love to live in that thatch buildup. Even if you don't use a mulching system on your mower, you should take a look at your lawn to see if build up is occurring. Cut out a small plug of sod in several areas of your lawn. Pull them up a look to see if there is more than half an inch of clippings built up above the soil line. If there is, it is probably time to dethatch. However, years of mulching can create buildup of thatch, which keeps water from penetrating easily. Additionally, for those of you who use insecticides and fertilizers, thatch build up can decrease their effectiveness by blocking the pathway to the root zone. When water, that can not drain properly, comes in contact with these chemicals, runoff occurs. Unnecessary runoff. If you have had trouble with ineffective fertilizer and insecticide applications, this may be your problem.

The goal of dethatching is to remove the thatch which prevents proper water and chemical penetration. Dethatching machines can be rented at most equipment rental stores. I just dethatched several acres of lawn for a client in Grand Rapids. The machine cost $90.00 for a 24 hour rental. I completed the dethatching in about six hours. Not your typical yard. Using a rake, gas powered blower, and a zero turn lawn mower, I removed approximately fifteen yards of old thatch from the lawn. That's seven and a half mounded pickup trucks full. It took me twelve hours to accomplish this.

Most of you won't have such a large project on your hands. One to two hours (maybe) using the dethatcher and another hour of raking would probably do the trick. Rent the machine for under $50.00. Operation of the dethatcher is simple. If you can mow, you can dethatch. For those of you who have a tiny yard, or don't want to spend the money, but have the time, inclination, and strength to do it, you can buy a dethatching rake to do this project.

Once you have finished dethatching your lawn, including raking up the clippings and composting or otherwise disposing of the product, you can move on to overseeding, fertilizing and weed control. Tenacity, one of the newest weed control products out there, can be applied at the same time you are overseeding/seeding and still effectively control post- and pre-emergent weeds according to Syngenta. Check it out: http://www.greencastonline.com/TenacityHerbicide/index.aspx. I'll be testing that product claim this fall and next spring to let you know how it works out.

Michigan: Fall Gardens

Fall is in full swing and quickly moving toward winter. I thought now would be a good time to get out and view some local gardens and show everyone some ways of keeping the garden interesting even during these days of dormancy. So, over the next few weeks, I will be posting pictures with descriptions and explanations of the various ideas behind the use of the feature shown. Hopefully, you will get some ideas on how to make your landscape and gardens shine in the coming months.

Among the ideas I will try to touch on, is the use of structural plants like the variegated grass to the right. Even through winter, this grass can add interest. When other plants have died back and withered away, strong ornamental grasses can hold their shape and give the garden some height. In addition, the swaying and swishing of the grass as the wind blows through it can be mesmerizing and calming in the middle of a bleak winter. Look at the way the light filters through the blades. Beautiful.

Hint: Sometimes large grasses can become unruly. If needed, you can always use tan twine to help keep the grasses from collapsing under the weight of excessive snow/rain or wildly whipping winds.