Getting rid of autumn leaves is only one important component of the year long lawn care schedule.

In many areas of the world it is now time to tend to the fall lawn care. In order to have really flourishing grass growing in your yard, the lawn care schedule really is a year around affair.

The schedule of yard care is pretty much well accepted for the spring and summer months with a continuous routine of mowing, fertilizing and weed control. When fall comes along you must think about post emergent, and other fall lawn care techniques such as raking leaves, to prepare the yard for the winter and to cut back on the feasibility of weeds taking root in the milder fall weeks. By continuing to have a plan for care and upkeep of your yard month after month, you cut down on the work of lawn care when things get active again next year. And in doing so your lawn stays healthier and more plentiful year round.

It isn’t tough to start to plan for how you may take care of your lawn as the growing season comes along. As the grass starts to become green in the spring and you begin to see things to be done like attend to weeds, the need to get out there weekends and look after it is something that you and all your neighbors experience. The truth is, however, that the only way to do a fairly good job of caring for your lawn is to have a schedule that goes year round and to attend to the requirements of your living yard in every season of the year.

Of course as you may expect the winter months are going to be less active where what you do for your yard does not call for you to be out there cutting and fertilizing it each weekend. That is why the winter months are good times to get the upkeep done to your lawn mower and to make preparations for the more active months in the spring. It’s also a fun time to inspect the yard to determine if there are places where you’ll be seeding or working to help the grass fill in when the grass comes to life in the spring.

Depending on your climate in the deep winter, your principal objective might be just to stand by for spring and to try to minimize the damage from freezing. That suggests trying to keep from walking, driving or using various tools on a cold yard to cut back on braking the grass stalks before they can regenerate in the spring. If your climate is milder or if you have those occasional “Indian summers”, it is usually good to include a maintenance mow in your fall lawn care schedule in order to clean up the fallen leaves and to open up the yard for further growth in the spring. You may also “aureate” the soil by walking the yard down with peaked shoes on in the late fall or days when the weather is milder. This permits oxygen to get down into the soil which inspires irrigation and growth year round.

Late winter and early spring then is the time to get out before the other things you do not want in your yard. So starting early with a good pre-emergent weed killer with some early spring manure gives your yard an early lead on coming in full with less interference from weeds. This is also an excellent time to get out there with the rake to get up any remaining leaves and other debris from the fall and winter. The raking can also stimulate the soil which encourages growth.

If you set up a schedule along the lines mentioned above, the grass will always be greener on your side – quite literally.

Photo credit: future15pic