Not all aspects of good property care has a timeline—but lawn care certainly does. For lawns, success starts with back-to-school time—early to mid-September.
Turf grass is not a native plant for us in the Delaware Valley, therefore, we need to adjust our native soil conditions to support a healthy environment for it. But let’s back up a moment to ask why healthy, robust turf grass is desirable. Why do we care about lawn and proper lawn care?
Lawn makes for open space for play—for families and pets. Lawns help prevent erosion on sloped areas. Lawn areas provide a visual resting place, what designers call “negative space” adjacent to the color, variety of plants in plant beds, and architecture of a home. Lawns with less weeds means less weed seeds blowing into plant bed areas, which saves time in maintenance. Well-cared-for lawn points to a well-cared-for property bringing with it high levels of curb appeal.
Whether you care for your own lawn or have professional services, it’s helpful to know what steps make turf successful. These steps must be completed each year to ensure a thriving, robust lawn.
1. pH Test. Turf grass grows best in a soil with a nearly neutral pH. In most of the Delaware Valley, the pH tends to be on the acid, or lower, side of the scale. Conversely, most weeds prefer an acid pH, so when you adjust your lawn pH to suit turf grass, you are creating an environment that weakens weeds while simultaneously strengthening the turf. pH test kits are easy to use to determine the needed adjustment. Then, pelletized lime is applied per package directions based on the test result. With it usually written at a volume per 1000 square feet of lawn area; you’ll need some basic back-to-school math for computing these volumes!
2. Aeration. Roots of all plants need oxygen. Aerating a lawn not only helps break up compaction that impacts plant health but brings oxygen to roots and a pocket for fresh grass seed. Plugs from an aerator are left on the surface and will dissolve into the soil on their own. Generally, a short mow is a good practice ahead of the aeration step.
3. Thatch Removal. About ¼ inch of thatch is desirable for a lawn as it helps provide some moisture retention. Excessive thatch should be removed for new seeds to emerge freely.
4. Over-seeding and Late-season Fertilizing. September is an ideal time for seeding lawn as the temperatures are cooler and more consistently moist. Turf grass is a short-lived plant, so the best way to keep a lawn vigorous is to over-seed annually in the fall when there is little weed pressure from annual weeds. This is done so the grass plant has the whole winter to develop deep roots. You might even consider opening the canopy of some shade trees to allow more light to reach the lawn, always a win for more robust turf!
For seed options, make a selection based on your conditions and needs. Choose a sports turf seed for high-traffic areas, or a variety that will grow in dappled shade if you have a large tree canopy. There are seed varieties bred for adaption to Pennsylvania. Penn State Extension recommends tall fescue blends for our area. That same square foot measurement you took for your pH adjustment will help determine how much seed you will need. And remember to read the seed label; better quality seed brands have more viable seed volumes so quality matters.
After seeding, you will not mow for a month afterwards to allow new grass to grow in and to ensure your new grass is robust before leaves start dropping from trees; you don’t want to be raking leaves while tender grass is still trying to emerge and establish.
Most of the time, we have the cooler nights and more consistent rainfall in September reducing the need for watering the over-seeded lawn, however, if conditions are dry you may need to hydrate the lawn areas.
Late-season fertilizer is different from that which is applied during the growing season in that it has a higher amount of potassium, the mineral that helps support root and plant structure.
5. In March 2027. In March, the important step around mid-month is crab grass and annual weed prevention (most of which also contain fertilizer.) The emphasis is on “prevention.” The goal is to prevent these annual weed seeds from germinating to begin with, rather than wait for them to emerge and then try to deal with them with a post-emergent control. This is why it is not desirable to try to seed lawn in spring; weed seeds are robust competitors to turf seed and will likely out-compete them. Additionally, if you’ve already applied a pre-emergent weed control, you will have to wait about a month before spreading grass seed to have any chance on success, and at this point, the weather begins to get hot quickly, and not a optimum environment for new grass seed.
6. Broad Leaf Weed Control and Summer Fertilizer. Broad leaf weeds are addressed by a post-emergent weed control, best applied late May into early June. Most of these products have fertilizer in them as well.
These lawn care steps must be done every year to help ensure your lawn stays in top form and keep you at the head of the class!
