Your Essential Guide To October’s Lawn Care Tasks
This is what we’ve all waited all year for: the sensory explosion of October. The month where temperatures turn a little crisp, the leaves turn a pinch-yourself hue of oranges, golds and yellows, the air is scented with the unmistakable aroma of pumpkin-spiced lattes and your wardrobe choices will almost-always involve a cable-knit jumper. But above all, it’s the beginning of the end of this year’s lawn care.
So without further ado, here are the lawn care tasks to tick off by the end of this month (Hint: it will set your lawn up perfectly for the incoming winter season):
Change Up Your Mowing
As the sale of PSLs ramps up, your lawn’s growth will have started to slow down, so make sure you’ve raised your mower deck by at least one notch and then keep it there until next spring’s growing season gets underway again.
It’s also well worth checking what your moss situation is looking like as the cooler, wetter weather is prime time for moss growth. If the answer is “Yepp, there’s a lot of moss in that grass,” head to the shed right now and raise your mower deck up again so that your grass is longer than the moss after each cut. That way you’re giving your grass a better chance to defend itself.
Oh and, with the weather getting wetter, make sure you look after your mower by giving the underside a good hose down after each use. It’s a performance thing.
Fertilise to Winterize
As if we need to explain again why October is such an epic month (changing leaves, cable-knit jumpers and pumpkin-spiced yummies), October is also a great time for a lawn feed. Not only will this get your lawn primed in time for the winter, but it will also protect your turf from the things synonymous with winter, such as the freezing temperatures and annual diseases.
Last Chance To Win The Weed War
Here’s the thing: weed killers aren’t going to do much at this time of the year. It doesn’t matter whether they’re chemical weed killers, homemade solutions or anything else, they tend to have very limited effect toward the end of this month, so if you’ve seen some weeds that need removing, either get on with it straight away or dust off your gloves and remove them by hand.
Autumnal Aeration is a Must
In the same way now is the perfect time to buy a Halloween costume, now is also the ideal time to hollow tine your lawn. Yepp, we’re talking about some good old fashioned aeration, just using a modern piece of equipment.
Doing this will drastically improve your lawn’s drainage right before the wet weather arrives, as well as allow more air, nutrients and rain to get down to the deeper parts of your root system, creating a healthy plant that will thrive throughout winter.
Sure, you can opt for a different form of aeration, but nothing comes close to the performance of a fracture tine aerator, which you can either hire from your local machine hire shop or have our team of lawn technicians come and do for you. The choice is yours.
Collect Those Leaves
The secret to great autumn lawn care is damage limitation. It’s about preparing your lawn for the harshest months in terms of conditions, which is why it’s so essential to collect up any fallen leaves each week. Not only will this help improve your lawn’s health, but it will also reduce the build up of moss and thatch, prevent diseases from spreading so easily and reduce worm activity. Of course, you don’t have to collect them, you could use a mulching mower and mulch them back into the lawn to give your grass an extra dose of nutrients before winter really sets in.
Stop Those Lawn Diseases
Every season throws up its own particular lawn diseases, and October is no different with rust and fusarium being pretty prevalent at this time of year. The problem is, they can go unnoticed unless you know exactly what you’re looking for.
As for fusarium, this disease tends to highlight the fact your lawn has underlying health issues, whether they be a thick layer of thatch, poor air circulation, post-summer compaction or simply struggling with the increase in wet weather. Basically, instead of focussing on the fusarium itself, you’re much better off trying to uncover the possible causes so that you can resolve the problem moving forward.
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