Cooler Weather Offers Relief For Lawns

After and intense summer of heat and drought, the cooler weather will offer some relief for lawns and gardens.

It's been a challenging, tiring and just plain frustrating year to try to maintain lawns and yards.  So what do we do now?  This upcoming cooler weather will help you assess the damage.

"Some of these areas are still dormant, so some of these cooler temperatures are going to help, they will look better on their own in just a week or so," Paul De Jong with Landscape Garden Centers said.

De Jong says one big problem this year, the ground has become more compact, not allowing air and water to enter the soil. Core aeration is highly recommended to help problem areas.  But putting seed down now is more of a challenge.

"So really now with the water restrictions it's kind of a toss up as to what to do for seeding,” De Jong said.

One idea to try this fall is to wait until mid to late October for a dormant seed planting.  If we get some snow cover, it will be ready to grow this spring.

The summer's been stressful on trees too.  Many have already lost some leaves, but De Jong says that too can be tied to the unusually warm start to the growing season.

“We've been running about a month ahead of schedule and with that warm weather some, especially newly planted trees may have lost their foliage, but you can check the old thumb nail trick to see if that branch is still pliable where next year's buds seem to be and if it's green and usually that turns out to be the case,” De Jong said.

Getting the yard into the best shape possible before the winter cold arrives is the key to a nice green lawn next spring.