Gardening - Lawn Maintenance Chores Part V:

In t next in series of articles on n maintenance we're going to continue with chores t should be done around late July or early August.

If you're planning on renovating y n, the end of July or beginning of August is probably y best time. By now the gs should be de-tched aerated. Get a de-tching machine which you can rent for half a day. Y n w look like garbage af you're done but, it w clear off old gs w prickle the soil. Af you do t you can seed, apply topsoil peat moss, then wa y n, a lot. Every day for about a week should do it.

You can continue to re-seed until the third week in September but no la n t unless it is absolutely necessary. There are some n experts t w tell you t you can do t all the way up to just before the win begins. Supposedly if you do t it w sit there over the entire win w help germinate the soil as the weather warms up.

If you are using a seed mix t has a high proportion of blue gs, seeding too late w make it so t germination may not take place until mid October, which is not beneficial to young gs as it would be an easy target for frost k.

In September is the time to give y n its last feeding. If you haven't been doing t up to now, get a slow release fertilizer for t last application. If you're wondering why t is important, imagine w would happen if you didn't winize y car by getting new anti freeze. Most likely you'd end up with a cracked radiator. Gs is no different. If you give y n a little nutritional lift at t time it w st a bet chance of surviving the win t's ahead of it. So even though t last feeding may be costly it w be more n worth it in the long run.

In October, as the weather is getting cooler, you can lower y mower blades. Around October, since the gs isn't going to be growing as much or as quickly, you can lower the blades to about an inch or inch a half. One thing you should be aware of. If y n has a very bumpy surface, dropping the blades may create some bald patches. So when you set the blade height you have to take the surface of the n into consideration. Of cse, if y n is very bumpy, you may want to think about adding some topsoil to it. T w help create a more even surface.

In November, af the leaves have fallen, rake the gs clean up any debris. Do one last mowing before the first frost. T ks two birds with one stone. You get the gs ready for win clean up y n at the same time.