Discover the importance of raking leaves in the fall for a healthy yard and a greener environment. Learn why leaf removal benefits your lawn, enhances aesthetics, prevents accidents, protects wildlife, and contributes to responsible yard care.

Fall is almost here and that means cool temperatures, sweaters, leaves changing colors and Thanksgiving.  All in all, fall is the best time of they year, except when it comes to yard work!

For those of you with mature trees in your lawn, you know those leaves are about to fall and that means countless hours of yardwork picking up leaves.

So, what are some of the best ways to efficiently pick up the leaves in your lawn?  Lucky for you, we have years of experience.  Here are some of the tricks we have learned over the years.

Start Mulching/Bagging Early

For most of us in Minnesota, we stop mowing our lawns mid to late October.  However, there are still leaves on the trees that haven’t fallen yet.

In order to avoid an over abundant pile of leaves in your lawn, consider raising the height on your lawn mower to either bag or mulch leaves.  Doing this every other week will help reduce the overall workload of picking up all the leaves at once.

Use A Tarp

If you like doing things the old fashioned way, with a hand rake, rake the leaves onto a tarp.  This makes it easy to drag the leaves around to make a big pile that can later be dumped into a container.  Or better yet, drag the leaves to the curb and hire a company to come suck them up.

Hire A Professional

At Peter Doran Lawn & Landscaping we use our commercial lawn mowers and equip them with a Protero leaf vacuum.  This allows us to make quick work of any yard, no matter how many leaves are on the ground!

Our lawn mowers mulches the leaves and dispenses them into a collection container.  From there, we empty the containers near the curb where our big leaf suction truck comes by and sucks them up.

We can handle any size yard and typically work until the snow falls.  If you are in need of a reliable company to come take care of the leaves in your lawn this fall, contact us and we will get you on the schedule.

Fall is usually the time of year when homeowners start to prepare their lawns and gardens for winter. It can be a busy month for gardeners, as harvests may still be coming in and many additional home maintenance tasks take up precious weekend time.

If you have a grass lawn you also know that there are many tasks that should be done to prepare the lawn for a cooler winter. Follow these tips for successful fall lawn care and maintenance.

1. Rake the leaves

If your seasonal fall brings a lot of fallen leaves, use them to your advantage.

Depending upon how many leaves you get you may simply want to rake them up and put them in a yard waste bin. Or you may want to add them to your compost pile or work them into the soil of your yard for added nutrients.

If you have a lawn mower you can run over the leaves on your lawn, creating tiny leave pieces that can easily be left on the lawn itself as an organic fertilizer.

Just make sure you don’t leave wet, soggy piles of whole leaves on the lawn as it can suffocate growth and contribute to an unhealthy lawn. 

Regularly removing the leaves as they fall is the best way to stay on top of this annual task.

2. Decrease watering

Depending on fall weather, you may need to continue to water your lawn.

Cool season grasses are still growing in the fall and they may not actually need additional irrigation.

3. Aerate and overseed

Cool season lawns should be aerated and overseeded in the fall.

Some experts recommend doing this the same weekend each year, such as Labor Day weekend, as September is an ideal month for this task.

A core aerator removes small “plugs” of grass and soil and helps lawns receive more oxygen, sunlight, seed and fertilization.

After aerating a cool season lawn it’s a great time to overseed the area and add the fall fertilization.

4. Fertilize and feed

Fall is a great month to fertilize a cool season lawn.

Cool season grasses use the fall months to recover from the heat and growth of the summer and may need a good dose of nitrogen.

The exact fertilization requirements should be determined by conducting a soil test to see what nutrients the soil is lacking.

Making sure your lawn has what it needs to stay healthy (and keep weeds at bay) is very important, especially if you desire a nice green lawn next spring and summer.

5. Mow and edge

Cool season grasses are still growing in the fall months but probably won’t require as much mowing or edging as the summer months.

Your cool season lawn may just need mowing once every couple of weeks; never remove more than 1/3 of the grass blade height.

6. Weed and control pests

Cool season grass usually doesn’t require traditional weed or pest control in the fall months.

However, cool season grasses are sometimes susceptible to moss and fall may be a good time of year to apply moss killer.

Fall is here in a big way!  It’s been days since we have seen the sun and the temperatures have dropped like an anvil.  However, I am sure we will still have some nice days before the snow starts to fall, after all we still have a lot of leaves to pick up.

Anyways, if your already looking forward to spring, here are some fall lawn care tips you can do now to have a healthier lawn next spring.

Mow often, removing no more than one third the total height. Leave these short clippings on the lawn. They will quickly break down, adding organic matter, moisture and nutrients to the soil.

And as you mow you can take care of all those fall leaves at the same time. Shred the fall leaves and allow them to remain on the lawn. As long as you can see the leaf blades through the shredded leaves your lawn will be fine. And just like the clippings, they add nutrients and organic matter to the soil.

Fertilize your lawn with a low nitrogen, slow release fertilizer. University research has shown that fall fertilization is the most beneficial practice for home lawns. Less disease problems and slower weed growth means your lawns – not the weeds and pests – benefit from the nutrients. Fall fertilization also helps lawns recover from the stresses of summer because it encourages deep roots and denser growth that can better compete with weeds and tolerate disease and insects.

Weeds often gain a foothold in the lawn during the stressful summer months. A healthy lawn is the best defense. Even with proper care weeds can bully their way into the lawn. Try digging, root and all, to remove small populations of weeds. Weeding can be a great tension reducer and physical workout.

If this isn’t possible, consider spot treating weeds or problem areas with a broadleaf weedkiller. Whether using traditional or environmentally-friendly products read and follow label directions carefully. All these products are plant killers and can cause damage to other plants if not applied properly.

Fall, when the lawn is actively growing, is the best time to core aerate or dethatch lawns suffering from thatch build up or compacted soil. Thatch is a layer of partially decomposed dead grass plants that prevents water and nutrients from reaching the grass roots. Use a dethatching machine to remove thatch layers greater than one half an inch. Or core aerate the lawn to create openings in the thatch layer and help reduce soil compaction to encourage root growth and allow water and nutrients to infiltrate the soil.

Overseeding your lawn in the fall helps increase thickness and improves the overall health and appearance of the lawn. For best results, overseed directly after aerating.

Begin implementing some of these strategies and soon you’ll be on your way to a healthier, better looking lawn for the coming growing season.

Aeration, a method of punching holes into the lawn to allow moisture, oxygen, and nutrients to penetrate the soil, also helps break up thatch.

Its primary goal is to loosen compacted soil; it’s often needed for lawns grown in clay soils and those subject to heavy foot traffic.

You can do the job more than once a year, if necessary. If you aerate once annually, do it in fall for cool-season grasses.

Why Do We Need To Aerate?

Lawn aeration is a treatment used when the soil in your lawn is compacted. A lawn can become easily compacted if a lot of action goes on in your yard.

Parking cars on your lawn, animals running around, and kids playing on the lawn are just some common ways soil can become compacted.

Compacted soils make it so water and air do not reach the roots of the grass in your lawn, leaving your lawn lacking the nutrients it needs to be healthy.

If you live in an area with clay soils, your soil is more likely to become compacted than areas with sandy soils. The bonds in the clay soil are much closer together, making it difficult for water and air to penetrate to the roots.

How Does Core Aeration Work?

A core aerator machine pulls out plugs of soil in your lawn to leave pockets for air and water to get through and leave room for root growth.

It is important to use core aeration methods because using spikes to just poke holes in the ground could cause further compaction.

The plugs of soil that were taken out by the aerator will break down and give more nutrients to your lawn. 

Once the lawn has been aerated, clear away the plugs, spread a layer of organic matter such as compost or soil conditioner over the lawn, and water it in. The organic matter seeps into the holes left by the plugs, improving the soil’s texture.

Hire A Professional

At Peter Doran Lawn, we have all the tools needed to aerate any size lawn.  Give us a call at (763) 595-1440, send us a chat on the Facebook chat icon in the bottom right corner or request a quote here.