6 Fall Lawn Care Tips for a Healthy Yard

When fall comes, you may think that the time has passed to take care of your yard. Your grass goes dormant for the winter after all, right? But, actually, fall lawn care is vital to a healthy yard the following year.

It might sound counterintuitive, but the steps you take this fall will impact how well your grass comes back next spring. Autumn’s conditions create a perfect environment for grassroots to take hold and develop. The moisture combined with the cool weather make for better conditions than the dry summer heat.

By taking advantage of this growing window, you can help your lawn come back stronger and more vibrant than last year. Our team at Robot Lawn Mower Reviews have come up with some fantastic tips for you to use on your lawn this fall. Checkout six great lawn care steps you can take for a beautiful lawn.

How to Take Care of Your Lawn in the Fall

1. Keep Mowing Your Lawn

Your grass doesn’t stop growing until it frosts over in the winter. That means you should continue cutting it until it’s done growing for the year. Whether you’re using a push mower, tractor, or robot lawn mower, you’ll want to keep your regular mowing schedule up until the end of the season. 

It’s tempting to not worry about grass height later in the season, but it’s important not to let it get too long. The longer it gets, the more susceptible to fungi your grass becomes. Conversely, not cutting your lawn too short is just as important as short grass will hinder its root growth potential. Aim to cut your lawn to between 2 and 3 inches in length.

An added benefit of mowing your lawn into the end of autumn is it chops up extra leaves that get hard to keep up with as the season continues. That brings us to our next tip.

2. Get Rid of Leaves

As the fall season progresses, more and more leaves come down. While it may look nice having a colorful layer of leaves covering up your lawn, these leaves block sunlight from getting through, hindering growth. Leaving this blanket over your lawn creates a moisture trap that is ideal for mold and fungi growth.

Leaf blowers and vacuums do a great job of easily removing leaves from your yard. Mixing in raking is good for your yard, too, as it removes thatch that has built up over the year. Removing this layer of stems and growth allows water and nutrients to better reach your grass’ roots. 

Consistently removing leaves and raking will allow for a better flow of water, sunlight, and nutrients to reach your lawn’s root system. Stay on top of this as the leaves continue to fall to help your yard stay healthy into the winter.

3. Keep Watering When Needed

It’s easy to neglect your yard. Taking steps to take work off your plate can help. Utilizing sprinkler systems and versatile robot mowers can be a huge help.

One big mistake many homeowners make is they stop watering once fall hits. They figure there’s enough extra moisture and rainfall to keep their grass healthy. But, this isn’t always true. Using a simple tool like a rainfall gauge will help you keep tabs on how much water your lawn is getting. 

If you see your lawn isn’t getting at least 1 inch of rain per week, you should continue watering it. Once the end of October comes, it’ll be time to disconnect your hoses and clear your irrigation system to ensure proper winterizing. 

4. Aeration

Over the course of a summer, your lawn experiences a lot of stress from heat, sunlight, and the elements, causing the soil to compact. These two problems cause many of the issues you’ll see with discoloration and grass thinning. Aeration helps this by loosening up the soil in your yard and creating new channels for water and nutrients to get in.

An aerator punches holes in your grass and pulls up plugs of soil. Depending on the type of lawn you have, you should plan to have your yard aerated every 1-2 years. This process will help your lawn come back luscious and healthy next season. Aeration is ideal to do just before fertilizing.

5. Apply Fertilizer

Fertilizing in the fall will help your grass come back healthier in the spring. You’ll pack your lawn full of nutrients it needs throughout the winter. Fall is the single best time to fertilize for this reason. Applying nutrient-rich fertilizer soon after aeration is a winning combination that will help your yard thrive in the spring.

6. Seed Your Lawn 

Parts of your lawn may have died throughout the summer. Reseeding areas that need help is a good idea. Doing so in the fall will help it get its roots so that it comes back strong next year.