Fall Lawn Renovation: Core Aeration, Overseeding, and Top Dressing
Summer heat and dry weather are harsh on lawns. They cause brown foliage, bare spots, and weed growth. Don’t worry—fall is the perfect season for renovation. Get the lawn looking good before the winter season arrives.
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You don’t have to water the lawn year-round. In some regions, like the Pacific Northwest, you may let the lawn go dormant during the summer. This requires less water and maintenance, and it follows the natural patterns of plant life.
Grasses sprout in spring, they flower and produce seeds, and then they die back. Lawns keep grasses growing by preventing them from seeding and by giving them irrigation year-round. Keeping the lawn green requires more water and maintenance, but it does prevent weeds from growing.
If you let the lawn go dormant and it now has bare spots or it’s full of weeds, there are easy ways to renovate the space for fresh new growth. To complete your fall lawn renovation, start by resetting the lawn, then practice overseeding and top dressing to promote rapid germination and regrowth.
EcoEase Microclover and Fescue Mix
EcoEase Microclover and Fescue Mix Seed Shaker
Reset the Lawn
The first step in fall lawn renovation is removing dead fluff, weeds, and uneven dirt patches. By preparing the space, you’ll create the perfect conditions for new seeds or sod to fill empty spaces with lush growth. Preparation is crucial for proper fall lawn renovation.
Pull Weeds
Weeds, like dandelions and catsears, survive with much less irrigation than grasses need. They’ll germinate during the summer and fill dormant lawns with yellow flowers and hairy leaves. You may choose to leave the weeds and mow over them, or remove them and replace them with grass seeds.
To make weed removal easier, irrigate the lawn well the day before. Make the dirt soft and moist, and the weeds’ roots will easily come out of the ground. Put on your gloves and pull the weeds, or use a tool like the CobraHead weeder.
Some lawn owners may be tempted to use broad-spectrum herbicides, like glyphosate, to kill the weeds during fall lawn renovation. These herbicides kill plants indiscriminately, and they’ll kill your dormant grass. Also, avoid weed and feed products, as they tend to overfertilize the space. They may cause toxic runoff that spreads into gutters and waterways.
Mow
After removing the weeds or leaving them be, it’s time to mow! Mowing lowers the height of the lawn so you can renovate the space properly. How high to mow depends on how high the grass is currently and how high you’d like it to be.
Two inches is a good height. However, you don’t want to cut too low for the first mow during fall lawn renovation. Remove no more than a third of the grasses’ total height. If the lawn is currently at five inches tall, mow it to three or four inches, wait a week, then mow it to two inches tall.
Though two inches is an optimal height, you may mow the lawn higher than that. High lawns are more resistant to drought stress, and they require less fertilizer and maintenance than low ones.
Dethatch
Dethatching is an optional step in fall lawn renovation. It’s most helpful on sites with excess debris and dead plant matter below the green grass blades. Dethatching removes the debris so that the remaining grasses have space to breathe and spread. It also helps seeds sprout by putting them in contact with soil, not dead plant matter.
On small lawns, use a fine-toothed rake to remove the thatch. Run it over the site three or more times, and throw the removed thatch in your compost or use it as mulch. On large lawns, a dethatching tool may be the best option.
Dethatchers are automatic or manually powered. Some are handheld, and others are rideable, like the giant mowers for acreages. If you don’t want to purchase a giant machine for your big lawn, try renting one from a local home improvement store.
Use Core Aeration
After dethatching, core aeration is the next step in fall lawn renovation. Aerating the site allows for more air and moisture to reach the grasses’ roots. With consistent aeration, a lawn will be drought-tolerant and better able to handle harsh weather.
So, what is core aeration? It’s a process that removes cores, or plugs of soil, from the lawn. Each plug leaves a space near the roots where moisture and air readily infiltrate.
As with dethatching, there are automatic and manually powered core aerating machines that make the job an easy one. Run a machine over the site, or use a handheld aerator. Handheld aerators require you to stab them in the ground and pick them out repeatedly over the site.
Plant Seeds
After renovating the lawn, it’s time for overseeding! Planting seeds or sod will ensure bare patches fill up with new growth. If you don’t want to wait for seeds to germinate, sod is another good option for fall lawn renovation.
Top Dress with Mulch
Top dressing is a necessary step before overseeding. It ensures there is fertile, rich soil for the new grasses to grow in. It also helps the existing plants grow well, as it feeds them nutrients like nitrogen that they need to thrive.
Compost is a superb mulch for lawns, though you may use whichever organic mulch you prefer. Leaf mold, coco coir, and commercial mulch mixes are good options, too.
For successful top dressing, apply the mulch in a thin, even layer. Add a bit extra to low spots to make them even with the surrounding soil. Spread the mulch by hand, then use a rake to distribute it over the lawn. For large sites, use a mulch spreader to make an efficient application.
Overseed
Overseeding is a great way to fill bare spots with new grass. It’s cheaper than laying sod, and it’s easier to apply to the lawn. Start by finding suitable grass seed. Choose a mix that matches what you already have. Opt for a sun-loving mix in sunny sites, and a shade-loving one in shaded areas.
To overseed, broadcast the seeds with your hands, or use a spreader to distribute them on the soil. Handheld spreaders are perfect for small to medium sites, while drop spreaders are better for large ones with many bare spots.
When overseeding, apply it in multiple directions to ensure an even distribution. Save some seeds for a later application, just in case some of the seeds don’t sprout or the seedlings die early.
After overseeding, top dress with an extra-thin layer of mulch, and tamp it down. Putting the seeds in contact with moist mulch on both sides will help them sprout and prevent them from drying out.
Or, Lay Down Sod
Instead of overseeding, you may lay down sod for an easy approach. Sod is more expensive than seeds, but it’s quicker working for instant green. Generally, laying sod is a quick way to create a new lawn, and it isn’t the top choice for renovating an old one.
To use sod for fall lawn renovation, start by cutting pieces to fit the bare patches in your lawn. Place the cut sod onto the patch, and pin it down with landscape stakes or sticks. Ensure no bare or brown spots remain, and fill any empty patches with tiny pieces of sod.
Irrigate
Next comes irrigation! Lawns need lots of moisture to stay perky, green, and vigorous. Unlike vegetable beds, where overhead watering is undesirable, grass lawns benefit from overhead sprinklers. They’re excellent tools for ensuring even moisture throughout the area.
Have a sprinkler set up over the entire area, or move it as necessary to ensure the whole lawn receives sufficient moisture. If no rain is present, the lawn may need daily irrigation to stay moist in hot areas. Water is all the grasses need to start growing again after summer dormancy.
Aftercare
After all the fall lawn renovation work, it’s time to sit back and enjoy the green lawn. Some aftercare ensures it’ll stay healthy long after the process is over. Watch the site closely, and overseed as necessary to fill in bare soil with lush grass growth.
Mow Again
Wait to mow your renovated lawn until the new seedlings catch up to the existing growth. This typically takes a few weeks, so check the site daily to see. Don’t mow too early, or you’ll rip the tender seedlings from the soil.
As with before, mow no more than a third of the lawn’s total height. Keep it at two inches or taller. A shorter height is great for walking and playing, while a higher height is easier to maintain.
Fertilize
Grass needs lots of nitrogen to thrive. It also uses phosphorus, potassium, and calcium, among other nutrients. Regular fertilizer applications ensure your lawn stays healthy and perky throughout the year.
Before fertilizing, consider taking a soil test to see which nutrients are present or absent in the soil. Then, you’ll know exactly how much fertilizer to add.
Use an organic fertilizer in pellet or granular form, and spread it over the lawn. Use a handheld spreader, or wear gloves and scatter the fertilizer with your hands.
Key Takeaways
- Cool, fall weather is perfect for fall lawn renovation. Use it to your advantage before frosty winter weather arrives.
- Core aeration is optional, but it’s incredibly helpful in creating strong, resilient lawns.
- Before overseeding, top dress the area with mulch.
- Instead of overseeding, you may use sod for quick patching.
