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In Calgary, the beautiful fall colours remind us that winter is soon to come. While your lawn will survive the winter and come back in the spring, here are some tips for "winterizing" your lawn so it will come back quicker in the spring!
It is recommended to give your lawn a fertilizer feeding in the fall after aerating, and of course, following the final cut for the season. When picking a fertilizer for the fall application, be sure to pick one which is listed as a "fall" fertilizer - it will usually be lower in nitrogen content as this is the time when your lawn will go dormant for the winter season. The fertilizer will help it store nutrients over the winter months. Aerating is not a necessary step, however, it will help your lawn get more oxygen, water, and nutrients into the roots and will also aid against compaction. It is recommended not to aerate in the transition from summer to fall, but to aerate once the fall season is in full swing (*note: Do not aerate during the winter months).
Dog Spots are brown or often yellow patches that occur on your lawn from spots where a dog has urinated. Even with perfectly healthy lawn, the nitrogen content in dog's urine is so high that it has the same effect as fertilizer burn (too much fertilizer application in one spot).
Ideally, if you are the type of person who goes outside with your dog, keep a watering container nearby so you can dilute the spot where your dog has urinated. If your dog is let outside on their own and you are trying to treat patches which have already developed, put a small amount of grass seed mixed with sand and lightly cover the area affected. Before applying this, use something with a point to aerate the ground to allow the seed to work in and to allow more oxygen to get to the root base of the grass. (*If you are worried about initial appearances of the spots, it is possible to purchase a special sand that is green in colour for this type of application).
Have you ever caught yourself driving through a neighbourhood, seeing a beautiful lush green lawn, and wishing you had the same? Or perhaps you are out golfing and are just simply amazed at the rich green turf on the course. In these two completely different locations, how is such great looking grass achieved? In the following section, I hope to provide you with some useful and insightful tips on creating and maintaining a beautiful lawn from tricks of the trade which I've gained in both the golf course/turf industry and from residential installations and maintenance.
For those looking to have an "instant" lawn, laying new sod is the way to go. Although it is the slightly more expensive option, the result is an instant high quality lawn that will only take a few weeks until it looks as though it has always been there. Sod grown on sod farms is meticulously maintained and the quality of turf you will receive from most sod farms is very high. Before laying sod, prep with a screened loam or garden mix soil should be done to give the new sod fresh soil to establish roots into. Also, it is a good idea to use a starter fertilizer before laying sod (though this isn't absolutely necessary).
Top dressing/over-seeding an exisiting lawn is a good option for those with a smaller area needing attention or those on a tight budget. If you have an area of your lawn which is nutrient deficient (usually shown by thin blades of grass and/or s thin, patchy section of lawn), laying soil on top of existing lawn with grass seed can be a good way to fill in a lawn without completely re-sodding.
When most people see their lawn turning slightly brown, the first thought is to increase watering frequency and amount each time. Sometimes this can be the case, however, grass, like other plants, needs "food" in the form of fertilizer and most homeowners do not fertilize their lawn enough. Using a fertilizer higher in nitrogen will help to, in coordination with regular watering, achieve a greener lawn with thicker blades of grass. A minimum fertilizer routine should include spring, mid-summer, and fall application. (Note: do note over fertilize because your lawn will become dependent on fertilizer and will not survive as well without it)