| Greetings!
Fall is a busy time of tending to your landscape. Late August to early September is a great time to reseed. Apply a selective herbicide now to kill perennial weeds, such as creeping charlie, as the perennial weeds are absorbing lots of energy into their roots.
Conditions to plant and transplant are more ideal with moderate temperatures and more rain. However do not fertilize trees, shrubs and perennial flowers now. Fertilizing will encourage new growth which will not be winter hardy. Pruning will also encourage new growth not ready for our Minnesota winter. Wait until the plant is dormant.
But do apply a winter grass fertilizer in late fall. |
| Aerating and Dethatching |
 Early fall is a great time to improve your lawn. Aerating, and if necessary, dethatching your lawn can be done now. Aerating your lawn lessens soil compaction which allows air, water and nutrients to penetrate the soil better. If you have clay soil, it is recommended to aerate twice a year. For sandier soils aerate once a year. Aerate in late summer/early fall and/or late spring/early summer.
Aerate just prior to fertilizing or reseeding. Doing this will help the nutrients and seeds penetrate the soil better. However, don't aerate during times of drought and high heat. Doing this will allow the soil moisture to escape more quickly and removes the layer of thatch that reduces evaporation and insulates the soil from sunlight.
Other tips include watering or dampening your lawn one day prior to aerating to improve spike penetration. Avoid aerating when you're trying to control a weed problem. Aerating may make the problem worse by spreading weed roots or seeds. Don't rake up the plugs, leave them instead.
If you aerate often or keep your grass clippings short, you probably don't have a problem with thatch. Thatch is a built-up layer of grass stems, roots, clippings, and debris that settle on the ground and either slowly decomposes and/or accumulates over time. Thatch accumulates on the surface of the soil just below the grass line.
If you have a thatch layer less than a half inch thick, there is no need to dethatch. If you have more than a half inch, consider dethatching, and if it is more than one inch thick you should dethatch soon. Dethatch during the same timeframe you aerate. |
| What's Blooming? |
 Continue garden color into the fall with Asters. These late summer/fall blooming perennial flowers are a great addition to a plant bed. With over 600 species of asters in the world, you will find variety in height and width, but typically place asters in the middle to back of the bed. There are a number of native Minnesota asters including New England Aster, Aster novae-angliae. One popular New England Aster cultivar is 'Alma Potschke'. This aster made it into Perennial All-Stars The 150 Best Perennials for Great Looking and Trouble Free Gardens. 'Alma Potschke' has bright warm pink flowers. 'Purple Dome' is a shorter selection (up to 24" tall) with purple flowers. Mix asters with foliage plants such as ornamental grasses and artemisias to add pizzazz to these plants. Or plant in mass with other fall-blooming perennials like garden mums, anemones, sunflowers (Heliopsis sp.) and rubeckias. Asters require rich and moist, but well drained soil. Divide plants regularly (every 2-4 years) in the spring to keep the plant's center from dying out. Promote air circulation around the plant to decrease the chance of developing powdery mildew in humid conditions. |
I welcome your feedback on the newsletter. If there are topics you want to learn more about, please email me at nancy.dahl@integra.net.
Sincerely,
Nancy Thorman Dahl, CLP
Cattail Design LLC
Creative Designs for Land and Lakeshore | |
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| Eco-friendly Tip |
Organic fertilizers such as Pro Start 2-3-3 contain plant and animal by-products |
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When you fertilize this fall and next spring consider using an organic fertilizer. All plants need the following nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K). It's just a matter of how they receive these nutrients either through organic or chemical fertilizers. There are probably two main reasons why you may choose an organic fertilizer over a chemical fertilizer.
One reason is manufactured fertilizers are primarily made from petroleum and natural gas. Natural fertilizers are commonly made from animal and plant waste products.
A second reason is chemical fertilizers are full of salt which kill the beneficial microorganisms you want in your lawn. Microorganisms eat organic matter (i.e., grass clippings) and then convert it into the nutrients your lawn and plants can use.
Before you even apply fertilizer to your lawn or plant beds, it would be wise to get a soil test(s) done to determine exactly what your soil is lacking or has too much of and it's pH level. The Soil Testing Laboratory of the University of MN offers a very affordable and user-friendly test.
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