Fall is right around the corner, which means it is time to start to thinking about your lawn. To ensure a healthy turf come spring, fall lawn care is critical and needs to begin now!

First, bring us a sample of your soil for free testing to see what it needs. In our area, odds are you will need lime which adds calcium and magnesium to the soil and adjusts acidity to a level that stimulates growth.

Fall is the time to de-thatch and core-aerate your lawn. Thatch is the layer of dead grass, roots, and debris that accumulates between the soil surface and the grass blades above. Core-aerating removes plugs of soil from ground which has been baked to a hard crust during the summer. You can de-thatch manually with vigorous raking, but renting a dethatcher machine makes quick work out of this tough and tedious job. The same goes for aerating. Both of these processes loosen soil and allow water and nutrients to penetrate to the roots of your existing grass. By the way, if you have more than a half-inch of thatch on top of the soil, chances are that you are using too much fertilizer or fertilizing too often.