Why We Seed and Aerate in the Fall

Seeding your lawn in the fall might seem counterintuitive with the harshness of winter just around the corner. Actually, fall is the best time to sow the cool-season grasses that tend to do well in our area. As long as there’s germination before a killing frost comes along, the new grass will be established enough to withstand the cold temperatures of winter, and once it breaks dormancy in the spring, your lawn will be a nice and healthy carpet of green. Let the experts take care of aerating and seeding your lawn this fall.

Aeration Helps Seeds Germinate

Fall is also a great time to aerate your lawn, in combination with seeding. Aerating and seeding allows for greater soil-to-seed contact, and that generally reduces germination time, and increases the percentage of seeds that successfully germinate and grow. The aeration also serves to easily allow water and air below the soil surface, and this helps to make the lawn’s root system more viable, and gives the grass the overall health it needs to thrive through the extremes of our climate. This is also a good time to apply lime and plant food to help the plant roots stay healthy through the cold winter months.

Cooler Temperatures Make Fall an Ideal Time to Seed

Because of the hot and dry weather that’s generally part of our late spring into summer climate, new seedings of grass – even with good germination – tend to thin out or die under the blazing sun. Even a rigorous watering program is usually not effective enough to keep a new grass healthy. We like to seed, or overseed, in late August into early September, when the daily high temperatures are usually below eighty, and the lows are somewhere around the mid fifties. This time of year is really the sweet spot for cool season grasses like fescues, bluegrass and rye grasses. The precipitation level tends to go up in the fall as well, adding another positive element to successful lawn seeding.

We, at Custom Lawn and Landscape, take lawn care seriously – give us a call at 913-648-9404 if you’re interested in more information about fall seeding and aeration.