Okay folks!  No more talking about lawn renovation.  It's time to do it.  September is the best 30 days of the year for planting cool season grasses such as Tall Fescue, Bluegrass, Perennial Ryegrass, and so forth.  The soil temperature is high and the heat of the summer is leaving.  Nature puts down its grass seed in the fall as well.  I'm going to touch on timing for seeding, fertilization, and aeration.

    The higher soil temperatures of fall will cause the seed to germinate quickly.  Once germinated, the roots will grow throughout the fall and into the winter as long as the ground is not frozen.  When the ground does thaw, the roots resume their growth.  In early March the grass greens up and resumes its growth.  By the end of May you have a established grass plants which are as ready as possible for the onslaught of hot, dry, ugly, mean, nasty, summer weather in Fredericksburg.  Summer for people in Fredericksburg is really quite nice, but if you're a grass plant then it's rough!

    Conversely, grass seed planted in the spring will not germinate until the soil is 60 degrees in the case of tall fescue.  The ground is cold and will not warm up until warm nights arrive.  Seed put down in early March may not germinate until mid April.  This gives you 30 or 40 days of root establishment before the hot, humid, and dry weather arrives.  In addition to a light root sytem,  the foliage is flush and tender.  Diseases are always present and they thrive with elevations of temperature (hot), moisture (humid), and stress (dry).
Disease spores actually penetrate the exterior cell wall of the grass plant and move inside the plant.  The flush, thin cell wall of the spring seedling is much more susceptible to disease than the older, tough fall seedling with the thick, waxy cell wall.  Pythium disease often destroys spring seedlings.  The only time I recommend spring seeding is when you have bare round, with the understanding that you may have to repeat the seeding in the fall.  Bare ground will allow some bad weeds to form without competition from turfgrass.

    Fertilizer with a high nitrogen content should be applied when the grass is entering a growth mode, i.e., September.  Repeat your fertilization in November so the plants can store the food away for early March, the next natural growth period.  Little or no fertilization is recommended in the spring because it promotes the flush of tender growth, thus diseases .  No "high nitrogen" fertilizer should be used in the summer, a natural resting period during periods of stress.  I recommend you follow our fertilization schedule found in the FYI Brochures section of our Web site.

    If you have lots of shade, then you have lots of trees.  Try to put your seed down by the end of August so that it has time to establish prior to heavy leaf fall.  If you wait too late, you will either pull the new seedlings out with the leaf rake or the heavy layer of unraked leaves will mat down the new grass.  Creeping Red Fescue works well in dense shade, but does not perform in the sun.  Creeping Red is a light feeder and does not want the late November feedings.  This feeding can actually damage Creeping Red Fescue.

    Fall is also an excellent time to aerate the soil.  By mechanically loosing the soil, you return needed air into the soil, provide a better environment in which existing and new roots can grow and you improve the "seed to soil" contact essential for seeding success.  Come down and see us for all of your turf needs.  We have the largest line of turf products in our area by far. If you can't get by, visit and shop with us on the Web, and e-mail your questions to us for answers.