When autumn heralds the end of the gardening year, there is still a lot to do, for example with the lawn. Because the right one Lawn care in autumn is the best preparation for winter, when lawn care is not completely over.
Last lawn care in autumn
There are some tasks in the annual rhythm of lawn care that are particularly easy to do in autumn or that only arise in autumn:
- If your lawn is very old and pretty matted you could give your lawn a little more aeration as soon as the summer heat is over, e.g. B. by scarifying. Because a completely matted lawn should be scarified more often, but not too forcibly, so that it is stimulated to new growth with each pass. You should now scarify the lawn just so lightly that there are no gaps. Because the more the year progresses, the more the grass growth calms down. If you are now a little late or a little too eager to act, the gaps that have been worked into may no longer be filled. On the contrary, exceptionally frugal plants such as various weeds or mosses could use these gaps to establish themselves. The time up to which you can scarify depends on the weather conditions. Whenever you can reasonably hope that the growing season will last at least two more weeks, you can (cautiously) start.
- In any case, you can with the Fan walking through the lawn. He works differently than that Scarifier not with cutting tools, but one could say that it "combs" the lawn: it is equipped with springs that barely touch the ground. If you roll it across the lawn, it hardly hurts the roots, just lifts felt, moss and dense mulch from the lawn.
- If the Gaps but are already there because your lawn z. B. Has suffered drought in summer, autumn is the right time to overseed. However, this should be done as early as possible, as soon as the summer heat finally seems to be over and rather a little cloudy, damp autumn weather is showing. Then the reseeding can develop so far before winter that the roots move into winter strongly enough. On average, in our climate, reseeding is recommended until around mid-September.
- Otherwise, you should leave the lawn alone in autumn, at least when it comes to weeds. Except for the soil test described below with the possible addition of lime to adjust the pH value you can't do them much harm now. Now if you are creating gaps in the lawn by removing moss or other weeds, it will be a great deal it is more likely that these or other weeds will occupy these gaps by next spring than the lawn grasses they close. Because most weeds are much more hard-wearing than lawn plants. They grow a long time in autumn and are the first to start again in spring. The control of unwanted plants in the lawn does not start again until spring, when the lawn is already showing strong growth, which is usually given after about the second to third mowing.
Targeted autumn fertilization
Between August and October, your lawn will also be given a little nourishment on its way into winter. And with one special autumn fertilizerthat is oriented towards potassium. While the normal lawn fertilizer contains a lot of nitrogen, significantly less phosphorus and about the same amount of potassium as phosphorus, the autumn fertilizer completely dispenses with phosphorus. This is responsible for the formation of flowers and fruits, and the formation of the grass (the formation of the seeds) has already been completed - phosphorus is no longer needed. The ideal autumn fertilizer contains nitrogen and potash in a balanced ratio, for example 20 percent nitrogen and 20 percent potassium.
Such a fertilizer as “winter food” has the advantage that it strengthens the plant cells and the grass on them Way better prepared against frost and drought in winter and against fungal attack, which is common in winter he follows. If your lawn has a lot of moss or other weeds are seen frequently, this is typical Pointer plants are for (too) acidic soil, it is now advisable to adjust the pH value of the soil check. The lawn soil should have a pH between 5.5 and 7.0. If the pH value is well below 5.5, you should lime the lawn. For this purpose, a pH soil test is offered in the garden center. B. is manufactured by the Neudorff company.
The last use of the lawnmower
So long
as it grows, the lawn needs to be mowed. Possibly until deep into winter. Then you can look forward to an exceptionally mild winter weather to compensate for this, because the lawn will only grow for such a long time when it is unusually mild.The lawn should go into winter with its usual length. If it is cut shorter, the frost has an easier time, if it is left longer, twisted grasses could cause damage.
Weeds are allowed to stay now
- If you now get the idea to really take action against the weeds and Your lawn does not think that sending your lawn weed-free into winter is so good Idea. Because it stops growing in winter much sooner than most weeds, these are also in spring usually faster, so you would rather reduce the weed portion of your lawn through an extensive weeding action in autumn raise.
- Weed killer should definitely not be used in autumn; the weeds have already reduced their metabolism a little. So for the herbicidal substances to work, you would have to apply more weed killers, which could then also damage your lawn.
If you prepare your lawn so perfectly, it will surely survive the winter very well and will delight you with fresh green next spring. There is only one thing left to watch out for in winter: if it is unusually dry for a long time, your lawn will need some water even at this time of the year!
Before you go into the horticultural winter break, you should also give your lawnmower a little maintenance. Every lawnmower is happy when it goes into winter well cleaned and lubricated Petrol mower should even be completely serviced: pull out the spark plug connector, change the spark plugs and air filter, even an oil change is not bad for the service life of the engine. If the mower is still full of fuel, you should then add a gasoline stabilizer so that the fuel does not damage the engine and the mower starts willingly in the spring.
