How to Prepare Cool-Season Grass for Fall
Last updated September 7, 2023
If you live in the northern half of the country, your yard is ideal for cool-season grass, such as rye grass or fescue.
The biggest to-do on your fall lawn checklist should be to aerate and overseed your lawn to promote beautifully lush grass come springtime. Aerating simply creates holes in your soil to allow air and nutrients beneath the surface and into your grass roots. After aeration, overseed and then fertilize for a lush lawn next year.
Table of Contents
Aerate
Overseed
Fertilize
Aerate
There are numerous aerating options on the market, but the best is a core aerator, which actually removes plugs of soil from your lawn. You can rent a core aerator from The Home Depot for the day, or longer.
Make sure you thoroughly aerate your lawn by going over it once, then going over it again at a 90 degree angle from your original approach so that your entire lawn is crisscrossed.
Once aeration is complete, you can either leave the plugs to naturally break down, or wait a few days until they’ve dried up and pull a strong garden rake over your lawn to crumble the plugs.
Overseed
Now that fresh air is circulating in your lawn, it’s time to overseed. Overseeding with annual rye grass seed or fescue grass seed blend is a simple trick that the golf industry uses to keep courses in top shape. Overseeding means to spread grass seed over an existing lawn.
While this technique is typically used to help diseased or damaged lawns in other regions of the country, in northern zones, it is recommended in order to achieve a lush lawn with grasses like fescue, ryegrass and bluegrass.
While the soil is still warm in the fall, young grass will germinate and have more time to establish roots before cold weather stops growth.
When overseeding, use a spreader to cover your lawn in grass seed, using about half the amount of seed as you would if you were seeding an entirely new lawn.
For example: A rule of thumb for applying a new fescue lawn is six pounds of seed per 1,000 square feet. When overseeding, instead apply three pounds per 1,000 square feet. Carefully follow the manufacturer’s instructions to ensure you correctly apply seed.
Fertilize
Once the new seed is in the ground, go ahead and apply a healthy dose of nitrogen-rich lawn fertilizer. Remember, you will need to fertilize again in the spring; use a product with a lower amount of nitrogen once the weather warms up.
If you have a sodded lawn and there’s a problem area you’d like to address before winter sets in, aerate the problem spot and lay down enough fresh sod to cover it. Water regularly, and fertilize the entire yard so that the growth in your new patches will blend in evenly with the rest of your lawn.
Whether you need the right seed, soil or garden tools, The Home Depot delivers online orders when and where you need them.
