The sun-drenched, long days of summer are slowly beginning to wane, and with them, the temptation to let our lawn care routines slide. We’ve spent months mowing, watering, and battling the heat to keep our turf looking its best. But as the season transitions towards autumn, your lawn is entering one of its most critical periods of the year. The care you provide now will determine not only how well it weathers the coming winter but also how lush and vibrant it will be next spring.

Think of late summer as the home stretch for your lawn’s growing season. It’s a time for recovery, preparation, and setting the stage for future success. While you might be tempted to hang up your gardening gloves and kick back, a little effort now will pay huge dividends. From adjusting your watering schedule to preparing for fall projects, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know to keep your lawn healthy and thriving as summer comes to a close.

Watering Wisely: A Shift in Strategy

As the intense heat of mid-summer gives way to the milder temperatures of late summer and early fall, it’s time to adjust your watering strategy. While your lawn still needs consistent moisture, the cooler weather and shorter days mean you can typically water less frequently. The goal is to provide deep, infrequent soakings that encourage strong root growth.

• Deep and Infrequent is Key: Aim to water your lawn once or twice a week, providing about an inch of water each time. This encourages the roots to grow deeper into the soil in search of moisture, making your lawn more resilient to drought and stress. To determine how long you need to run your sprinklers to apply an inch of water, you can place a few empty tuna cans around your lawn and time how long it takes to fill them.
• Time it Right: The best time to water your lawn is in the early morning, between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. This minimizes water loss due to evaporation and allows the grass blades to dry before nightfall, which helps to prevent fungal diseases.
• Look for Signs of Thirst: Don’t just water on a fixed schedule. Pay attention to your lawn. If you walk across the grass and your footprints remain, it’s a sign that your lawn is thirsty. You can also look for a bluish-gray tint to the grass.

A well-planned watering strategy is the foundation of late-summer lawn care. By following these tips, you can ensure your lawn gets the moisture it needs to thrive without waste.

Fertilizing for Fall: Fueling Future Growth

If you only fertilize your lawn once a year, fall is the time to do it. As the summer heat subsides, cool-season grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass, fescue, and ryegrass, begin to grow vigorously again. A late-summer or early-fall feeding provides the essential nutrients your lawn needs to recover from summer stress and prepare for the winter ahead.

• Choose the Right Fertilizer: Look for a fertilizer that is high in nitrogen and potassium. Nitrogen promotes top growth and a vibrant green color, while potassium helps to improve your lawn’s overall hardiness, disease resistance, and ability to withstand cold temperatures.
• Timing is Everything: For cool-season grasses, the best time to fertilize is between late August and early October. This gives the grass plenty of time to absorb the nutrients before it goes dormant for the winter.
• Read the Label: Always follow the application instructions on the fertilizer bag. Applying too much fertilizer can burn your lawn and harm the environment. A quality spreader will help you to apply the fertilizer evenly and accurately. For a more in-depth look at lawn fertilization and other services, consider the expertise of professionals. For instance, Lawngevity offers a range of services that can help you achieve the lawn of your dreams, taking the guesswork out of fertilization and other complex tasks.

Weed Warfare: Winning the Battle Before Winter

Late summer is an ideal time to tackle pesky perennial weeds like dandelions, clover, and creeping Charlie. These weeds are actively transporting nutrients from their leaves to their roots in preparation for winter, which means they will also readily absorb any herbicide you apply.

• Spot Treat or Broadcast? If you only have a few weeds, spot treating with a liquid herbicide is the most effective approach. For widespread weed problems, a granular “weed and feed” product can be applied with a spreader.
• Read the Label Carefully: Make sure the herbicide you choose is safe for your type of grass and is effective against the specific weeds you are targeting.
• Prevention is the Best Medicine: A thick, healthy lawn is the best defense against weeds. By following good mowing, watering, and fertilizing practices, you can create a dense turf that will naturally crowd out most weeds. For comprehensive information on managing all types of lawn problems, from weeds to pests, the University of Illinois Extension provides a wealth of research-based knowledge that is accessible to homeowners.

The Perfect Cut: Mowing for a Healthy Lawn

As the growing season begins to slow down, you can start to mow less frequently. However, it’s important to continue mowing at the correct height to maintain a healthy and attractive lawn.

• Don’t Mow Too Short: For most cool-season grasses, a mowing height of 2.5 to 3 inches is ideal. Taller grass shades the soil, which helps to conserve moisture and prevent weed seeds from germinating. It also encourages deeper root growth.
• The One-Third Rule: Never remove more than one-third of the grass blade at a single mowing. This can stress the grass and make it more susceptible to pests and diseases.
• Keep Your Blades Sharp: A sharp mower blade makes a clean cut, which helps the grass to heal quickly. A dull blade tears the grass, leaving it with ragged edges that are more prone to disease. A great resource for all things related to lawn equipment is the LawnStarter blog, which has detailed guides on choosing and maintaining the best tools for your yard.

Fall Prep: Aeration and Overseeding for a Lush Lawn

Late summer and early fall are the perfect times to aerate and overseed your lawn. Aeration involves pulling small plugs of soil from your lawn to relieve soil compaction and allow air, water, and nutrients to reach the roots. Overseeding is the process of spreading new grass seed over your existing lawn to fill in bare spots and create a thicker, more resilient turf.

• Why Aerate? Over time, the soil in your lawn can become compacted from foot traffic, mowing, and other activities. Compaction restricts the flow of air, water, and nutrients to the roots, which can lead to a thin, unhealthy lawn. Aeration is the single best thing you can do to improve the health of your soil and the vigor of your grass.
• When to Aerate: The best time to aerate cool-season grasses is in the late summer or early fall when the grass is actively growing. This allows the lawn to recover quickly and take full advantage of the improved growing conditions.
• Why Overseed? Overseeding is a great way to introduce new and improved grass varieties to your lawn, thicken up thin areas, and improve your lawn’s overall color and texture.
• The Perfect Combination: Aerating before you overseed provides the perfect seedbed for the new grass seed. The holes created by the aerator provide a protected environment for the seeds to germinate and establish roots.

Gearing Up for Fall Projects

As the summer season winds down, it’s a great time to start planning your fall landscaping projects. Whether you’re thinking about adding a new flower bed with decorative rock, planting trees and shrubs, or building a new paver patio, late summer is the perfect time to start gathering ideas and materials. For those in Utah, a local supplier like Granite Landscape Center is an invaluable resource, offering everything from pavers and retaining walls to topsoil, mulch, and a wide variety of decorative rocks to bring your vision to life.

By taking the time to care for your lawn in late summer, you’ll be rewarded with a beautiful, healthy turf that will be the envy of the neighborhood next spring. So don’t put away those gardening tools just yet – your lawn will thank you for it!