November lawn care tips

From Houston Lawn Care and Landscape Services:

• Use a broadcast spreader to fertilize your lawn with a premium, slow-release 15-5-10 fertilizer to winterize your lawn. This is a non-burning fertilizer that does not require watering but, of course, works best when watered in. Purchase a spreader that has a dispersal guard, to keep granules from going unnecessarily onto streets, sidewalks, driveways, and patios. Be especially careful with the inside of the pool for the iron granules will cause rust marks to appear all over the paint job of the pool’s floor. The pool may need to be drained and repainted in the worst case scenario. After the application, be sure and use a powered blower on all paved areas to prevent oxidation marks from fertilizer granules. These granules can be blown into the lawn or garden areas.
• Use a broadcast spreader to apply a turf fungicide if your lawn appears to be yellowing from brown patch. Brown patch is a fungal bacterium in the soil that lays dormant in the hot summer months and becomes active in the cooling weather. It will appear as circular rings and the rings usually have a tendency to grow and expand. This fungal bacterium breeds in the soil from a combination of over-watering and poor drainage, which cause stagnation of the soil’s balanced nutrients. A good product to purchase is Turfcide, a granular treatment available in a 50-pound bag. Apply at the recommended rate and repeat the treatment as suggested on the product label until your grass regains its normal, healthy green color. If your lawn has developed a fungal condition for the first time, this is a good reminder to check your sprinkler system’s operating time and reduce the run time.
• Purchase bulbs to create pockets of color in select areas of your flower beds. Bulbs of many varieties become available in November. Plant them the day after Thanksgiving for a splash of color and amazement during January and February. Your neighbors will wonder where you get all your ideas.
• Finish your seasonal flower planting the second week of November so the flowers will be all set for your Thanksgiving family friends who arrive for the annual gathering. Remember to broadcast blooming fertilizer and snail bait!
• Install your Christmas décor and lighting the weekend after Thanksgiving. The lawn should be tidied of all leaves and then mowed. The selected decoration areas will be left un-mowed until the first week of the New Year, when all the decorations are back in storage. You can hire a professional for high places, or do it all yourself. Be creative.
• If you are looking for extra work and, in your estimation, your lawn could or should look greener through the winter season, plant some perennial rye grass, which needs cutting every 2-3 weeks and your lawn will look like a golf course fairway all winter! Do not purchase annual rye grass! Annual rye grass will have you mowing every week! The seeds from rye grass will die out with the next season’s heat but a few seeds might even survive for the next winter season.