fall
homeimprovement SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE WADENA PIONEER JOURNAL/INTERCOM
September 24, 2011
Shutting down the lawn Wadena County Master Gardener says watering not necessary Rachelle Klemme rklemme@wadenapj.com
You know you live in Minnesota when the National Weather Service issues a freeze warning while it is still technically summer. The change of seasons means a change in how to care for one’s lawn and garden. As grass begins to turn brown, some people decide to stop mowing earlier than others. Kyle Schulz, Wadena County master gardener, said it is a matter of personal preference. “Some people like it neat, so they want it all mowed down. Other people would rather see a little green and have it a little ragged,” she said. “That’s a personal opinion. The longer the grass is, the more moisture it will continue to hold because it shades the soil, so not as much evaporates. That’s why, if you let it grow and do not mow it at this point, it does continue to green because there is a little bit of moisture there.” It is not necessary to water the lawn in the fall. “The lawn is shutting down for the year. The grass will come back. The grass is dying because it’s dry, but the roots will rejuvenate in the spring when there is moisture,” Schulz said. Then, there is the matter of what to do with the fallen leaves left on the lawn. “If they’re only about an inch or so thick – maybe an inch and a half – if you mow them with your lawn mower, they’re going to be chopped up enough so that after you are done, then they’re going to look almost
like the lawn has just been mowed. This is fine. You can just leave them there,” she said. “However, if after you have mowed, there are windrows or still piles of leaves on the lawn, they need to raked off because this will cause disease, mold and things like that to grow in the lawn over winter.” Lawns can be fertilized, which should be done the first week of September and again right before freeze-up around October. Schulz said that if people both fertilize and aerate their lawns, the cores pulled out from aeration can rest on top of the soil. When it rains, the fertilizer and cores from the soil dissolve and the cores act as a mulch on the lawn. “The reason that you want to fertilize in fall is so that when it starts raining and it warms up, that grass can take off right away in the spring,” she said. “Grass does well in the spring, and it does well in the fall. When it gets really hot in the summer, grass kind of stands still – as much as it has grown this year. Grass is a cool season plant.” For people who maintain flower gardens, there are steps to take care of perennials – the flowers that come back year after year. “When it’s dry like this, you really should continue to water them,” Schulz said. “We’ve had lots of rain this summer, but you don’t want to have them go into the winter dry. You want as much moisture there for them as possible.” Once the ground freeze happens, there is no moisture to absorb. Schulz said that if the perennials are diseased, they should be cut off to about four inches above the ground, and the diseased
leaves should be disposed of – burned or thrown in the trash. Dusty mildew on the plant is a visible sign of disease. “It should not be put in the compost pile,” Schulz said. She said that the compost is normally supposed to be hot enough to kill any diseased plants – but in the fall, the temperature might not reach a high enough temperature to kill the diseases and weed seeds. “As a result, they’re going to germinate, they’re going to grow, they’re going to prosper in that compost pile,” she said. For healthy perennials, the foliage can be left there all winter, Shulz said. “I cut them down to about four to six inches after it has really frozen,” she said. Putting mulch on the flowers protects them. “The mulch can be straw; it can be leaves. I like to use bags of leaves that we rake up from the lawn,” she said. Mulch should not be applied until the ground freezes, which is typically around the first week of November. Winter interest plants like sedum, some decorative grasses and some daisies don’t need to be cut. In August and September, perennials can be fertilized. “You make a ring around each group of perennials,” Schulz said, adding that just a small amount of fertilizer should be used. “When it is watered, or when it rains, it seeps down to the outside of the plant. There are roots out there from that plant, and they will absorb that,” she said. “You don’t want to spread the fertilizer directly on the peren-
Kyle Schulz, Wadena County Master Gardener
nial plant, because it can burn the crown of that perennial.” It is also possible to wait to fertilize in the same manner the next spring. “The roots of those perennial plants are still growing, and they will continue to grow until it gets really, really cold out,” Schulz said. Schulz said that for people wanting to have tulips for the spring, any spring bulb or garlic, they should be planted the last week of September and the first week in October.