I’ve already noticed the growth of my lawn slowing down for the year. That means the grass is beginning to go dormant. A grass that is going dormant doesn’t need much in the way of fertilizer. However, one nutrient that may be lacking in our soils in this area is potassium. Potassium helps in many plant functions, so it would be good, and is recommended, to fertilize with two pounds of potash (0-0-60) per 1,000 square feet of lawn area to improve the lawn’s ability to withstand the winter weather. Two pounds of potash are equal to about one pound of actual potassium being delivered to the lawn.

As the leaves begin to drop from the trees, don’t forget to remove them from the lawn. When they first start falling, it’s a good idea to run them over with a mulching mower. This chops them up fine enough that they can’t be seen, and allows them to break down in place, returning nutrients back to the soil where they land. When there are too many leaves to mulch back into the lawn, collecting them and using them as a winter mulch in flowerbeds and garden areas is another way of returning nutrients back to the soil.

This is also a good month to apply a pre-emergence herbicide to the lawn, if winter weeds have been a problem in the past. As the soil temperature drops to around 70 degrees these winter weed seeds begin to germinate.