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Jane Ruzumna's
Bloomfield Hills lawn
Fall Lawns
contributes to the
beauty of her horile.
A little work now will make a lot of
difference next spring.
Steve Raphael
Special to the Jewish News
I
f you want to ensure a healthy, rich
green lawn next spring, then start
cleaning it up now, the experts say.
"Fall is the best time to fertilize your
lawn," says Mary Ann Singer Chupa,
seasonal horticulture adviser at the
Michigan State University Extension
Service in Oakland County. (www.msue.
oakland@county.msu.edu )
It's also the best time to reseed and
weed, not to mention aerate, dethatch
and mow grass to different heights.
Detroit's drier-than-usual summer
has placed a greater urgency on fall
lawn maintenance, notably to restore
dry and dying grass.
And then if we're lucky, which we
always seem to be, Mother Nature will
lend us a hand, providing lots of snow
this winter, covering and protecting the
lawn like a blanket.
Raking leaves is no one's idea of fun
but it, too, can play a major role in
ensuring a fresh lawn in the spring.
"It is very important to do a fall
cleanup so the leaves don't sit on nice
lawns and rot and destroy the lawn:'
says Mike Lincourt, owner of Lacoure's
Landscaping in Southfield.
You can remove leaves by raking or
mowing or you can mulch them into
the ground to add nutrients. Raking is
most effective for loosening the ground
to allow new seedlings to settle in and
grow in time for spring, he adds.
Unlike most homeowners or other
lawn services Lincourt prefers to remove
rather than mulch leaves. Mulching
is still better than letting leaves sit on
lawns throughout the winter.
Lincourt says most of his customers
((want manicured lawns" (as) "they pre-
fer adding shredded bark in the spring,"
a decorative material.
Spring Prepping
If your lawn doesn't turn out looking like
a green football field next spring, don't feel
particularly guilty
Jane Ruzumna doesn't. The
Bloomfield Hills resident hires a land-
scaper every fall to do the basic things
— raking leaves, removing branches,
weeding and trimming plants. "Our
lawn looks terrible in the spring," she
says. "We prefer to fertilize in the spring
and then the lawn perks back up."
Here are more tips from the experts,
starting with fertilizing.
Singer Chupa urges homeowners to
get a soil test before they fertilize their
Fall Lawns on page 44
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October 21 • 2010
43