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    Mom Nature Is Working With Us Right Now To:

    SEED IT, FEED IT, WEED IT AND DIG IT!!!!

    Fall is a fantastic time to improve your lawn and garden, and the Soil Service Garden Center staff would love to help with your projects:

    SEED IT!

    The best time of the year to seed your lawn is RIGHT NOW, especially in heavy shade areas that ideally are seeded in the first 2 weeks of September. Our most popular seed is KC Marathon (bluegrass/fescue mix) and KC Endurance (fescue blend). If you have large bare areas, apply Ferti-lome Starter Fertilizer and seed at the same time. About 2-3 weeks after germination your seed needs a good dose of nitrogen and we suggest you:

    FEED IT!

    Established cool season lawns (bluegrass, fescue, and ryegrass) are hungry for a high nitrogen plant food. Ferti-lome Lawn Food + Iron takes care of the hunger. Your next high nitrogen treatment is the dormant feed, or winterizer. The lawn will tell you when it wants this application- the grass is still green but you are about done mowing- typically the end of October thru November. These 2 plant food applications go a long way preparing your lawn for summer’s heat and drought stress. Before applying the winterizer you may need to:

    WEED IT!

    October is the best month to control dandelions, clover, plantain, wild violets, creeping Charlie and other perennial broadleaf weeds. We recommend using Ferti-lome Weed- Free Zone or Turflon Ester depending on the weeds. If you are unsure which weeds you have, bring in fresh samples- roots and all for a diagnosis. Be aware that most weed control products have restrictions on when you can apply them before or after seeding. This brings us back to the first topic- seed now if you plan to treat weeds in October.

    DIG IT!

    Let’s have fun with a riddle: What do garden beds have in common with chili and soup?

    Most people agree these foods taste better the day after they are made because the flavors have time to mingle. Our analogy is that if your beds need renovating, amend them in the fall and your plants will be healthier next year. Here’s why:

    Amending beds with Soil Service’s Soil Pep, cotton burr compost or Nature’s Blend (cotton burr, manure, humates and alfalfa) vastly improves the structure of our clay soils. But it takes time for this process to work. Like the mentioned foods, these products need time to “mingle” with soil- your plants will thank you next year.

    Another reason to work beds in fall is better scheduling flexibility. That is, we amend soils on our fall schedule when they are not frozen, too wet or overly dry, and this helps in spring when you can focus on putting seed or plants in the ground instead of worrying about bed preparation.

    FALL TREE AND SHRUB CARE

    Many trees and shrubs increase root growth during cooler weather and October is a good month to feed them. This time of year, they prefer a light dose of nitrogen that gradually feeds the roots. We stock the following products that meet this need:

    Hi-Yield Bone and Blood Meal

    Cottonseed Meal

    Espoma Plant Tone

     

    That’s about it for now. All of us at Soil Service Garden Center appreciate your business and we would love to have you;

    Come See Us and

    Let’s Get Growing!