From our friends at TruGreen

TruGreen Gets to the Root of Fall Lawn Recovery
 Post-Heat Wave Tips for Salvaging and Beautifying Lawns

Summer 2011 will go down in U.S. weather history as one of the most extreme in 100 years, but its impact on homeowner swill continue long after the leaves have fallen. Lawns and landscapes across America are exhibiting signs of distress associated with prolonged record high temperatures and shortened growing seasons. The trained specialists at TruGreen,the nation’s largest professional lawn care service, are guiding homeowners through the essential lawn recovery process this fall. TruGreen is helping to get America’s yards prepared for the coming winter, protecting homeowners’investment in lawns and supporting lush, healthy landscapes in spring.
TruGreen’s  Ben Hamza, Ph.D., director of technical operations at TruGreen is helping to educate Americans on lawn recovery steps that promote spring growth. He reinforces that implementing crucial lawn care actions in the fall can help to protect against the need for a hefty reinvestment in your yard’s future.

·        Boost Curb Appeal: Fall’s favorable weather conditions make it the ideal time to replace dead or floundering plants – an instantly gratifying way to create healthier landscapes and improve curb appeal. When planting trees and shrubs, dig a hole twice in diameter of the width of the plant’s root ball. Place the plant in the hole so the top of the root ball sits one to two inches above the soil surface. Fall is also the appropriate period for the successful seeding of bare grass areas and over seeding to improve lawn thickness.
·        Mow and Mulch as Needed: Continue mowing through the fall season while your lawn is growing and avoid removing more than one-third of the leaf blades with each cut. Mow at the highest recommended height for your grass type and return grass clippings back to the soil for added lawn nutrients.
·        Get to the Core: Core aeration removes small plugs of turf, thatch and soil from your lawn increasing the flow of air, water and nutrients to roots. Plugs break down and feed nutrients back to thelawn’s root system while allowing more room for roots to expand.
·        Feed the Roots: A good feeding in fall gives roots of lawns and landscapes an energy reserve to kick-start healthy spring growth. Proper nutrition also supports recovery from harmful drought damage.
·        Spot Concerns: Keep your eye on your lawn’s bald spots, brown areas and weeds. Discoloration prior to winter dormancy could be a sign of drought damage or a pest infestation, and weeds fight your lawn for nutrients.Look to a professional company, such as TruGreen, for accurate diagnosis and effective treatment options.
·        QuenchYard’s Thirst: A regular, deep watering (one to two inches a week)in morning hours through late fall will provide adequate moisture to keep cool-season grasses (e.g. bluegrass, fescue, rye) healthy while warm-season grasses (e.g. Bermuda, Saint Augustine, zoysia) require less water in fall.Infrequent, deep watering encourages a deeper, stronger root system, and frequent, shallow watering has the opposite effect. To tell if you’rewatering enough, place empty one-inch deep food cans in the coverage pattern of your yard’s irrigation system. Reduce the frequency of watering if adequate rainfall is recorded and the soil feels moist to the touch. Also,be sure to adhere to local watering restrictions.

TruGreen’s customized approach to lawn and landscape care recovery is delivered by TruGreen certified specialist strained in weather and growing conditions specific to a homeowner’s area.TruGreen provides a detailed visual lawn analysis, specialized fall weed and feed, and lawn aeration as a part of the company’s fall lawn recovery package. TruGreen also offers customized fall tree and shrub care service to help roots and foliage recover from summer heat and prepare for colder weather.

Go to www.TruGreen.comor www.facebook.com/TruGreenfor more information about TruGreen.