Now is a Great Time to Seed Your Lawn!

Welcome to Jonathan Green! Thank you for signing up for our newsletter and expressing an interest in our feed your lawn AND your soil program, called the New American Lawn Plan. We are excited to be working with you to achieve a great lawn this year! Don't forget to include jongreenlawn@gmail.com in your address book to keep receiving helpful tips throughout the year.

Seeding Your Lawn

Fall is the absolute best time to seed or re-seed your lawn with Jonathan Green superior grass seed! The hot, dry summer is over and the insects and weeds are less prevalent. Moisture from morning dew keeps the seed bed moist and the less intense sun rays slow the rate of evaporation. The soil temperatures are still warm and the cool rains make it the perfect time to create that beautiful lawn that your neighbors will envy as they look over your fence. To successfully seed, you MUST have good seed to soil contact. Seeding on top of dead matter will lead to failure.

How to Plant Grass Seed

Prevent Thatch Build Up

Thatch is a layer of dead turf and living shoots, stems, and roots that develops between the grass and the soil surface. Thatch build up begins when turf produces organic debris faster than it can be broken down by the microbes.

How do I Prevent this?

1. Choose a turf grass type that doesn't produce as much thatch. Perennial Ryegrass and Tall Fescues spread through tillering, not rhizomes and do not produce significant thatch build up.

Kentucky Bluegrasses can produce thatch, because it does spread through rhizomes, but this isn't a problem when the soil that the lawn is grown in is well managed and healthy.

2. Balance your soil pH and increase microbial activity. Thatch accumulates when soil conditions don't have enough thatch-decomposing organisms. Acidic soils inhibit these microorganisms, resulting in rapid thatch build up. Soils that contain large amounts of clay or sand may contain low populations of soil microorganisms that decompose thatch. Compacted soils and soils with poor structure also contain low microbial activity and are subject to thatch build up. When you apply Mag-I-Cal and Love Your Soil , you encourage the soil microbes to break down thatch through a natural process of decay. Healthy, loose soil will only have a minimal thatch layer at the base of the lawn.

If you have more than 1/2 inch of thatch, you should use a dethatching machine or power rake to remove it. If you are planning on overseeding, dethatch before you over seed.

Which Fertilizer Should I Use?

Avoid using high nitrogen fertilizer in the fall. Excessive nitrogen in the fall may lead to a fungus called snow mold in the spring. Winter Survival is low nitrogen but has iron which will give you color. If seeding, it is best to use Green Up for Seeding and Sodding when seeding and follow up with Winter Survival at the end of the season.

The Winner is...

Congratulations Sean of Auburn, MA. Sean is the winner of our Show Us Your Lawn Contest for the month of August. He will receive a $50 gift card to Bell's Lawn and Garden in Auburn, MA where he purchases our products!

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ENTER TO WIN

www.jonathangreen.com

www.newamericanlawn.com

Farmingdale, NJ 07727

September

2017