A Lawn Care Calendar - City Of Windsor

1 Want to Know More? Know Your lawn Problem A lawn care Calendar Definitions PESTICIDES: Pesticides are poisonous chemicals that people Websites Most problems can be prevented with use to kill insects (insecticides), The City of Windsor healthy lawn and garden practices. APRIL MAY SUMMER FALL plant diseases (fungicides), weeds (herbicides) and rodents (rodenticides). Problem Cause Solution lawn is still dormant- Active growth, As temperatures As temperatures AERATE: To poke a hole in the ground to allow Essex Region Conservation Authority Dandelions Bare patches, Hand weed dig as temperatures bright green, if increase, lawns will cool and fall rains air and water to penetrate the surface of the soil.

2 Unhealthy lawn out entire root to warm, chlorophyll enough rainfall rest and lose their begin, grass will COMPOST: Compost is a dark, partially depth of at least returns green colour. regain its green Essex County Health Unit 7-10cm or 4 inches. to leaves and turns colour. decomposed form of organic matter that has not yet decomposed into a carbon rich topsoil. Topdress with organic grass green. matter and overseed. DORMANCY: The state where all plant growth The Ontario Ministry of the Environment Crabgrass Poor soil, Handpick before it DETHATCH MOW HIGH HAND PULL stops temporarily.

3 AERATE FERTILIZE WEEDS FERTILIZE. bare patches goes to seed. FERTILIZER: Food for your grass. All retail Topdress with organic OVERSEED ADD WHITE WATER LESS AERATE fertilizers have three numbers on the label, matter and overseed. CLOVER MOW LESS OVERSEED indicating the kind and strength of the nutrients (eg. Grubs Dry, unhealthy Water properly, 3:1:2). The first number indicates the % nitrogen, 1. After snow melts, 1. MOW HIGH at 8 cm 1. HAND PULL which helps the leaves stay green. The second Books grass dethatch, aerate, fertilize.

4 Topdress with gently remove or 3 inches (when WEEDS, invest in a 1. FERTILIZE in number indicates the % phosphorus. The third How to get your lawn and garden off drugs: organic matter and THATCH with flexible lawn is dry and has dandelion digger September and number indicates the % potassium, which improves Pesticide-free gardening for a healthier overseed. rake to allow a better reached 11 cm or October with a slow the overall health of the plants. Slow-release environment. Author: Carol Rubin. Ottawa: Friends Cinch Bugs Too much Dethatch, aerate, flow of water, air and inches high) to shade 2.

5 WATER LESS and release mineral or chemical fertilizer: Primarily nitrogen of the Earth, 1989. thatch, weak fertilize, proper nutrients to matted weeds and increase let lawn go dormant in organic fertilizer. fertilizers where the nutrients are coated to delay grass watering, mow high. grass roots. lawn thickness. Leave dry hot spells (turn absorption. If applied at the wrong time or in the Topdress with organic clippings on lawn to brown). A moderate 2. AERATE if needed wrong amount, synthetic fertilizers can pollute The City of Windsor matter and overseed.

6 2. AERATE if soil is add 30% more watering every three avoid dethatching, local waterways, promote algal blooms and harm Parks & Recreation Department compacted to improve nitrogen. weeks will keep it makes turf vulnerable fish populations. Organic fertilizer: Derived (519) 253-2300 Know Your Helpers soil quality. 2. Apply 5 mm or 1/4 inch alive. Water deeply in early morning at 1. to diseases. from plant, animal or rock powders, ( Compost, bone meal, fish products, dehydrated Nature provides us with free pest control helpers.)

7 3. Patch or OVERSEED compost or high inch or cm. 3. OVERSEED and manure and kelp meal). Organic fertilizers are Most insects are NOT harmful. Consider natural so the seed is ready quality slow release Buy a rain gauge. reseed bare patches environmentally safe because their minerals are alternatives to lawn problems before using to grow on the first mineral or organic with mixture of pest gradually released by the microorganisms in the pesticides because pesticides may kill your warm days of spring FERTILIZER to 3.

8 As turf growth slows, resistant seeds. Early soil. helpers. with a good quality, stimulate root growth MOW LESS often, September is best OVERSEED: To spread grass seed over an three-way blend of during the active monitor lawn for time, when HELPER WHAT THEY DO Kentucky Bluegrass, growing season. weeds, diseases and temperatures are in existing turf area in order to increase turf density. Bats Eat insects Fine Fescue and insects. the high teens, ideal RAIN GAUGE: A container used to collect rain Bees, Wasps Pollinate Plants Perennial Ryegrass or 3.

9 Add WHITE for germination. and measure the amount of precipitation. Birds Eat insects an enviro-mix. CLOVER to your THATCH: Thatch is an accumulation of Ladybugs Eat aphids lawn . It absorbs partially decomposed and undecomposed plant & Dragonflies nitrogen from the air material at the soil surface. Spiders Eat insects and fixes it in the soil Toads Eat slugs, earwigs, creating free fertilizer. TOPDRESS: To spread a layer of organic cutworms, aphids, flies material evenly over a turf surface. Earthworms Soil aerators Turn organic matter into soil Do You Use Pesticides?

10 Start With Your Soil Don't Give Weeds Water Less in the Pesticides are poisons used to kill insects, Soil is the most important element for creating a A Chance! Summer Season weeds, plant diseases and other unwanted living healthy lawn . Your soil feeds your grass and is things. They include insecticides, herbicides, the key difference between healthy or weak All soil contains millions of weed seeds, just Water less and let the lawn go DORMANT. fungicides and rodenticides. plants. waiting for an opportunity to grow in your lawn .