A lawn that came out of summer thin doesn't need new seed to get better before winter. It needs feeding, and this is the week to start.
Below: the two-feeding fall plan for a thin lawn, the vent chore that heads off that burning-dust smell, where your main water shutoff is hiding, and a better way to put the window screens away.
Reply and tell us: what's the one job your place needs before it gets cold? We read every one.
Feed the Lawn You Have, Not the Seed You Missed
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Nebraska Extension puts the seeding window for cool-season grass, the bluegrass, fescue and ryegrass common across the northern half of the country, at August 15 through September 15. That closed a few days ago. New seed sown this late won't have much time to root before the ground cools for good.
The lawn already there can still get thicker before winter. The University of Missouri Extension's fall lawn calendar calls this the most important time to fertilize a cool-season lawn: it keeps building roots and storing energy right up until the ground freezes, even once the grass on top slows down.
Feed it now, at 1 to 1½ pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. A bag labeled "fall" or "winterizer" fertilizer is built for this.
Feed it again in mid-October, at a lighter rate, once nights have cooled toward 50 F.
Keep mowing at your grass's normal height until it stops growing for the season: tall fescue at 2½ to 3½ inches, Kentucky bluegrass at 1½ to 2½ inches. Don't stop early, and don't scalp it before winter.
This calendar is for cool-season grass. If yours is Bermuda, zoysia or St. Augustine, the usual Southern lawns, this isn't your fertilizing window. Warm-season grass runs on a different fall calendar.
Bare spots that need actual new grass, not just a boost, get one more chance this year. Nebraska Extension's advice: prepare those spots now through November, then hold the seed itself until mid to late November through March. Seed spread that late stays dormant through winter and sprouts on its own once the soil warms in spring.
A small hand spreader puts fertilizer down much more evenly than your hand can. The one we'd use for both feedings is further down.
Vacuum the Vents Before the Heat Comes On
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The first time the heat runs each fall, the house often smells a little like something's burning. Usually it's a summer's worth of dust that settled in the vents and on the heater, cooking off.
You can clear a lot of it before the first cold night, and renters can do every step of this one.
Lift off the floor and wall register covers. Most pull straight up or out.
Vacuum inside each opening as far as the hose will reach.
Wipe the covers with a damp cloth and let them dry before they go back.
Vacuum the face of the big return grille, the large one that pulls air in rather than blowing it out.
Brush the fins of any baseboard heaters with the vacuum's brush attachment, with the heat turned off.
Then run the heat for the first time on a mild day, when you can open a window.
A smell that doesn't fade isn't dust. If you smell rotten eggs, that can mean a gas leak. Leave the house and call your gas utility from outside. A hot electrical or burning plastic smell means turn the system off and call a pro.
Find Your Main Water Shutoff Before You Need It
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When a pipe bursts or the hose under the sink lets go, the fastest way to stop the damage is the main water shutoff. Plenty of people have never seen theirs.
Here's where to look.
Basement or crawl space: usually on the wall facing the street, where the water line comes into the house.
No basement: near the water heater, the laundry hookups, or in a utility closet or garage.
Apartments: often under the kitchen sink or behind an access panel. If you can't find it, ask the building manager now rather than during a leak.
Once you've found it, test it.
Close the valve. A lever handle takes a quarter turn, so it ends up across the pipe. A round wheel turns clockwise until it stops.
Turn on a faucet to confirm the water stops.
Open the valve back up all the way.
If an old wheel valve is stiff, don't force it. It can start leaking at the stem, and that's a job for a plumber.
Then tie a bright tag or a ribbon to the handle, so anyone in the house can find it in a hurry. Show everyone where it is, too. The person home when a pipe lets go might not be you.
Wash the Window Screens Before You Close Up
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Once the windows stay shut for the season, the screens sit there holding a summer of dust and pollen until spring. Wash them now, and the first open window in April doesn't start with last year's grime.
Pop each screen out and put a strip of painter's tape on the frame marking which window it came from.
Lay it flat on a driveway, a patio, or in the bathtub.
Rinse both sides with a gentle spray. A pressure washer can tear the mesh.
Scrub lightly with a soft brush and a bucket of warm water with a little dish soap.
Rinse again and stand it up to dry before it goes back in or into storage.
Look for tears while it's in your hands. A small hole only gets bigger, and bugs find it first.
If a screen is screwed in place, leave it there and just brush it down where it sits.
The Hand Spreader for Both Feedings
Spreading fertilizer by hand leaves too much in some spots and none in others. For a small lawn or a few thin patches, the EarthWay 4lb Hand Spreader is the one we'd point you to. It's $30.99.
The hopper is shaped to scoop straight out of a fertilizer bag or a bucket, and a flip-down armrest takes the strain off your wrist on a longer job. It's rustproof, with front teeth that break up compacted granules other spreaders clog on.
We haven't run this one across a lawn ourselves. The specs and price here come from EarthWay's own store.
The catch is the size. It holds 4 pounds of product, plenty for a patch or two, but a whole-yard feeding means refilling it again and again. If you're covering the entire lawn, a push spreader like EarthWay's 40lb Residential Broadcast Spreader at $177.99 is the better tool.
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Mow the Leaves Instead of Raking Them
When the leaves start coming down, skip the rake. Mow them into the lawn.
Colorado State University Extension says to set the mower to its highest setting and make a couple of passes, chopping the leaves small enough to settle down into the grass. Dry leaves chop best.
The test for too many leaves is simple. If you can still see grass after you mow, you're in good shape.
The chopped leaves feed the soil. Colorado State also points to Michigan State research finding that three years of it can nearly wipe out dandelions and crabgrass, and Purdue work showing it doesn't add thatch or change soil pH.
One exception this year: keep a thick layer of leaves off any spot with young grass still filling in. New grass needs the light.
One quick tap
What should we tackle next Friday?
That's the weekend: feed the lawn, vacuum the vents, find the water shutoff, and wash the screens.
If you only get to one, find the shutoff. It's ten minutes on a quiet Saturday instead of a frantic search with water on the floor.
Vote above on what we tackle next Friday, or reply and tell us. We build the Friday list from those answers.
The Home Wire
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