Tips for Fall and Winter Lawn Care

1. Raise the height of your mower. For warm-season grass, you need to gradually raise the height of the mower beginning in August. The increased height will help the grass to store more food, so it can nourish itself when it comes out of dormancy in the spring.
2. Remove leaves and other debris from your lawn. Leaving any kind of debris, like leaves, on your lawn, can smother it and create problems with winter or early spring diseases.
3. Aerate and seed your cool-season grass before it gets too cold. Now is the time to fertilize your fescue, but in order for it to get the full effect of that fertilization, you need to make sure it's aerated. Late-fall aeration gives the plugs plenty of time to melt down and to get thatch decomposing.
4. Water fescue. Fescue lawns should receive 1" of water each week. Typically, this isn't a problem in Atlanta due to winter rainfall.