Lawn Aeration

[wayner]

I live in southern Minnesota. I have about a 4000 sqare foot lawn. One section of boulevard died out this summer and is overgrown with weeds. I haven't had the soil tested. I did spray the weeds on October 12. I also spread winterizer fert the same day.

I'd like to try to fix this section of lawn and had thought about overseeding the whole lawn yet this fall. Would now be too soon to do this? I was thinking that aerating the lawn with a core aerator would be a good preparation step before overseeding. Is it too late in the fall to core aerate?

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Powerstroke]

Its too late for a "fall" seeding as the seeds that germinate will die off from the cold before they are established enough. You can consider a winter or dormant seeding once the frosts hit and the weather turns cold. This should stay dormant all winter and come up in the spring, or you can just wait till spring and seed then. Aereating and overseeding can be a good combination, but its still better to rake or de-thatch the surface for better seed contact.