It is not bad for your lawn to remove the leaves. However, allowing leaves to break down and decompose back into the soil is good.

Even the most obsessed lawn enthusiasts miss the timing of the most beneficial feeding of their lawns. Too many people think spring and summer when it comes to lawn fertilization. Feeding at these times does produce positive results. Unfortunately, the benefits achieved are short term.

For almost 20 years now, we have been promoting the benefits of a three-step lawn program. The success of this program is shown in the results provided to homeowners. The results come from this program focus on fall fertilization of the lawn. It's pretty simple with one feeding in September followed by the same type of feeding in November. The third step consisting of pre-emergent weed control is applied in March of the following year.

Apply fertilizer in November

If you did not feed your lawn in September, or if you have not fertilized this year, or ever, November would be a great time to start. When you fertilize in November, more of the fertilizer gets to the grass than any other time of the year.

Applying fertilizer to the lawn in November will serve multiple purposes. First it will provide extra nutrients to strengthen the grass for winter. The fertilizer will keep the grass green through the winter. Then in the spring, the stored nutrients and energy will enable the grass to start the spring with strong growth. The November feeding also serves as the first part of your spring feeding. If you were only going to feed your lawn once a year. November would be the time to do it.

For this feeding, you want to use a fertilizer that will provide one pound of nitrogen for every 1,000 square feet you are fertilizing. There is a formula to figure this out, but math doesn't fit in my writing. Hopefully you can ask when you are buying. To be sure you are getting the recommended amount, you can use Fertilome's Lawn Food Plus Iron. This will give you the recommended amount of nitrogen.

If you want to continue with the three-step method, your next application will be in March. Here you will be applying another Fertilome product called All Season Weed Preventer with Fertilizer. This is pre-emergent weed control combined with a light amount of fertilizer. The fertilizer is light because you are still gaining the benefit of the November feeding.

The advantage of this product is the weed control. This product contains a pre-emergent herbicide that lasts for up to six months. Most other similar products only work for 60-90 days. This product will keep weed seeds like crabgrass from growing in the spring. Then it will continue to work through the summer keeping new seeds landing in the lawn from growing.

When you are applying the fertilizer in November, make sure you have removed all the leaves before applying the fertilizer. You do not want the leaves interfering with the fertilizer getting to the soil where it is needed.

To rake or not to rake?

At this time of year, I always like to clear up a bit of misleading information you may find in your social media feeds. This is the article that you will see posted telling you that it is not necessary, and actually bad for your lawn to remove the leaves.

It is not bad for your lawn to remove the leaves. However, allowing leaves to break down and decompose back into the soil is good. The best way to allow the leaves to do this is to run the lawn mower over them. This is called mulching. This process will cut the leaves into tiny pieces. The small pieces will fall down between the grass blades, quickly decomposing into the soil.

You do want to avoid a heavy blanket of leaves on the soil that would keep the sunlight and rain out. A heavy blanket of leaves can cause damage to the grass underneath. If you do not have enough trees for this to happen, then you can ignore the leaves if you choose to.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Put the lawn to bed for the year with these 3 steps

Reporting by Chris McKeown / Cincinnati Enquirer

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