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William Moss has loved nature and the outdoors since childhood. Gardening is just an extension of that passion. The effects of his gardening efforts on the local ecosystem were intriguing and inspiring. His gardens provided nectar for swallowtails and skippers, shelter for carpenter bees and writing spiders, and an endless supply of voles and rabbits for the neighborhood red tailed hawk. On his websites, www.garden.org/urbangardening & www.wemoss.org , he chronicles the challenges of gardening in a city and discusses horticultural techniques. William also covers a wide array of "greening" topics ranging from soil contamination and remediation to eco-friendly pest management to the intricacies of native habitats. To comprehend and better explain the complex life-webs right outside his door, William enrolled in the extramural Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences program offered by the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. His focus is on creating wildlife corridors in urban areas. Concurrently, he has sought out opportunities to be involved in local environmental projects. While at the Chicago Department of the Environment, he worked with WRD, an environmental construction company, at North Park Village Nature Center. William supervised Greencorps crews and volunteers and they removed invasive plants and replaced them with native trees, shrubs, and perennials. At this point William began to focus more on presenting lectures, and he joined the Chicago Botanic Garden as an environmental educator.

Fall Lawn Care Tips

Master gardener William Moss discusses his top tips for caring for your lawn in the fall, including de-thatching, fertilizing, and adjusting your mower height.

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William Moss: There is a nip in the air, but don't put them all the way yet, we still have things to do to keep the yard looking good the rest of the season and prepare it for next year, let's discuss some fall lawn care tips.

The main three tasks of fall are de-thatching, fertilizing, and of course mowing. Thatch is the layer of dead grass stems that sits on top of the soil surface. By de-thatching we pull all the stuff away and that allows for air to get down to the roots which encourages more growth of our grass systems.

Cool season grasses continue to grow throughout fall, you want to fertilize now so that the roots have enough nutrients to continue to grow throughout fall and prepare for winter time.

Using an organic fertilizer both feeds the plants and builds the healthy soil environment. Organic fertilizer also limits the amount of run-off so you keep nutrients in your yard and that brings us to mowing.

Remember to read the instruction manual thoroughly for all power equipment before use and for all warnings and safety instruction. You want to continue to mow frequently throughout the fall, but you can lower the height back down to 2 inches now for a neat well manicured turf.

A few simple steps can keep your lawn healthy and ready for winter. Go out and grow.

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