It's almost time to fertilize your lawn

Early September is a good time to fertilize your lawn. It's animportant component of lawn care as it improves the color and vigorof grass. Nitrogen is the nutrient required the most although toomuch nitrogen can cause excessive top growth and other problems. Inmost cases, a rate of 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet oflawn is adequate. If high percentage nitrogen fertilizers are usedyou will need to adjust the quantity of fertilizer used to a lesseramount than if lower percentage nitrogen fertilizers are used.

*When planting from containers, make sure the plants are moistbefore planting. Different growers use different growing media forplants in containers, although in general it can be hard to remoistena dry rootball once it is put in the ground. Plants held at home incontainers before planting will typically need to be watered once aday until they are planted. Dig a wide planting hole -- up to threetimes the plant's diameter -- to make it easier for new roots to moveinto the garden soil. Chrysanthemums are often sold in fiber pots. Although these pots are biodegradable, it is best to remove them asyou would a plastic pot because they can wick water away from theplants and make it harder to keep them adequately watered. Whenbackfilling soil around the rootballs, make sure there are no airspaces. Cover the top of the rootball with a light layer of soil ormulch to help conserve water. It is especially important to mulchplants installed in late summer and fall to protect them as thetemperatures start to fall. Watch watering closely as plants grownin containers are generally produced in a light mix that will dry outmore rapidly than your garden soil. More frequent watering typicallyis needed until the newly installed plant roots out in thesurrounding garden soil.

*Sedum or stonecrop is a large group of low succulent plants thatcan have many uses in the home garden. The flowers range in colorfrom white, yellow, pink and red to purple. They can be easilydivided at almost any time of the year and cuttings or broken stempieces root readily. Most sedum are good plants for poor, stony soilin the hot sun between stepping stones and in rock crevices.

For more information about caring for yard and garden, call theChicago Botanic Garden's Plant Information phone line between 9 a.m.and 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday at (847) 835-0972 or access theGarden's Web site at www.chicagobotanic.org.

Tim Johnson is director of horticulture at the Chicago BotanicGarden.