Don’t let a thick layer of pine needles build up. Rake up needles regularly to allow more sunlight, air, and water to reach the grass. It is normal for pine trees to shed their needles, within reason. You can leave the needles under the tree, the needles will breakdown and provide nutrients for the tree.

And since Australia hates being outdone when it comes to deadly anything, their bunya pines can produce 22-pound pumpkin-sized pine cones. Or more accurately, the size of a human head. Incidentally, these come close to killing or maiming people constantly.

Pine cones take two years to develop, so what we can tell when we see a lot of pine cones, is that they’ve had two seasons of good climates,” Jay Dee Gunnell, a Utah State University Horticulturist, said. Conifers react to what’s happening around them and conditions from previous years.

Yes, you certainly can mow the pine needles into the lawn. If your mower is the mulching kind – and they are usually gas or electric – mowing fallen leaves adds organic matter and nutrients back into the lawn.

Although pine needles can make for effective garden mulch, they do contain high levels of acidity, which can harm plants and grasses, so they can be very detrimental to lawns and gardens if left on the ground. To prevent dead grass and plants, plan to clean up pine needles once every year.

Dead grass should be raked away, but it won’t stimulate growth, because if the grass is completely dead all the way to the roots, it can’t produce new growth and the bare patch will remain. To fill in the bare spot, you’ll have to prepare the area for reseeding or laying new sod.

First of all, a little bit of thatch is a good thing because it helps keep your grass’s roots moist. You don’t want your lawn to be thatch free! But too much thatch is a real problem because it doesn’t allow fertilizer or water to penetrate the ground, and it restricts root depth.

It is best to dethatch first before aerating your lawn. Aerating is best done when there’s the problem of compaction. Both dethatching and aerating your lawn will improve air, nutrient, and water penetration into the root zone of your grass.

about once a year

They decompose and recycle in as little as two weeks and help provide nutrients and organic matter. Thatch is actually a matted layer – of roots, stems, blades, runners and clippings – that forms on top of the soil. You might describe it as a lawn that is growing into itself rather than into the soil.

Here are some other factors and tips to help you get rid of thatch through decomposition:

1. You need to keep the soil moist underneath the thatch layer.
2. Collect your clippings until the thatch problem is handled.
3. Test the pH and add Lime as needed.
4. Increase thatch degrading bioactivity.
5. Improve soil aeration.