Well if you do a little internet searching you will see that university turfgrass programs all say mulch mowing doesn't contribute to thatch. Just because you got thatch and you are mulch mowing isn't causal, it's correlative.(Thatch only occurs on well maintained turf by the way, so the act of you getting the lawn in shape probably contributed to higher thatch production) Certain grasses are thatch producers, KBG, and Fine Fescues are thatch producers, while tall fescue and perennial rye generally don't. If your soil has a high OM content, is balanced, and has good microbial activity, thatch shouldn't be much of a problem. Also I have read that spraying your lawn with molasses in a hose end sprayer can help reduce thatch, but I have no experience with it. Your watering plan for the boulevard strip is fine, but you want to shoot for one inch of water 1X per week, whatever time that works out to be. The three times a week for 20 minutes is not recommended. Deep and infrequent is the general rule of thumb. Of course some soils and climates dictate a different watering schedule. What is your soil like? Ever have soil tests?

Be very careful using those power rake machines, if there're not set properly they will tear up your lawn in no time. Most lawns are not perfectly even like golf putting greens, so when yo go over with the verticutter or power rake, you can easely dig/damage the soil surface and many grass plants in the process. Thatch consist of many layers of undecayed grass between the soil the grass plants. Thatch is primarily composed of roots, rhizomes, and stolons; and NOT grass clippings like most people think. Thatch formation is a natural part of the growing cycle, in which grass plants age, die, and decompose. The problem occurs when something upsets this natural balance causing thatch to build up quicker than it can break down. Excessive lawn growth is the major cause, and over fertilizing and over-watering are the biggest culprits. They produce excessive amounts of grass clippings preventing the normal/natural breakdown of thatch. Of the cool season grasses, Perennial Ryegrass and most Fescues produce little to no thatch, Bluegrasses and Bentgrasses produce the most. Warm season grasses produce the most thatch, with Zoysia being the worst. I have used the power blade mower attachments with great success, however, it killed half the lawn in the process. I didn't matter to me because I was overseeding with a different type of grass, your case might be different. You are up in Indiana, so you must likely have a Kentucky Bluegrass, which if over watered and over fertilized it will produce excessive amounts of thatch - specially if you live in an area that gets plenty of rain during the growing season. My advice to you is to Aereate the heck out the lawn, then topdress with Humus. Then change your fertilizing schedule to 3 to 4 feedings per year max with at least one organic application instead of synthetic man-made. I hope it helps. Auteck

Does the type of tree or leaves matter for mulching? I have some various huge shrubs and a tree that all drop smaller leaves (some needle like) that are quite dense. Living in So Cal they tend to dry out but not exactly break down. I was planning on doing lava rock in the border of my yard, but since reading this post I'm thinking that that is not such a bright idea. My issue is my long-haired cat will find whatever area of the yard is the most dirty/dusty and cover himself with all kinds of earth and burrs, and then immediately after he asks to come in the house. Half the time my kids just let him in, and then the floors inside becomes filthy and my carpet gets pokey things embedded. I've been worried that if I did anything like bark chips, then my fur buddy is going to bring into the house slivers -the kind that are so tiny you can't get with tweezers. (I tried playing barefoot in the stuff as a kid, and you'd think it would only of taken the first time to figure out that's not something to do again...) Anyhow, with my own kids running barefoot all the time and the cat living like royalty, I worry about using old wood chips or mulch. Anyone have advice?

Nate, it sounds like the following is too late, since your work has already begun, but for what it's worth: We had 4 new roofs (entire house) and everything that that entailed (remove old roofs, put on new + gutters & downspouts) and new stucco siding on one side of the house's addition (hence, remove all old stucco, too). Contractor also created a new profile for the eave over that side of the house; also made and installed a copper overhang for the window on that side. Not all of this was done at the same time; still, a lot of construction materials and debris. Used the same contractor and his small crew for everything. The crew was able to do the roofing job by accessing all the roofs from the patio; the main issue was roof debris that ended up on the ground. They were exceedingly careful and neat but even now, I do find the occasional nail and bits of roofing material. For the stucco work, however, they needed to erect and safely access scaffolding. I asked the contractor to try to protect a daylily bed directly under the side of the house needing that work. For various reasons, I couldn't dig up the plants in it, even though it contained some daylilies I value a lot (eg LAST SNOWFLAKE, NEON FLAMINGO, COWBOY SCARF, MABOU, Jack Carpenter patterns, and more), so he set up the scaffolding on a large piece of plywood that was placed on cinder blocks on either end of the bed (and with two blocks supporting the mid part of the wood). The crew had to access the scaffolding of course, so one end of the bed got badly trampled & the soil very compacted. Even so, given what had to be done to the house, and the time they spent doing it, the daylilies sailed through everything in near perfect condition. There was a lot of bent and torn foliage, but it was late autumn anyway so that didn't matter. Plus, it was the crowns I'd been concerned about. We plan to use the same guys to paint the house's exterior next spring. Since I don't know exactly which month that will be, I expect to have to dig up the entire bed. Even so, I'll ask the contractor to once again place scaffolding on plywood on cinder blocks. The idea will be to protect the soil from compaction so that I can use that bed again as soon as the work is done.