When the winter months come blowing in, you might begin to feel like there’s no hope in saving your lawn. As a home or business owner, you may be thinking that you’ll need to take your losses during the winter and start fresh at the end of the season. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth as there are plenty of ways to take good care of your lawn during the winter.
Sure your lawn and grass will get a bit frosty during the cooler months, but with a few winter lawn care tips, you can keep your lawn healthy and happy throughout the entire season. Doing so saves you money and stress down the road.
Don’t give up on your lawn during the winter. Do a few simple tasks to keep your lawn in tip-top shape during the season. Not sure where to begin?
We’re here to help. Continue reading below for the top tips on how to maintain your lawn during the frost!
1. Aerate and Spread Seeds
Your lawn is subject to compaction during the summer and warmer months. Before winter begins, it’s a great idea to aerate your lawn. Aerating your lawn will break up any of this compaction and allow your lawn to breathe well during the winter.
After aerating your lawn, water, air, and all good nutrients are then able to move throughout the soil without obstruction. Once this is done, you can then fertilize your lawn.
2. Use Fertilizer
After you aerate your lawn, this is the best time to then fertilize it. Fertilizing your lawn should be done carefully by following the instructions on the fertilizer. Late fall and early winter are when you want to fertilize your lawn to keep it healthy during the cooler season.
When you fertilize your lawn before winter hits, you essentially give it back the nutrients that it lost during the hot summer months. When the snow falls onto the ground, the fertilizer will remain on your lawn. The grass will then feed off of the fertilizer throughout the entire winter season.
When winter ends and spring comes around and it’s time to remove snow and ice, your grass will be well fed and nourished.
3. Use Mowing Strategies
There are a few mowing strategies that will help your lawn stay strong during the winter. When summer comes to an end, begin to lower the cutting level of your lawnmower slowly but surely. Each time you mow your lawn from the end of summer until winter, you’ll want to lower your lawnmower another level.
This cuts the grass shorter and shorter gradually without causing shock to it by cutting it down all at once. Short grass for the winter is ideal. Otherwise, mice and other pests and rodents will find comfort in your tall grass.
If your grass is left tall, these pests will make themselves a home in your lawn leaving dead spots. The short grass will also help protect any new growth that’s still fragile at the end of the winter.
4. Water It and Keep It Clean
After laying down the fertilizer and cutting the grass to a nice length, you should then water it. Water your awn evenly and ensure that it doesn’t dry out. You then need to do what you can to keep the lawn clean.
All debris and furniture items should be removed from the lawn for the up and coming winter months. Because fall is now near its end, your lawn most likely has dead leaves on it that have fallen from your trees. Be sure to rake these leaves up and remove them from your lawn.
Leaves that are wet and left on your lawn can cause diseases to grow. And dry leaves that are left on your lawn can suffocate it, causing it to die. If the leaves are all dry, you can consider going over them with your mower to break them down into tiny pieces that will then give back nutrients to your lawn.
However, this is only something that can be done with dry leaves.
5. Keep Traffic to a Minimum
Even brown and dying grass shouldn’t be walked on. Your lawn is resilient to many things, but if heavy traffic remains consistent on one area of your lawn, then it’ll have a hard time growing back. To keep traffic to a minimum, be sure to clean off all sidewalks and walkways to your home.
This will prevent people from feeling tempted to walk through your yard instead.
6. Monitor Conditions
Always keep an eye on the weather conditions. Although your lawn is strong and able to withstand a good amount of winter force, there are times when too much is simply too much. To avoid major lawn damages, monitor weather conditions on a consistent basis.
If you know that a major ice storm is coming, take the time to chip away at formed ice on low spots on your lawn.
7. Prepare Ahead of Time
All of these steps listed above are crucial for keeping your lawn in its best shape during the winter. However, if you don’t prepare ahead of time, these steps won’t be beneficial. Prepare for the winter before it reaches your lawn.
Have your winter lawn care plan set in place and ready to go the moment you feel that crispness in the air.
Follow These Winter Lawn Care Tips!
There is hope for your lawn in the winter! Follow these winter lawn care tips for the best results after the snow melts away.
Need help from the professionals to ensure that your lawn stays as healthy as possible during the winter season? Click here to receive your free quote and learn how we can help you!
