How to do Winter Lawn Maintenance Yourself: 5 easy tips for beginners
Read MorePosted on: Nov 02, 2020Jordyn Rowntree
It’s never easy doing Winter lawn maintenance when you don’t know where to get started. A change of season, especially one that can be as drastic as winter, can bring with it a host of new issues you don’t have to deal with during the rest of the year. The biggest of these being the additional variable of snow.
However, this is not a reason to get overwhelmed, rather, it’s a reason to stick to the basics—tried and true methods that will keep your lawn healthy. Here are 5 tips to do just that.
Fertilize Before the Long Freeze
Many of the things most crucial to winter lawn maintenance come prior to the first frost or freeze of the year. This is true of applying fertilizer to your lawn, as well as mowing and aerating it (which will be covered in the following two sections).
This should be the final application of fertilizer of the year and should take place when the temperature is still mild so that the grass responds to it by absorbing the necessary nutrients and minerals.
Mowing Before the Long Freeze
Carefully mow your lawn as winter approaches. Cut your grass too short and you expose it to harsh winter conditions, leave it too long and it will suffocate, causing disease. The grass should be cut only slightly shorter than normal and then left alone once frost arrives.
Aerate Before the Long Freeze
A third tip to keeping your lawn healthy for the winter to come is to aerate it. Assisting your grassroots in getting access to some air, water, and nutrients via holes made in the soil, one final time, goes a long way towards keeping your lawn healthy during the cold months to come. This can be done manually or with a motorized aerator.
Clear the Lawn and Store the Equipment
The final thing to do for winter lawn maintenance prior to the onset of winter is to make sure that your lawn is clear of everything, this includes leaves, objects and, of course, equipment. The equipment and supplies should be safely stored away for the duration of winter to avoid them sustaining damage due to the severe temperature.
Avoid Walking on the Lawn
Winter lawn maintenance is not always what you do, it’s also what you don’t. During winter, particularly if your lawn is frozen or covered in snow, avoid walking on your lawn. Frozen grass is brittle and can easily be damaged when trodden upon, which in turn makes it susceptible to disease.