Winter Lawn Care Tips
While Winter is a nice period to rest from regular lawn maintenance, it doesn’t mean that you should abandon your lawn altogether. There are things you can do to keep it healthy and ready to shine in the Spring. Here are some Winter lawn care tips from our lawn experts to keep your lawn healthy.
Avoid Unnecessary Lawn Traffic
You should keep equipment and heavy furniture out of your lawn. Even strong grass can become weak when there’s too much traffic. Another trick of keeping people off the lawn is to clear the ice and debris on sidewalks and pathways.
The less you walk on grass during the Winter months, the healthier it will be when it’s time to show off in the Spring.
Fertilize Your Lawn
During the Winter months, you should fertilize the lawn to ensure the grass takes advantage of nutrients once it has broken dormancy. Also, fertilizing will help the lawn take advantage of all the nutrients that may have been lost during the hot summer months.
The roots absorb the nutrients and store them until the Spring season kicks in. If you live in a warm climate, a dose of fertilizer will keep the lawn greener. You should aim to give the grass all the nutrients it needs, and it will come back lush and green.
If you need help or simply don’t want to manage your lawn yourself during the Winter, feel free to give our Modesto lawn service experts a call. We can come by as often as you’d like during the Winter to keep it healthy and prepped for a beautiful Spring!
Keep It Clean
There’s a good chance your lawn will become covered with Fall leaves as your trees shed them. Unfortunately, the leaves that are left on the lawn could suffocate the lawn in Winter. If they are too thick, you should rake and remove them every two weeks, depending on how many leaves are falling.
You can also recycle wet leaves into the lawn. As long as the debris won’t get weighed down by snow, you can take advantage of the chopped leaves. Keep in mind that as the season progresses, the newly fallen leaves could stunt your grass.
Control Your Weeds
You cannot forego weed control during Winter, but you have to use a strategic approach. If there are many weeds on the lawn, you should apply a weed killer. Perhaps you can go online and find some herbicides or read reviews about the most effective solutions.
Besides that, you must consider the grass variety to ensure the herbicide you use is safe. Another effective way of killing weeds is by applying a new layer of fertilizer. Some formulations can fertilize the lawn and kill weeds at the same time. Your task should be to ensure they are compatible with the grass in your lawn.
If you spot some dandelions on the lawn, you can use a spray bottle to pour vinegar. This solution is also effective at killing crabgrass and is a more natural solution.
Cut Your Grass
Your lawn’s grass will grow slowly during Winter, but won’t stop entirely. If it starts to sprout, you don’t have to worry about cutting it – but proceed with caution. Make sure you set the mower blades to cut one-third of the grass length every so often.
Insulate Your Grass With Mulch
During Winter, weather conditions can turn on a dime and may catch even the most experienced gardeners off-guard. Because too much cold can kill the roots of the grass, you can apply some mulch to help insulate them during colder temperatures.
Continue Watering Your Lawn
Instead of watering your lawn in the morning and evening, you can water twice a week. But there’s even a simpler way of telling whether your grass needs more moisture during Winter. When temperatures fall below the freezing level, your lawn can become dormant.
If the Winters are mild, occasional rain can provide the much-needed moisture. But if you live in an area where temperatures remain above 40 degrees, you should water the grass to maintain a healthy lawn.
Your lawn should also show when it’s time to water. If you walk around and see some footprints, it’s time to turn on the sprinklers. If the footprints disappear the moment you turn around, you don’t have to water the lawn.
Aerate Your Lawn
This task involves perforating the soil on the lawn. You just create small holes to facilitate air penetration and the passing of vital nutrients to the roots of the grass. Aeration is a remedy for soil compaction, which prevents the grass from getting the essential nutrients they need for growth. You cannot avoid this process if the lawn was used as a playground for kids during the dry season. Once you break up the layering, there will be an optimal flow of water to the roots.
Before you aerate the lawn, you should clear grass and debris. The tools you use also matter- use spike and plug aerators.
When the Winter season rolls around, some people think it’s pointless to fight nature. But lush lawns don’t appear from luck. They need year-round commitment even during the Winter season. If you follow these basic tips, your lawn will spring back to life once the cold season is over.