When the yard is covered in snow, most of us choose to spend our time indoors, wrapped in our blankets, and sipping on our warm beverages.
Lawn care in winters is probably the last thing on our minds when the temperatures outside start to get super chilly.
However, you should consider spending some time on the lawn so that the grass and soil stay healthy until the coming spring and summer months.
Tips for Lawn Care in Winter
If you want a yard that you can take pride in, you should take out some time to learn about lawn care in winters.
Here are some easy and helpful tips that can make sure that your yard stays healthy for the next year.
Fertilizing during Winters
Fertilizing the lawn during winters comes with plenty of benefits, which is why experts suggest that you must not ignore this process.
You need to make sure you use the right fertilizer to cover the lawn during late fall to early winter.
Before the first freeze sets in, you can lock in nutrients from beforehand.
This works similarly to flash-frozen vegetables.
When the snow falls, the ground will freeze and so will the fertilizer you sprayed.
When spring comes, and the snow melts, you will see a healthy and lush lawn under the snow.
Shrubs and Trees
You should note that fertilizer should also be put on any trees and shrubs you have on the property.
The plants will need plenty of nitrogen to survive the cold season.
If the soil is rich in nutrients, it will nourish the plants despite the blanket of cold on top.
You should spray the fertilizer at the base of the plants so that it seeps into the roots.
This will help nourish the plants so that they can do their own thing despite the snow.
Over-Seeding
The fertilizer may be able to help the grass, but what happens to the spots in the lawn that are already damaged or dead?
Once the snow comes, the fertilizer will not help.
In this case, over-seeding may be the best solution in order to tackle the issue head-on.
You are seeding the lawn in preparation for spring.
Best Time to Seed
The best time to seed for the spring is during pre-winters in late August till mid-September.
After the seeds are spread across the lawn, you should water them well until the first frost or snow comes in.
When defrosting occurs, you will have a nice, healthy lawn to work with.
Aerate
The soil becomes thirsty and hard during the dry and warm summer season.
When the winter comes, the soil will have a hard time breathing.
The lawn will turn hard and will be covered in snow; there is no possible way that the roots of your plants will survive that.
What is Aeration?
Aeration is an important part of lawn care in winter.
It occurs when a small portion of the soil is pulled to create pores in the soil.
This helps to make sure that surface soil is open, which can help the root system breathe properly.
It will enhance the process of absorbing the necessary nutrients that you are spraying on the soil.
With aerating, you are essentially creating a ‘root-shoot’ or rhizome.
The better the aeration of the lawn, the better your lawn will be by the end of the winter season.
Raking Your Lawn
Raking is a simple task that is really vital for lawn care in winters.
It helps to maintain the lawn and remove any fallen, dead leaves.
This cleanup process after autumn is important if you’re looking to keep your lawn fresh throughout the winter so that it comes out healthy when the winter season ends.
Raking also plays a major role in stirring up the soil of the surface.
It helps to open the pores of the root system. It is also a great way to prepare the lawn for seeding.
Prepping
If you spray fertilizer or sprinkle seeds on grass that is covered in leaves, it will have no benefits.
The nutrients will be unable to seep deep into the soil.
The soil needs to be raked, and the grass should be trimmed before you attempt to use fertilizer and begin the seeding process.
Weeding
Weeding is also an important preparation tool. If you care about your lawn at all, you should never skip on the weeding process during the autumn months.
Weeds can be quite aggressive in their pursuit of survival, which is why you need to make sure they are gone before the winter season comes.
They tend to pull out all the nutrients in the soil, leaving none behind for the grass.
With weeds, bitter frost, and heavy snow, your lawn will have no chance of surviving.
You should never use a well-system to remove weeds with chemicals.
The chemicals can seep into the water supply, which will impact the quality of the water that you get in your home.
Instead, you should remove the weeds the old-fashioned way: pull them out by hand.
You can use chemicals as long as you don’t have a well-system for your water supply.
Mowing Strategies
For lawn care in winter, it is important that you keep your yard nice and trimmed.
This has many benefits that will help maintain a healthy, lush lawn after the cold season is gone.
You will hurt the grass if you leave it too long for the coming winters. The blades of the grass can fold over under the snow and ice.
This negatively impacts the breathability of the soil, which can cause the grass to die and turn to mush.
During the end of the fall season, you should start to lower the mower’s blade.
You should take care to do this little by little so that the grass gets cut shorter gradually.
If you do it in one go, it can shock the grass and cause it to die before the cold season even arrives.
Critters
Leaving the grass long will also attract critters like mice.
They will come to your lawn to seek refuge from the cold weather.
However, they will definitely destroy your lawn by leaving droppings and burrowing through the soil.
The acidic nature of their urine can also cause serious damage to the grass.
A trimmed lawn will make sure that your grass is able to survive till spring.
Clean Up
When the first snowfall occurs, you may spot some sticks or children’s toys laying around in the snow.
You may think to yourself that you can just collect it in the springtime.
However, this will only result in yellow spots in your lawn where grass has died.
Even sticks can cause the grass to suffocate when snow begins to pile on top.
You should make sure to clean up the lawn before the snow comes in.
This won’t take you too long since all you need to do is remove any debris, garbage, sticks, or toys lying around on the lawn.
This process of lawn care in winter will prove itself in a few months.
The proper cleanup process will ensure that you aren’t left with grass mold, dead spots, and uneven grass.
It can be quite expensive and annoying to deal with dead spots in the spring since you will need to do a complete overhaul.
By simply taking care of the lawn beforehand, you can save yourself a bigger expense and an unpleasant lawn.
Limit Lawn Traffic
Homeowners need to make sure that they keep people off their lawn even when there is snow falling on top of it.
You should make an effort to keep the walkways in your yard free from snow or ice so that everyone can walk on them safely.
If the walkways are blocked, they may have to resort to walking all over your fragile lawn.
If you live in an area where it doesn’t snow, but the grass still gets dead and brown, you should consider putting up signs.
The dead-looking grass may seem like it is okay to walk on it, but even that can damage the grass.
Lawn signs can help make sure to save your grass.
Some people even put up temporary fences around the yard to make sure that no one walks across the grass.
Conclusion Winter Lawn Care
If you are really serious about maintaining your lawn, you should make sure to follow all the tips above.
They are the perfect way to winterize the lawn, which can ensure that you don’t have to waste time and money in the spring to revitalize it.
A little preparation like fertilizing, seeding, raking, and cleaning can make a world of difference when the next season arrives.
Lawn care in the winter is an essential part of being a homeowner.