If you live in an area anywhere that gets cold weather, usually in northern states, you’ll want to prepare your lawn for the winter months. You spend much of your time maintaining your yard so that it looks pristine in the summer. Why not save as much as you can by preparing your lawn for winter?
Couldn’t you just leave your lawn as it is over winter and deal with it when everything defrosts? Sure you can. However, all that hard work this past summer will likely go to waste.
Preparing your lawn for winter will help keep the grass strong and healthy, so that when the snow melts and the ground thaws, you’re already multiple steps ahead.
To help you prepare for the cold, here are five tips for preparing your lawn for winter.
Water Less Frequently
We already know that watering your lawn less frequently is actually better to promote strong grass. As the season’s change and the weather cools though, you want to water the grass even less, or even stopping altogether. You run the risk of the water freezing if you keep watering your lawn when it gets cold. Also, it will help the grass go into hibernation mode quicker.
Clean Up the Lawn
Before the snow falls, you should get your lawn tidied up. This means raking up leaves and moss that gathered during fall. Remove anything that would compact the ground which could lead to dead patches in the spring.
Pull and remove any weeds that you find. You want the grass to be able to feed off of the nutrients in the soil come spring, and not have to share with pesky weeds.
Aerate the Soil
Aerating the soil is a beneficial step to not just preparing your lawn for winter, but to ensure you have a successful lawn in the summer. Aerating allows more oxygen to seep back into the ground, which is essential for the grass to grow.
Use an Organic Fertilizer
To give your grass a boost for next spring, add a layer of organic fertilizer before the coming winter. As the snow melts and moisture seeps deep into the ground, it will take the fertilizer with it. Once the roots of the grass blades wake up with the warm weather, it will immediately begin feeding on the fertilizer.
Overseed Before Winter
Overseeding is when you spread grass seed over your existing lawn, or where grass used to grow and no longer does. Doing this before winter is also known as dormant seeding. Seeding before winter is one of the best times to seed your grass.
Dormant seeding helps prepare your lawn for the spring. The new seed will penetrate deeper into the ground as the snow continues to fall. Once the weather begins to heat up, the melting snow mixed with spring rain showers will help to germinate the seed. Typically, during this period, you wouldn’t be seeding your grass. If you used dormant seeding though, the seeds are already there waiting for the defrost to begin.
Follow these five tips to help get your lawn ready for winter. Although it may take additional time and work to complete, it will be worth it in the spring when your lawn is ready to grow.