Tips for Caring for Your Yard This Winter
Don’t ignore your lawn just because it’s cold outside. Follow these winter lawn care tips to prepare your lawn for the spring by focusing on aeration, fertilization, and more.
Aerate & Fertilize
Before the first snow hits, aerate your lawn. This will allow the roots to get some much-needed nutrients and oxygen before winter. After you have aerated, make sure to spread a winter fertilizer around the yard. Fertilizing in the winter helps grass store the nutrients it needs to grow back healthy in the spring.
Winter fertilization is an important part of keeping your yard healthy through the cold season. As winter winds down and snow vanishes, snow mold could threaten your yard. This fungus arises in wet, cold weather. Treatment for snow mold involves the use of special fungicides and seeding strategies.
Winterize your lawn mower
If you failed to winterize your lawn mower in the fall, it is not too late. Keeping your lawn mower functioning properly and the mower blades sharp will ensure that your grass is evenly cut, helping prevent disease and improving the overall look of your yard.
Keep Your Lawn Clean
Make sure to remove any leaves that have piled up in your yard in the fall which can smother your lawn. Wet leaves can also result in lawn disease. Store any furniture inside and remove debris from the lawn as well.
High traffic areas of grass can be harmful to the grass come spring. Avoid walking on grass covered by ice or snow by providing clear paths on sidewalks and driveways.
Winter Lawn Care Watering
Have you ever thought of watering your lawn during the winter? Well, there is a time when watering your lawn in the winter is essential. If your area is experiencing a winter drought you should deeply water your lawn on a day that’s above 40°F. This will ensure that your lawn won’t dry out, especially in its first winter. Be sure to keep your lawn soil moist.
Plan for the Year Ahead
Lawns and trees may not need as much attention during the wintertime. But even though there may be less need, it is an ideal time to make plans for lawn care throughout the year. Winter is also a great time to care for your trees and shrubs to promote root growth. Winter lawn care tips from Lawn Doctor’s experienced professionals can enable you to create a strategy to keep your landscape healthy all year. Contact Lawn Doctor today for a FREE Lawn Evaluation.
Winter Yard Care Glossary
- Anti-desiccant – Anti-desiccants is a type of foliage spray that works to help trees maintain moisture in colder conditions.
- Lawn Aeration – Aerating your lawn refers to removing plugs of soil to eliminate the compaction of the soil to allow for access to nutrients, oxygen, and water.
- Lawn Fertilization – An application that promotes plant and turf growth through proper and periodic use. Lawn fertilization is a key strategy for preventing snow mold.
- Micro-nutrients – Essential nutrients that are planted in small amounts to grow properly.
- Power Seeding – Power seeding refers to a technique used to apply seed to a yard by incorporating turning up the soil to achieve the correct seed-to-soil contact. Lawn Doctor’s exclusive Turf Tamer service equipment is used for easy but effective power seeding.
- Pre-emergent weed control – Preventative treatment to stop future weed growth
- Reseeding – The use of grass seed to thicken the more thin areas of your lawn.
- Snow mold – A fungus type disease caused by a fungus that develops in wet, cold weather. If left untreated it can lead to root rotting under winter snows.
- Soil enrichment – Enhancing the quality and health of your soil by the addition of organic supplements and microbes
Winter Lawn Care Services for Everyone
Our Lawn Maintainer Care programs provide basic lawn services, while our Lawn Custom Care programs address more complicated issues.
Contact Lawn Doctor for your FREE Lawn Evaluation to learn more about local yard services.