Getting Your Lawn Ready for Winter

A focus on fall maintenance helps you get a quick, trouble-free start next spring.

Now that fall is coming to a close and winter weather is headed your way, it’s time to start thinking about lawn prep. In order to get the most out of thespring growing season, it’s important to take precautionary steps and make the most out of available mulching materials. Here’s how.

1. Mow Often and Low: Most people slow down their mowing routines as fall hits, and that’s okay. However, you want to keep your grass no more than 1 to 1.5 inches high in order to determine how much composting and aerating you’ll need to do. Don’t shock the blades by chopping them all down at once. Instead, mow often enough and with gradually lowered blades to get the grass to the desired length without damage.
2. Rake and/or Mulch the Leaves: Don’t let leaves take over your lawn and destroy what’s left of the growing season. Rake them, or mulch them in order to put the nutrients back into the ground. Mulching can also be beneficial when you want to protect your grass against rapidly decreasing temperatures.
3. Aerate the Lawn: Aeration is almost always done in fall because it allows you to take advantage of looser, moister conditions to loosen the soil. For a healthy, lush lawns, professionals recommend annual aeration.
4. Prep and Overseed: Now is the time to address bare patches in the lawn and overseed for next year’s growth. Ideally, this should be done six to eight weeks before the first hard freeze so new grass roots can get established.
5. Remove Annuals: All those beautiful annual flowers you put in this year are ready to be removed. It can be difficult to say goodbye (especially if you put a lot of working into planting them), but it’s best to give the soil time to rest over the winter. It will also make it easier to plant anew next year.
6. Protect Delicate Plants: If you live somewhere with heavy snowfall and cold temperatures, you may want to protect some of your more delicate and potted plants against the elements. Insulation can be as simple as mulch or leftover leaves laid over the top, or as complicated as carefully laid burlap over rose bushes.
7. Close off Foot Traffic: Your lawn is more likely to survive the harsh winter if you keep foot traffic off. It’s very easy to turn a brown lawn into a mud pit if too many people take shortcuts over your grass. Keep sidewalks and walkways clear to avoid too much damage.

After your hard work is done, you can sit back and enjoy what’s left of your outdoor season. Winter lawn care tends to transition to winter sidewalk and driveway care, so it won’t be long before you’re pulling out the rotary broom instead of your lawn mower!