Winter is coming! Winter affects every form of life on earth, including your lawn. The yard is a part of the house, and it deserves proper care during winter.
To protect your lawn from winter damage, you need to prepare for this season in advance.
There are several practices you can do before winter arrives to protect your lawn. Other practices you’ll do during winter and other cold months.
We’ve put together a list of tips on how to protect lawn during winter. They will help you save money and effort by doing most of the preparation long before the snow starts falling or temperatures drop below freezing point.
Contents
- Tips on How to Protect Lawn During Winter
- 1. Mow before the snow kicks in
- 2. Reduce traffic on the lawn
- 3. Fertilize your lawn before
- 4. Aerate your lawn
- 5. Plant dead areas of the lawn
- 6. Raking leaves
- 7. Watering your lawn
- 8. Practice consistent weeding
- FAQ
- 1. Does snow cover protect grass?
- 2. Is snow bad for grass?
- 3. How to keep lawn green during winter
- Author
Tips on How to Protect Lawn During Winter
1. Mow before the snow kicks in
One common mistake homeowners make during winter is not mowing their lawn before the snow kicks in.
Mowing your lawn before winter hits is important because there won’t be any grass sticking out above the snow when it snows.
Grass that is cut shorter will have a harder time freezing, which means you can simply clear away the snow with ease. If you don’t mow your grass before winter, it can easily break when it snows.
2. Reduce traffic on the lawn
The best thing you can do during winter is to reduce traffic on your lawn as much as possible.
There’s no need to mow the lawn every week. You can maintain the lawn at a height of 2-3 inches during winter.
Avoid walking or driving on your lawn as much as possible. Instead, use the walkways. Also, don’t park the car on the lawn.
If you can’t remove all foot traffic, make sure to keep some sod or soil un-compacted around the grass. Also, avoid using snow meters on a lawn during winter.
3. Fertilize your lawn before
Another great way to protect your lawn during winter is to apply fertilizer before winter.
Fertilizing your lawn during fall will allow the fertilizer to sit on the roots throughout winter. This will give plants nutrients when they need them most.
Winter is the best time to fertilize because fertilizer helps maintain your lawn during winter and prepares it for spring. This helps you maintain a green lawn during the cold months.
Ensure to use a fertilizer that is rich in nitrogen.
What to do with old lawn fertilizer
4. Aerate your lawn
Aerating your lawn before winter will help oxidize the soil before it gets compact. This is especially important for clay soils, which get very hard in cold periods.
Before starting your lawn aerator tool, remove all grass clippings, rocks, and debris from the lawn. If there’s any excess moisture on the lawn, it’s best to wait until it completely dries before you start the aerating process.
Soil aeration also reduces soil compactness, thus allowing roots to penetrate and absorb nutrients.
5. Plant dead areas of the lawn
Another great thing you can do is to plant dead areas of the lawn before winter. If your lawn has dead patches, now is the best time to fix them.
You can either remove the dead areas of grass or replace large spots with fresh sod or seeds.
Planting before winter is great because it’s hard for young plants to withstand the cold temperatures.
When spring comes, you’ll be able to see the results of all your hard work, and it’s likely that your lawn will look greener than before.
6. Raking leaves
An additional thing you can do is rake the leaves off your lawn.
Leaves usually do a great job of blocking sunlight from passing through, so you should either rake them or mow over them to prevent this from happening.
Pile the leaves somewhere else, and don’t let them pile up on top of each other – if possible, compost the leaves instead.
7. Watering your lawn
Maintenance practices are the best way to take care of your lawn during winter. So you should water your lawn before and during winter.
Watering your lawn is vital because the water needs to go down at least twelve inches into the soil. This will help you beat the winter drought.
You can create a winter watering schedule and follow it to the latter.
Water lawn without an irrigation system
8. Practice consistent weeding
Weeds are a severe problem in lawns throughout the year. But during winter, weeds need to be removed as soon as possible, or they will spread their seeds.
If you spot a weed while it’s still small, use a weeding tool to uproot the entire root system at once.
If there are young weeds on your lawn, consider covering them with mulch. Mulching will choke out the weeds and stop them from spreading their seeds once winter ends.
You can also get rid of the weeds and grass by using an aggressive approach, like applying a pre-emergence herbicide.
FAQ
1. Does snow cover protect grass?
Yes, snow cover protects grass, especially during heavy snow. Snow cover provides the grass with insulation during subzero wind chills and low temperatures. This helps maintain a balanced environment for microorganisms like earthworms in the grass.
2. Is snow bad for grass?
Yes, snow is bad for grass because when it forms ice, it tears and breaks grass. Because snow is heavy, it destroys grass tissues, thus leading to stunted growth in grass.
3. How to keep lawn green during winter
The best thing you can do to keep your lawn green during winter is by taking care of your lawn thought-out the year.
Maintenance practices like fertilizer application, watering, weeding, mowing, raking, and aeration are the best ways to keep your lawn green during winter.
Also, use a deicer to get rid of salt and ice, which threatens the quality of the grass.
We hope you’ve found this article helpful and that it’s given you some ideas on how to protect lawn during winter.
The best way to protect your lawn during winter is by performing maintenance practices like mowing, watering, fertilizing, and weeding on your lawn before and after winter.
Also, replant dead areas, reduce traffic from the lawn, aerate the lawn, and mow your lawn for the best results.
