6 Essential Winter Lawn Care Tips Homeowners Must Follow
Maintaining a healthy and well-maintained lawn is crucial to creating a beautiful outdoor space. Proper lawn care improves air quality, provides a safe environment for children and pets, reduces noise pollution, and boosts a property’s curb appeal.
During the winter, many homeowners think they don’t need to take care of their lawns because it wastes time and energy. Unfortunately, that’s not the truth. Proper lawn maintenance in the winter is crucial for homeowners that want to greet spring with a healthy and beautiful outdoor space.
This article will enumerate six essential winter lawn care tips every homeowner must follow.
1. Be Careful in Snow and Frost
Winter mornings can be freezing, where the cold temperature will stay all day and cause frost to form on your lawn. Walking on frosty grass can lead to broken grass blades, brown patches, and damage to your outdoor property.
You can ensure your lawn gets the best care by not walking on areas with a hard frost. It’s also crucial to remember that while snow may not harm the grass, you must still watch out for snow mold when it thaws.
2. Remove the Leaves
Deciduous trees will shed their leaves as the autumn season progresses. The leaves will accumulate on the grass and can cut off the sunlight needed for the lawn to survive, potentially leading to dead patches of grass.
One lawn care tip everyone must do when fall arrives is to gather them in one place with a rake, mower, or blower. You can bag the dead leaves to create a leaf mold or dispose of them in your green waste bin. For plants sensitive to cold, you can spread the leaves around the plants’ bases to create an insulation layer.
3. Avoid Wet Soil
Like everything else, it’s always better to take precautionary measures to avoid a problem instead of trying to fix it after it has occurred.
During winter, homeowners must reduce foot traffic on wet soil to avoid compacting it and damaging the lawn. Compacted soil will need costly aeration to recover; this process can take months to be effective. This essential lawn care tip can help the grass grow healthier and look better in the summer.
4. Look Out for Fungal Infections
Besides making your lawn look unsightly, fungal infections can cause diseases.
Fusarium patch disease affects grass during the cooler months. Your yard’s vegetation is more prone to this fungal infection because of the lack of essential nutrients. These conditions can also lead to a red thread infection.
You can keep your lawn healthy this winter by inspecting it regularly for any signs of infection, such as white moldy patches or circular rings. Contact your professional lawn care technician immediately to diagnose the issue and use the right treatments if you find any. That way, they can treat it with nutrients or a fungicide.
5. Control the Moss
Moss loves the cold and wet conditions, especially during the colder months. It can also worsen if your lawn already has existing moss and when it grows in dark and damp areas.
You can prevent this issue early by applying a moss control treatment in winter and retreating it in early spring before light spring scarification.
6. Mow the Grass
You should mow the grass in winter if it looks untidy and it hasn’t started snowing yet — this preventive measure helps keep your lawn from looking unsightly. Ensure that it is dry and set the blades as high as possible. This lawn care tip will also help keep debris off the grass and ensure it gets enough sunlight. If you can’t mow due to snow, consider doing some light cutting.
Conclusion
While the winter months may be the best time to relax from hectic schedules, you should never neglect your lawn care routine. Following these tips and working with professionals can let you welcome the new seasons with a healthy outdoor space.
Highland Services Now offers the best lawn care in Rochester, NY, to help homeowners upgrade their homes. Call us now to get a free quote!