It’s that’s time again, folks! The end of year yard clean-up. While most people assume cleaning up their yard right before winter is due to aesthetics (nobody likes soggy leaves sitting atop their grass – yuck!) there is actually a reason why cleaning up the yard is important. Caring for your lawn during the wintertime, or even in preparation for winter, can be just as important as caring for your lawn during the remainder of the year. Winter care can save you tons of time, money and hassle in just a few short steps.
Winter Fertilization
It is important for lawn care to extend into the winter months with a winter fertilization schedule, especially if you have cool season grass. Most lawns have a blend of grass and with some cool season types incorporated, which is why fertilization is important. Right before the first freeze, fertilization is key. Give your yard a solid fertilizing in order to replace the nutrients that essentially get lost during those hot, dry summer months. Once the weather starts to get cold, then the fertilizer and nutrients stay in the soil all winter long. It’s a win-win for your yard.
Keeping It Clean is Key
Cleaning up your yard before winter is essential for good growth and proper care for when spring rolls around. This includes cleaning up all the leaves that have fallen during the autumn months. If leaves or other objects are left on the yard, then dead spots can form creating not only an ugly hole that will need reparation, but also a lot of time and headache once the weather gets warmer. Prepare to remove all debris and other objects from your lawn before the final mow of the year. Rake carefully, as grass can be extra sensitive during the colder months. But make sure to get all the pesky fallen leaves to avoid killing the grass they cover.
Best Strategies for Winter Mowing
You’re not really going to need to mow your lawn during the winter months so that’s a relief. But there are a few key steps to use to care for your lawn beginning in summer months. Something to implement ahead of time with mowing your lawn is to lower the cutting blade slowly starting at the end of summer. This means that by the time winter rolls around, the lawn will be short enough to last throughout the winter months and not be shocked by one very short cutting. A gradual cutting will ease the lawn into a cut shorter. The problem with leaving your lawn too high during winter months is that field pests, rodents, and sometimes birds can even use the tall grass for their homes and create dead spots to build nests. Shorter grass is also helpful because it protects any new growth that can be a headache long term without the proper growing conditions.
Fall Preparation Strategies
Since there isn’t much that needs to be done during the winter, a bulk of the responsibilities can be completed during the fall months or at the end of fall. This includes things such as aerating, fertilizing, and mowing the lawn before the first freeze of the season. Also it’s important to make sure that everyone in your family treats the yard with care during the winter months, including avoiding excessive traffic over the lawn. Try not to let anyone walk on the grass too much, especially when it is brown or shorter in length. This can eventually damage the lawn beyond repair and create a huge hassle when spring rolls around.
Give us a call today or contact us via the website to get a quote on getting your yard cleaned up this week.
