With the cold months quickly approaching, it’s common for lawn and yard care to fall down on the list of priorities. For many, the arrival of cold weather means putting away the lawnmower until spring.
Still, there are a few tricks for maintaining your lawn in the cold months to ensure you have a beautiful and lush yard once spring arrives. In this guide, we at Absolute Landscape and Turf Services Inc. go over a few maintenance tips to keep you busy this fall and winter.
- Keep mowing
The final day of mowing depends on the condition of your lawn and your kind of grass. For example, bluegrass will continue to grow (albeit slowly) in the colder months. Regular mowing keeps your lawn litter-free and ensures that your grass height is low enough to discourage fungus growth. You will most likely be able to park that lawnmower for good towards the end of November or the beginning of December, depending on fall temperatures.
- Fertilize
We usually recommend giving your lawn a complete round of fertilizing to replenish nutrients lost in the soil during the summer. Potassium-rich fertilizer is ideal for cold months, as it helps support root growth in harsh weather. If you are not sure about what kind of fertilizer to use, call our experts at Absolute for more information.
- Mulch
Raking will be your primary lawn maintenance chore in the fall and until winter. Fortunately, excess leaves need not be the bane of your existence, as you can let them do your mulching for you.
Allowing leaves to disintegrate into the soil is the easiest way to ensure your lawn stays nourished once the frost sets in. But you need to be very careful with the thickness of your mulch and amount of leaves left on your yard. Too many leaves will cause dampness in the soil, which will promote mold growth and do more harm than good.
- Aerate your lawn
Aeration simply refers to the process of opening up the soil to let it “breathe,” which allows the roots to grow while also improving drainage. Note that you should only consider aeration if your lawn is prone to compaction. You should also consider adding quality seed, which helps create a stronger yard that is able to resist weed growth.
- Test your soil
Fall is a great time to conduct a few pH tests on your lawn soil. Doing so will let you know if you need to lower your soil’s acidity, and if so, how much lime you will need to apply. Soil testing tends to turn people off because of how technical it sounds, but in truth, it’s actually an easy process that you can learn more about here.
For more lawn care maintenance pointers for autumn and winter, call our gardening experts!