Why You Need To Take Care Of Your Lawn This Winter

Now that the leaves have fallen — and some of our lawns are covered in snow — it’s easy to forget about lawn maintenance. However, lawn maintenance doesn’t start in the spring and end in the fall. Winter is an important time to protect your lawn and grass from the cold by ensuring it can handle weeks or months of frigid temperatures.

If you want to keep your lawn healthy through the colder months so it’s ready for next spring, follow these best practices for winter lawn care. And if you really want the best lawn on the block, find a top-rated lawn care pro using Thumbtack, a home services app used by millions.

What Happens to Grass in the Winter?

While grass looks dead during the colder months — all brown and brittle, the opposite of healthy and green — chances are it’s really just dormant. Grass goes into a sort of hibernation during the winter to conserve its nutrients. Homeowners can also see this in the summer. While the grass is dormant, homeowners should take special care to ensure they give it the best chance to thrive once spring weather arrives.

Why Lawn Care Is Vitally Important in the Winter

Fallen Leaves Can Damage Your Lawn

Leaves that fall from trees before and during the winter months can suffocate your lawn and cause damage. Leaves that become wet under rain, snow or ice can invite disease into the soil of your lawn, trees and plants, which can become a big problem in the springtime.

That’s why raking, gathering and disposing of the leaves on your property is especially important for homes with a significant number of trees on their lawns. Raking during the fall also helps eliminate lawn thatch (dead grass above the soil).

Most of the time, leaves can be run over with a mower and used as a fertilizer of sorts. If your mower can grind them into dime-size or smaller pieces, feel free to run over the leaves with your lawnmower and recycle their nutrients back into the lawn. If they’re too big, wet or heavy to do so, gather and remove them.

Long Grass Might Lead to Snow Mold

Long grass in the wintertime can invite damaging issues you won’t want to deal with come spring. Shorter turf doesn’t invite snow mold, which is a cold-weather fungus that usually affects cool-season grasses, according to the University of Massachusetts Amherst. That “sweet spot” between short and long grass is also important to hit so it can weather the cold.

It’s important to continue mowing your lawn into late fall. As a rule of thumb for both cool-season and warm-season grasses, don’t stop mowing until the grass stops growing.

Cut grass shorter than normal, but be careful not to cut it too close to the soil, or you risk damaging or killing the grass. If you don’t want to worry about this task, there are plenty of local lawn care companies that can help you keep up with mowing throughout the fall and early winter.

Your Grass Needs Proper Nutrients Before It Goes Dormant

Grass goes into a sort of “hibernation” during the winter months, so fertilizing after aeration before the weather gets too cold gives the grass a chance to fully absorb the nutrients and store them during the winter months. Come spring, the grass can start using the nutrients it stored, giving it a head start at coming back lush.

After mowing and aerating your lawn, it’s time to fertilize it. It’s important to know what type of grass your lawn is made up of, since cool-season grasses and warm-season grasses have different needs.

Cool-season grasses should be fertilized during fall. In fact, that’s the peak time for fertilization of cool-season grasses, according to Purdue University. Warm-season grasses, however, have a very small window of fertilization in the fall. It’s best to fertilize warm-season grasses near the end of September at the latest to give the grass time to “harden off.”

Weeds Can Still Grow During the Winter

You may need to do some weeding in the winter, especially if you live in a warmer climate. Herbicides can be more useful in warmer winter temperatures. Make sure to read the instructions on the back of herbicides, especially if you’re spot-treating a weed area, to know when and how the repellant can be most effective. Weeding is easier in the late fall and winter because you have a better chance of catching their growth before germination.

Walking Too Much Over Frosted Grass May Lead to Spring Growth Issues

Significant traffic on the same path will break even the strongest blades of grass and cause growing issues come spring. As much as possible, try to limit the traffic over frozen or frosted grass. While it won’t kill the grass, repeated traffic will disfigure the grass and may cause it to grow back odd.

Start Planning Your Winter Lawn Care Routine Early

The best winter lawn care plan starts before winter — ideally before the first frost. Two things to absolutely do before the cold descends is to mow and aerate.

A few weeks before the first frost, gradually lower the blade of your lawnmower each time you mow to ensure that rodents such as squirrels, rats and chipmunks don’t seek shelter in taller grass in your yard for winter. Aerating a lawn is an important process in which the water, nutrients and air that grass needs flow more freely through the soil.

Depending on the type of grass you have on your lawn (cool-season grass or warm-season grass), aerating and mowing will differ. Planning early gives you and your lawn time to prepare for the cold, understand what your specific type of grass needs for dormant season and gives your lawn the best chance for a strong regrowth.

If you’re considering hiring a pro to get your lawn in tip-top shape before the first frost, Thumbtack makes searching for top-rated professionals near you simple. With a quick search on Thumbtack, you’ll have access to verified reviews, so you know exactly what other people in your community thought of the lawn services you have in mind. You’re even able to see the estimated cost of lawn services in your area.

Need Help With Winter Lawn Care? Turn To Thumbtack

Now that you're equipped with some ways to protect your lawn from the ice and cold, let Thumbtack connect you to top-rated professionals who can put your lawn care plan into action.

Thumbtack’s hyperlocal lawn care search can help you find the lawn care pro you need to get your outdoor space into shape for winter. Using its website or app, you’re able to chat directly with pros to discuss project details. You can then check availability and book a project to ensure that your lawn remains healthy well into spring.

Ready To Winterize Your Lawn? Visit Thumbtack Today To Find A Top-Rated Lawn Pro In Your City