Top 5 Winter Lawn Care Tips
In winter, it’s difficult to know the level of lawn care your garden requires- should you stay off it altogether, or should you be constantly maintaining it to keep it healthy?
Due to the drop in temperatures and lack of sunlight, your lawn goes into a period of winter dormancy during the colder season, meaning that there won’t be as many lawn care tasks that need doing in comparison to spring, summer and autumn.
However, staying on top of basic lawn maintenance is crucial for a healthy, happy lawn that’s ready for when spring rolls back around.
:: Clearing
During winter, it’s important to try and keep off your grass as much as possible, especially in excessively damp or frosty conditions as this can cause soil compaction or stunted root growth which damages your lawn.
However, it’s also important to keep your lawn clear of fallen winter debris like leaves or twigs so that they don’t smother the grass and minimise airflow to your lawn.
You should rake or brush the lawn regularly to keep on top of this build up, or manually clear any larger debris.
Leaving excessive amounts of debris on your lawn can cause a number of issues. Thatch build up may occur which you’ll need to scarify to remove, or it can increase the risk of fungal diseases developing.
Fungal lawn diseases can become more prevalent in winter. Especially Snow Mould which (hence the name) appears in periods of heavy snowfall where the cold, damp climate and lack of airflow makes it an ideal breeding ground for the disease to take hold.
Snow mould creates dead patches of grass on your lawn which unfortunately don’t recover. Tell-tale signs to look out for are fluffy spider-web like strands with the texture of cotton wool on your lawn.
The best way to prevent these fungal diseases is by keeping on top of the lawn maintenance throughout winter. Clearing the lawn regularly will discourage the humid conditions the disease needs to thrive.
If you get to the end of winter and are discovering areas where your lawn has been affected by snow mould, luckily, the damage is primarily cosmetic and by keeping up with good lawn practises, you can help encourage new growth and 'outgrow' the infected blades.
You can also overseed the damaged areas to inspire re-growth if your lawn does not recover naturally.
:: Watering
In periods of heavy rain over winter, it’s very unlikely that you’ll need to water your garden at all.
Instead, your focus will likely be on preventing your lawn from becoming waterlogged with the sheer amount of rainfall and limited sunlight you can expect from a British winter climate.
During winter dormancy, your grass won’t be actively growing, so will be absorbing water a lot slower than normal, meaning that the soil takes longer to dry out. Not only does this mean that you won’t need to manually water it but also, with heavy rainfall, the ground can quickly become unsuitable for a healthy lawn to thrive in.
You may spot the following overwatering signs:
- Compact, clay-like and moist soil. Water may pool on top of these areas and cause the ground to become muddy.
- Water pooling in areas of uneven ground. Identifying these puddles helps acknowledge which areas may need levelling to resolve waterlogging.
- Spongy soggy soil that leaves an imprint when stood on.
- Rotted, mushy brown roots that have been sat in wet soil & smothered. (Root rot)
If you’re noticing any of these overwatering signs, your lawn may be struggling to cope with the volume of water. You may find that the waterlogged areas clear up naturally when it is left to dry out but if not, you can aerate the lawn with a garden fork to encourage drainage.
Spring and autumn are ideal times to aerate your lawn as the soil is a perfect consistency for the garden fork to pierce the ground. Aerating in winter may provide difficult if the ground is compacted or frozen and may even go as far as damaging both your grass roots and your aerating tool.
However, if you must aerate during winter, we’d recommend waiting until a mild winter afternoon when the sun has had time to warm the ground. This means you won’t need to use excessive force to get the fork into the ground as the soil should be loose enough to aerate successfully.
:: Weeding
During winter dormancy, not only does your grass growth slow but weed growth slows too. This means that it’s an ideal time to tackle them so that they’re unable to grow even more rampantly in spring.
To limit weed growth in winter, make sure to keep on top of clearing your lawn of debris and thatch build up as it can become a breeding ground for weed growth if not maintained.
Moist, loose soil can make it easier to pull weeds out by the root, so this process is best done in milder and wetter winter temperatures, rather than during a frost. If you make sure you’ve removed the entire root of the weed, this will eradicate them entirely so that they won't grow back.
You can tackle weeds by hand, with specialist tools or with DIY solutions.
If you’re pulling them out by hand, you should target visible, late growth weeds like dandelions or thistles (though you might want to wear gloves!) so that they’re easier to pull out as a whole.
Dig around the plant to loosen the root system and then pull the weed out with as much of the roots intact as possible.
You can also use standard garden tools like a hoe, trowel or fork to loosen the weed from the ground, though they may not be as precise as hand pulling. You can also look into specifically designed hand weeding tools that are designed for easy and quick removal.
You can also use DIY eco-friendly weed killing options, though they are best used on early growth weeds and re-applied until the weed is fully dead for full efficacy.
Boiling Water or Steam:
If applied directly to the weed, the hot water scalds and kills the weed. Hot water leaves no chemical residue behind and is an easy, sustainable option for weed control.
Salt:
Salt will severely dehydrate the plant, stunting its growth and ability to retain water. However, if it is used in excess, it can potentially damage the surrounding areas as it leaves residue behind in the soil.
Vinegar or Lemon Juice:
The acid in vinegar and lemon juice will dry out the surrounding area of the plant, shutting off moisture absorption and slowly killing it. They're great DIY alternatives as they’re a readily available household item.
:: Feeding
As a general rule, fertilising your lawn should be done sparingly and only when your grass needs it- a common mistake is to apply lots of fertiliser in winter to give your grass a boost throughout the season but too much fertiliser can actually harm rather than help your lawn.
The best times to fertilise your grass is either in early spring, to give the lawn a boost coming out of winter and into the growing season or in early autumn when your grass is still actively growing and can absorb the nutrients, storing them ready for winter.
Your lawn will be in winter dormancy through November-December so it won’t need any extra nutrients adding to it, especially in frosty conditions as feed cannot be absorbed into frozen ground.
Constantly applying feed year-round can lead to a build-up in the soil, affecting the nutrient balance needed for your lawn to thrive so it’s important to seasonally time your feeds.
You should fertilise your lawn in early autumn ready for winter and use a feed that is different from the one that you’ve used earlier in the year, as your soil may need different nutrients now.
To make sure you're tailoring your feed to your lawn's needs, you should test the pH of your soil and see what nutrients it’s deficient in.
A pre-winter feed that is high in potassium will help make the grass hardier and more resistant to tougher weather conditions. Having iron in the feed will help green up your blades and making sure there are only low amounts of nitrogen will ensure that the grass blades aren't growing excessively long during winter dormancy.
Once you’ve fertilised your lawn in early autumn, it will not need fertilising again until early spring.
:: Mowing
You should mow your lawn for the final time before winter in late autumn (September / November) on a high mower setting. This is to make sure that you’re not taking too much of the length off as your lawn begins to stop growing.
You should not take more than a 1/3 of the length off at any one time as this can potentially scalp your lawn. Scalping is when you cut your lawn extremely short that it stresses the grass blades and stunts growth, creating brown unsightly patches where the grass does not grow back evenly.
In December to February you should not mow your lawn as your grass will have actively stopped growing and the winter climate isn't suitable for cutting grass. If you try to mow wet, frosty ground, you can risk compacting the soil and stunting the grass growth for when the growing season begins again.
If you do have to mow during winter, it’s best to wait for a dry, sunny winters day and to give it light, infrequent mows so that you’re only taking a small amount of length off each time. You should never mow when the ground is wet as the grass is heavy and clumps together which produces uneven and wonky results.
You can look to mow again in around late February when the temperature rises and you notice that your grass is beginning to grow.
Keeping on top of your basic lawn maintenance during winter will ensure you have a happy and healthy lawn that's ready to rock when spring rolls back around. You’ll also find that, with less gardening work to do overall, winter is also a great time to service and maintain your garden tools / lawn mower ready for spring.
