How to Prepare Your Lawn for Winter in Harrisonburg
Through the jingle and cheer of the holidays and intermittent snowfall in the coming months, not many homeowners think about how their lawn is doing or whether it is set up to look great for the coming spring.
Then comes a warm weekend at the beginning of March, and we fire up our lawnmowers (if they start) and eagerly buy the first product we see on the store shelf to make our yard as green and lush as our neighbors’. Sound familiar?
Let’s roll this timeline back to really make our work count toward the coming spring by fully preparing our lawn for winter. A few quick things to check off as you prepare to put your lawn tools and mower away for the coldest months of the year:
Pre-Winter Lawn Prep Checklist:
1. Aerate & Overseed in The Fall, Before Halloween, if You’re Able.
Core aeration is the most important treatment for any lawn, and overseeding it just before a rain in early fall can make an incredible difference that will show the following growing season.
Just as our lungs need oxygen, aeration feeds the grass roots and helps ease compaction. Want to go a step further? Apply 1/2″ to 1” of compost in worn or struggling parts of your lawn.
2. Fertilizing in The Fall Does More Good Than in Spring.
As I referenced above, during the winter downtime, we often get eager to buy quick-fix products in spring that make our grass look greener in the short term, but they often don’t last without much favor from Mother Nature.
Ultimately, fertilizer is best applied in fall months, as it helps replenish grasses stressed by the previous summer and feeds our desirable cool-season grasses (Fescue, Bluegrass) rather than warm-season undesirables (Bermuda/Wiregrass, Crabgrass, etc.).
3. Remove or Chop Up All Leaf Litter & Debris.
Leaves block sunlight and inhibit airflow. So an important thing to do before winter is to remove or chop up leaves to encourage breakdown. This task is much easier while the leaves are dry, rather than waiting until after winter rain and snowfall, when they become much heavier.
4. Mow One More Time Near Thanksgiving.
It might be at a turtle’s pace, but your grass does grow between Halloween and Christmas. I’ll admit it excites me to look outside and not see my grass during the first snowfall. Something about not seeing the grass makes me think, “We are getting a lot of snow.” Ultimately, for ease of removing leaves or to keep neighbors’ leaves from blowing into your yard and getting stuck, it truly helps to mow your grass down to 2-3” for winter months (as opposed to 3.5-4” for the growing season).
5. Service Your Mower Before March.
Take your mower to a shop in April, and you may not like the timeline they give you to fix it. Take it to them in January or February, and you may get back within a day or two. Start your lawn mower every few weeks, particularly after a harsh cold spell has passed. Do a trial run in February to make sure you’re ready to go at the end of March.
Call Shreckhise Landscape & Design In Weyers Cave For Lawn Care Advice
Follow these steps, and your lawn should be in good shape for spring. Got questions? Contact Shreckhise Landscape & Design in Weyers Cave, VA at (540) 234-9911 or get a quote today.
Article Written By: Trent Shreckhise, Owner/Designer
