It’s not usually necessary to give your lawn the TLC that some of your more delicate plants may need every winter. However, it may still need a helping hand to get through the harshest stretches of cold weather.
Applying fertiliser to damaged lawn is unlikely to help as the slow-growing grass is unlikely to absorb it. The best way to protect your grass is with good lawn care all year round, and a few preventative measures that will ensure your lawn is strong enough to stay green until the spring.
Physical Damage
Most grasses are fairly hardy and will not suffer long-term damage from a coating of frost or snow. However, putting physical strain onto frozen blades is likely to lead to them snapping or becoming very damaged because they become brittle – as the ice crunches, so do they. As such it’s best to avoid walking on grass that is frozen or snowed under. To encourage family and visitors to stay off the lawn in the snow, you could dig a clear path that goes around your lawn rather than over it.
During colder, darker winter months, it becomes harder for your lawn to recover from physical damage because it grows and heals more slowly than during the summer. For these reasons it’s also best to reduce, or completely stop, mowing your lawn between November and March until the weather warms up again.
Preventative
Make sure your lawn is in the best shape possible during the warmer months. It’s really important to keep up with your seasonal lawn feed schedule to keep the grass healthy before the cold weather sets in. This will leave it more able to deal with the damaging effects of frost.
Ensuring that your lawn is well aerated and has the best drainage possible will prevent waterlogging from rapidly melting frost or ice, as well as prevent the possibility of a large amount of water freezing underneath your lawn. As water swells when it freezes, this can cause unsightly cracks and unevenness to appear across the surface of your lawn. Freezing from below can also cause severe root damage.
A little care before the worst frosts arrive is the best way to keep your lawn green all winter. If you would like some more information about any of our lawn care products, give us a call on 0117 311 1217.
