Preparing Your Lawn for Winter

At the end of summer your lawn is tired – and so are you – but don't quit yet!

Your lawn is a whole population of plants. While that indicates differing needs for each potential variety of grass – fescue, rye, and bluegrass – we usually treat grasses as a whole. Therefore, we should treat it in the best possible way. Since our goal is a healthy lawn, with uniform height and color, fall is the time to prepare your lawn for a healthy spring.

You must continue to cut your grass until there's been no visible growth for about two weeks. I know it's time to quit mowing when I have no more clippings to remove. Leave grass at least two inches high, but no more than three inches for winter.

This height is optimum for several reasons. Grass cut too short is vulnerable to drying winter winds and, believe it or not, sun. If there's no protecting snow cover, winter sun can be damaging to the grass. Two inches protects the crown, which is the white area visible at ground level that also extends into the root zone.

More than three inches of height can pose problems also. If your lawn is too tall, your grass will lay over on itself. Bent down by snow and wind, it will retain too much moisture and may develop fungus diseases such as snow mold. While too much sun and wind can cause damage, your lawn needs exposure to light and air all winter.

Although top growth has stopped, the root systems of your grasses are still growing. They are sending out rhizomes or tillers: tendril-like roots that will sprout new blades of grass in the spring. A green plant lives about three years and then is replaced by new plants from its own rhizomes.

While this is great in your yard, it brings us to another necessary task: edging your flowerbeds. Once a new grass plant grows where your flowers are, it's a weed. Save yourself some weeding time next spring by edging all your beds now.

Autumn is also the season to fertilize your lawn for the last time; further encouraging those roots. Much leaching of soil nutrients has occurred these past two rainy springs, so fertilizing is even more important than usual. Look for fertilizer high in nitrogen, or a winterizer-type, lower in nitrogen and higher in phosphorus and potassium. Fertilizing now will encourage lush growth next spring.

Since your lawn is still growing below ground, keep the falling leaves raked so they don't pile up and suffocate your grasses' roots. Some of your leaves fall late in the autumn. Give a final good raking, sometimes even after the first snowfall has melted. Leaves lying on your lawn all winter can prevent water from reaching the grass or trap too much moisture, causing grasses to rot and die by spring.

By caring for your lawn in the fall, your can encourage healthy growth in the spring. One last task: take your mower in for maintenance now. Then when everyone else is struggling with long waits for repair, you'll be ready for the first cuts of the season next year.