If you are a lawn care enthusiast, and it is important to you to maintain your lawn year-round, then you’ve likely wondered what steps you need to take to keep your lawn looking luscious and green year after year. Let’s look at some tips that will help you prep your lawn in the fall, and winter to keep it coming back beautifully summer after summer!
Important off-season tips to follow are to aerate your lawn, fertilize it, take care of bald spots, rake or mulch leaves, and cut your grass at a lower blade setting until it frosts. Following these tips will ensure that your lawn continues to look green and lush every season!
Let’s take a look at how to follow each of these steps correctly to maintain a healthy lawn. Some of these steps you’ll need to do every year, while some steps such as aerating your lawn may only need to be done when needed. Let’s dive right in and learn how to properly set up your lawn in the fall to keep it coming back healthy every summer!
Aerating Your Lawn
Aerating your lawn is an important first step to take in setting up your lawn for the following summer. Over time, the soil in your lawn grows more and more compact. This can be caused by anything from simply repeatedly walking over it to running your mower over it. Thatch can also build up over the season and can make it harder for fertilizer and water to reach the roots of your grass. This is where aerating your lawn comes into play.
To make it simple, aerating your lawn is poking holes in your lawn to break up the built-up thatch and soil. This helps the fertilizer and water reach deep down to where it can nourish the roots and help your grass grow tall and healthy. Before you start your aeration process, make sure your lawn is well watered and the soil is moist. Make sure to give your lawn a good watering 24 hours before beginning the aeration process. This will help make the ground softer and will make the whole process much easier on you.
There are a few different ways you can aerate your lawn. You can use the very simple, and most cost-friendly method, of using a pitchfork to punch holes into your lawn. Simply push down on the pitchfork with your foot as deep as you can get it to go. Continue to repeat this process until your entire yard is properly aerated. Some people recommend going over your yard twice over, to ensure the holes are properly spaced out. Lawnlove.com recommends that your second time over “should be perpendicular to the first aeration, creating a checkerboard pattern”.
Take care when aerating your lawn to watch out for any sprinkler or electric lines. You don’t want to accidentally stab your pitchfork into any of these and cause yourself any trouble!
The second way to aerate your lawn, and a faster method, is to buy or rent out a machine that is made specifically to aerate. These machines need to be pushed, just like you would a lawn mower, across your lawn. These machines often require less muscle power to use than a pitchfork and can make the job faster! Although they will cost you more than if you were to simply use a pitchfork and your foot.
Aeration is not something you need to do every single fall. Just when your lawn needs it. To test this, try sticking a screwdriver or something similar into your lawn. This will give you a good indication of whether or not the soil has become compact. If the screwdriver easily slides in and out, your yard is healthy. If, however, you find it difficult to wedge the screwdriver in, then this is a good indicator that your lawn should be aerated this season. You’ll also need to examine whether the thatch has built up or not. If you can easily stick your fingers through and touch the soil, you’re still fine.
On the flip side, there is no downside to aerating your lawn every year. If you have the time and want to do so, go for it! It will just make for a healthier lawn if do choose to aerate it each year.
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Fertilize Your Lawn
A very important follow-up step after aerating is to fertilize your lawn. Now that you’ve aerated, you know that the fertilizer will reach down and nourish your grassroots! Make sure to choose the proper fertilizer for your lawn’s needs and distribute it evenly. Doing this in the fall will keep your grass healthy all through the winter and help your grass grow back strong in the spring.
This is a very important step and you need to make sure you don’t miss it. Think of it as your lawn going to sleep for the entire winter. If you don’t feed it properly before it goes to sleep, it won’t have the proper nutrients to help it grow and come back healthy in the spring. So, make sure you invest in the right fertilizer and feed your grass before the snow hits the ground!
Take a look at this list from chicagotribune.com that talks about various options for fertilizers and how each of them can help your grass depending on your lawn’s needs. Even if you don’t choose a fertilizer from this particular list, it will give you a good starting point to start from.
Fertilizing your lawn is something you will need to do every fall, just like the rest of the tips on this list.
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Address Bald Spots
If you have a yard, chances are you and your family use it often. Whether it’s caused by kids playing, animals digging, pesky rabbits finding lunch, or simply us walking about, our lawns tend to get bald spots throughout the summer. If you don’t address these before the frost sets in, they may not grow back the following year. To ensure that it does, fertilize these areas with food that is specially meant for growing bald spots.
These areas, for whatever reason, received extra damage throughout the summer, and need a little extra attention in the fall to help it come back healthy next spring.
Rake or Mulch Leaves
I cannot stress the importance of this step. People tend to leave fallen leaves on the ground year-round, and this is harmful to your lawn. The leaves form an extra layer on top of your grass and prevent your lawn from getting the sunlight and water that it needs to grow. Make sure that you either rake, if you have a large number of leaves, or mulch if you have a smaller amount – well before the frost and first snowfall arrive. Once the snow comes, you won’t have much luck prying the leaves from the ground.
Cut Your Grass Until the Snow Falls
Another important part of maintaining a healthy lawn in the off-season is continuing to mow your lawn until the first snowfall hits. Set your blade on your mower at a lower setting than you have all summer. Cutting the grass lower will help it through the winter and as it grows back once the snow melts away in the spring. Don’t slack now, you’ve made it this far in your fall lawn care and this is the last important step in making sure your lawn comes back healthy next year.
Relaxing Once Winter Hits
Once winter comes and snow covers the ground, you really won’t have much to do when it comes to caring for your lawn. But make sure that you follow all of the steps we covered above up until then to make sure that your lawn comes back healthy next summer. You don’t want to slack on any of the steps and then regret it next summer when your grass is brown, brittle, and can’t stand up tall!
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a certain brand of fertilizer that I should be using?
Depending on what your grass needs, the type of fertilizer you choose will differ. Whether your goal is to help fix bald spots for the next year, combat your dog peeing all over the yard, something to fix the weeds, or simply want something that will make your grass lush and green, take a look at the list we talked about above for good recommendations. You can also stop into your local gardening store and ask for what they recommend for use based on your specific needs.
Is there anything at all that I can do during the winter to help my lawn?
For the most part, once the snow hits there is very little you can do, as there is very little grass you will see to begin with. You can always keep tabs on your lawn and make sure there aren’t any animals causing any damage, or any trash that’s made its way into your yard that may press down on the lawn. But for the most part, if you do your job right in the fall, you are setting your lawn up for success with very little effort in the winter.
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Meet Shawn Chun: Entrepreneur and Landscape Business Fan.
I’m a happy individual who happens to be an entrepreneur. I have owned several types of businesses in my life from a coffee shop to an import and export business to an online review business plus a few more and now I create online resources for those interested in starting new ventures. It’s demanding work but I love it. I do it for those passionate about their business and their goals. That’s why when I meet a landscape business owner at a job site, driving down the road or anywhere else I see myself. I know how hard the struggle is to retain clients, find good employees and keep the business growing all while trying to stay competitive.
That’s why I created Landscaping Business Boss: I want to help landscape business owners like you build a thriving business that brings you endless joy and supports your ideal lifestyle.