How To Prepare Your Lawn For Winter

With the temperature dropping and the daylight hours decreasing you should start thinking about winterising your lawn. After months of regular mowing, outdoor activities and warmer weather, your grass needs a little extra attention before the colder months arrive.

There are a few jobs you can do to your lawn in the autumn months to help it withstand frost, rain and cold weather, all of which will ensure your lawn is in great shape when spring comes around.

1. Keep Your Lawn Clear of Leaves

Make sure to keep your lawn clear of any leaves or garden waste.

It can look nice having a carpet of leaves on your lawn, but if left for too long it can cause issues. Having leaves on your lawn can prevent it from getting sunlight and allow moisture to build up causing moss.

Clearing your lawn of leaves will allow your lawn to get the maximum amount of sunlight possible during the darker months.

If you have a small garden, a traditional garden rake is usually sufficient. However, if you have a larger lawn or several trees, using a leaf blower can make clearing fallen leaves considerably quicker and easier.

2. Mow Your Lawn One Last Time

As the weather starts to cool down, your lawn will not grow as quick so you won’t have to mow it as often. In the UK, the final lawn cut usually takes place during October or November, depending on the weather.

Increase your lawnmowers height for your last few mows of the season as cutting it too short can cause it to wither in the colder months.

Aim to leave your grass approximately 4-5cm tall, depending on your lawn type and its condition. This provides protection without allowing the grass to become excessively long.

Here are some tips to remember when mowing:

• Only mow your lawn when its dry and growing.
• Do not mow your lawn when it’s frosty or freezing conditions.
• Increase your mowers cutting height.
• Remove excessive grass clippings to prevent them smothering the lawn.

Your lawn may continue to grow if temperatures remain mild. If so you can trim it back if needed.

3. Scarify Your Lawn

Your lawn will naturally build up dead grass and moss over time, which is called thatch.

Too much thatch on your lawn can hinder your lawns ability to absorb water and nutrients into the soil.

Scarifying helps remove this unwanted material, encouraging healthier grass growth and improving the condition of your lawn before winter.

You can use a spring-tine rake on smaller areas of lawn, while using a lawn scarifier may be more beneficial if you have a larger garden.

Scarifying is best done in the early autumn months when your lawn is still growing and will have enough time to recover before temperatures drop.

Avoid heavy scarifying once the weather becomes consistently cold or the ground is waterlogged.

4. Aerate Your Lawn

Winters can often bring about heavy rain and moisture to your garden, so it’s important to have good drainage.

Over the summer months your lawn can become compacted from walking and general gardening, which stops water, air and nutrients getting through to the roots of your grass.

Aerating your lawn will allow for better drainage by puncturing holes into the ground for the water to pass through.

If you have a smaller lawn you can simply take a garden fork and make holes around 10cm deep where it has become compacted.

Larger lawns may benefit from a dedicated lawn aerator, particularly where drainage is poor.

This should be done over the autumn months to help with any standing water on your lawn and allow for healthier roots to grow.

5. Fill in Any Bare Spots

If you have noticed any bald patches in your lawn during the summer months, you can fix these in the early autumn.

Loosen the ground with your hands or a rake and sprinkle some seed on top. Rake lightly over the area.

Make sure the ground stays damp when the grass is germinating, and do not walk over these areas until they have grown.

It’s important to complete this task while soil temperatures are still warm enough for successful germination.

Applying an autumn lawn fertiliser can also help strengthen your grass ahead of winter.

Most autumn lawn fertilisers will have lower amounts of Nitrogen and more Potassium to help your lawn through the Winter months.

Make sure you read the instructions on how to apply fertiliser, and do not apply to frozen or water logged ground.

6. Care For Your Lawn During Winter

During the winter months your lawn will be less active so there isn’t much you can do to help it grow, it’s more about protection.

As temperatures drop your grass will grow at a slower rate and it will not be able to recover as quickly if you cause any damage to it.

Try not to walk on your lawn when there is heavy frost or it’s extremely wet. Walking on frozen blades of grass can break them and compact the soil that may already be holding excess water.

Continue to rake any leaves off of your lawn when you’re able to and be mindful of any low spots that may hold water.

Its also a good time to take care of any maintenance on your mower so its ready to go come spring.

Winterise Your Lawn With Mowshop

Winterising your lawn is simple if you follow these steps. Make sure to keep your lawn free of debris, mow correctly, improve drainage and carry out essential autumn maintenance that will allow your lawn to thrive over winter.

Mowshop stock all types of lawnmowers, leaf blowers and other garden machinery from many top brands such as Stihl, Husqvarna, John Deere and more.

Take a look at our garden machinery to ensure your lawn is ready for winter.