If you live in a climate with cold and wet winters, then it is vital that you properly prepare your lawn to withstand them. Properly winterizing your lawn ensures it will be healthy and look wonderful as soon as warmer spring weather arrives.
To weatherize your lawn, do so following these simple steps:
Step 1: Clean Your Lawn of Any Debris
After you mow your lawn for the last time in the fall, it is important that you remove any leaves, pine needles, or pinecones that are sitting on its surface. This is vital because rotting vegetative matter that is in contact with the wet winter soil will promote the growth of harmful molds, mildews, and fungi.
As you are carefully raking away debris, make sure you watch for weeds and remove them. This will prevent their spread in the spring.
Step 2: Aerate the Lawn
Once your lawn is clean and all weeds have been removed, then you need to aerate it. Aeration opens up airflow areas around the grass plants, and this promotes their future healthy growth. If you do not have an aerating tool, then you can purchase one at your local hardware store. For the most effective aeration, you should remove plugs in every square foot of the lawn.
When you are finished with the aeration, then rake up the soil plugs, or they will leave unsightly spots in your spring lawn.
Step 3: Spread a Thin Layer of Horticultural-Grade Lawn Sand on Top of the Lawn
To keep the aeration plug voids from quickly filling with new soil during the next rainstorm and completely defeating the purpose of having aerated it, you need to apply a layer of sand to your lawn. The sand you use for this project matters. The sand must be horticultural-grade and can be spread by shovel on a small lawn or with a seed spreader on a larger one. After you apply the sand, then use a leaf rake and move it around. The sand will fall into the aeration plug voids and allow them to keep providing plenty of air to the soil all throughout the winter.
Step 4: Apply a Thin Layer of Garden Topsoil Over the Sand
Finally, to hide the light-colored sand and keep it securely in place, you need to spread a thin layer of garden topsoil over it. Since topsoil is very light, you can easily spread it with a leaf rake.
For more lawn care tips, contact a landscaping company in your area.