Preparing Your Lawn for Winter Before Summer Is Through

Sure, your lawn seems healthy enough now — but in just six months or so, it will be in the middle of its winter dormancy, and all you’ll have is hope that you did enough to keep it alive until spring. Dormancy is difficult for grass; because it cannot grow to acquire more nutrients to sustain itself, it needs to stock up at the end of summer and throughout fall, like a bear fattening up before hibernation. However, unlike a bear, your lawn cannot go forage for food and water — it relies almost entirely on you to provide the necessary nutrients in the months leading up to winter.

While winter might be the last thing on your mind in the middle of summer, you shouldn’t forget that your lawn needs you even now to help it prepare for the cold season ahead. Here’s what you should be doing to keep your lawn healthy through summer, fall and winter.

Continue Mowing

Cool-season grasses, or those that flourish in regions that experience true, snow-covered winter, grow most actively in spring and fall, taking a brief rest during the high temperatures of summer. Because your lawn will continue to grow throughout the season before winter, you need to commit to mowing it, perhaps even more frequently than you are mowing now — about once per week. 

Most cool-season grasses prefer to be tall, between three and four inches, which helps them retain more moisture in the soil and shelter their roots from cold. However, you shouldn’t allow your grass to grow much taller than this because lopping off more than one-third of its height will cause your grass to go into shock, compromising it for the winter months. 

Continue Watering

As you are mowing, so you should water. During a lawn’s growing season, it needs sufficient nutrients to stay alive, which obviously includes water. However, water doesn’t necessarily equate to irrigation. Many regions experience excessive rainfall during this time of year, especially as it gets closer to winter; if your lawn is naturally receiving about an inch and a half of water per week thanks to precipitation, you don’t need to lift a finger to add more water. Yet, if you are experiencing a drier late summer and fall, you should supplement with sprinklers or hose as necessary. 

Once your lawn goes dormant, you no longer need to water; in fact, doing so might cause your lawn to freeze to death or drown. Instead, wait until the spring thaw to resume mowing and watering your grass. You can investigate how to start mowing in the spring here: https://homeguides.sfgate.com/should-start-mowing-lawn-spring-43334.html

Control Weeds

While cool-season grasses are sleeping in the summer, weeds can go wild. This is the season for broadleaf weeds, like dandelions, which will soak up all the energy from the sun and soil during the fall, if you don’t act now. There are a few different methods for lawn weed control, and you can read about them here: https://www.trugreen.com/lawn-care-101

Remove Large Debris

As summer winds down, it’s imperative that you pick up all your summertime toys, especially those that litter the lawn, like inflatable pools, Slip n Slides, lawn games and more. If you let them sit throughout fall and winter, not only will they negatively impact your yard’s look — not only will the toys themselves start to degrade — but your lawn will suffer in health, too. Heavy debris compact the soil, immediately and over time, which makes it much more difficult for the grass’s roots to seek out nutrients like water and air. This is especially bad over the winter, when snow already causes compaction. As much as you might lament summer being over, you need to pack everything up before it harms your grass.

Aerate

Aeration is your best defense against compaction problems. Aerating tools punch small holes in your lawn, relieving the pressure of compacted soil and giving your grass’s roots more space to grow. If you only have time to aerate once per year, you should probably do it in the spring to help your lawn revive after heavy winter snows. However, a post-summer aeration is also often warranted, especially if your lawn is heavily trafficked during the warm months. 

Fertilize

Finally, you need to fertilize your lawn at some point before winter sets in. As with aerating, you can fertilize multiple times per year — many golf courses apply fertilizer every month or so — but the best seasons are spring and fall. In fall, you should spread a high-phosphorus fertilizer, which will encourage the roots to grow, keeping the plant healthier throughout the cold season. You can learn more about lawn fertilizer here: https://www.lawn-care-academy.com/lawn-fertilizer.html

You should feel free to soak up the last few sunrays of summer — but know that your lawn needs your help before winter. If you take steps to care properly for your lawn now, you’ll have much less to do come next spring.