And Along Came Winter - Winterizing the Lawn

Preparing for winter varies depending on where you live, but in much of world this means colder temperatures are near and those outside projects are coming to a close. Yet before the cold sets in, there are a number of winter-prep projects many households will certainly undertake.

Winterizing the lawn. Yep, winterizing the lawn can, and often does require more then tossing down a winterizing fertilizer product (Scotts Winterguard Fertilizer or similar). All depends on the age and condition of your lawn, regional location, and a whole host of other factors. But pre-winterizing can also mean aerating the lawn, over-seeding, and providing the soil with the necessary nutrients. This is also a great time to break up any hard clay soil by adding a significant amount of gypsum (I prefer pelletized gypsum that can be distributed with a fertilizer spreader).

You see, a little extra work on the yard in the late fall will significantly improve the overall health of your lawn come next spring. And a healthier lawn equates to less work year after year.

Typically here’s my routine:

Cut the grass as normal, but side eject or mulch cut it (don’t bag it). You want the nutrients in the grass clippings to decompose over the winter. Aerating the lawn is done with a fairly heavy machine that punches nickel size holes, about two-inches into the soil, ejecting a plug of soil and grass that looks like dog-poop. What this does is allow “air” to get down into the soil and grass roots.

Then, depending on the thickness of your lawn and type of grass, over-seeding the yard can and often is beneficial. If you over-seed the same day or two after you aerate, you can use a fertilizer spreader available at any home center to spread the grass seed. Aerating creates holes, and the grass seed will make its way down into these holes, protecting it from washing off the surface, and provides it a home until it germinates next spring.

As I previously mentioned, gypsum can also be added to yards that have hard clay. The gypsum can be spread in the same manner as over-seeding and in many regions putting both down at the same time is a common practice. Gypsum won’t hurt the new grass seed, but fertilizer especially over fertilizing can.

That is, after over-seeding and adding gypsum (if your soil has high levels of clay), it is not recommended to fertilize for up to 30 to 60 days. If you’ve aerated and over-seeded it can take 30 to 45 days for the holes (plugs) to begin to close up and fill in, but it all depends on how much water the lawn gets during this time period. It is best to water often in the weeks following over-seeding. Then in 30 to 45 days fertilizer with a winterize product. It is not recommended to fertilize with a starter fertilizer at this point, you want the grass to go dormant over the winter. In early spring, adding a starter fertilizer if you over-seeded will add that extra pop to the new grass and significantly add to the overall health of your lawn.