6 Tips to Get Your Lawn Winter-Ready

With warm-season turf like Bermuda and Zoysia going dormant, many homeowners look forward to a well-earned break from the mower. While it’s true that your Atlanta lawn care routine becomes more manageable over the winter, it’s also important to remember some key things you need to do to ensure your lawn bounces back when spring arrives. Here’s our winter lawn prep checklist:

• Don’t Let Leaves Pile Up: Number one on our list this time of year is keeping your lawn free of leaves. Allowing leaves to pile up on your grass can smother your lawn from lack of light and air, deplete your soil of nitrogen needed for healthy grass, and even breed disease. It’s best to use a blower to clear your yard, since rakes can cause damage to your turf. You may even want to consider recycling the leaves into a compost that you can use in your garden next spring.
• Winterize Sprinklers: The best way to protect your irrigation system from damage this winter is to take precautionary measures now. Remove water from its pipes, valves, and sprinkler heads to prevent it from freezing in there, resulting in burst pipes which can create a major headache and expense. Many newer systems have automatic drainage features, but some may require a manual drain.
• Clear Your Lawn: After a fun-filled summer and start to fall, you may have some lingering toys or Halloween decorations ornamenting your yard. Remove any of these items, as well as sticks and other debris. You want your lawn to be clear for the winter, as anything sitting on your grass will compete with your turf for sunlight and nutrients.
• Tree and Shrub TLC: Now is prime time for cleaning up and feeding your ornamental trees and shrubs so they can cope with winter conditions. Unruly or weak branches may pose a risk when it ices; trimming them back will promote better growth in the spring. Sign up for your fall fertilization application to keep your plants well fed through winter for better blooms come spring.
• Replenish Bare Patches: Fall is a great time to feed and restore your lawn, but your window of opportunity is closing. If you have cool-season turf, we hope your aeration and overseeding has been completed. Thinned areas should be seeded weeks in advance of our first deep frost to give seedlings a chance to get established. When overseeding, be sure to keep the new seed consistently moist for three full weeks.
• Continue to Treat: Some people try to save money by cutting back on lawn care during cooler weather, but winter applications are essential to a lush spring lawn. It’s important to continue your lawn service even when warm-season lawns enter dormancy, as we are applying pre-emergents that will prevent weed growth in coming months.

Once you’ve checked these off your yard to-do list, it’s time to kick back and relax for a while in the lawn care department, knowing you’ve done all you can to keep your landscape healthy through the winter.