How to prepare the lawn before winter?

 Having green turf in the garden or on the plot is a reason to be proud, but also a lot of work. Each season of the year forces the owner of the lawn to carry out appropriate care treatments. It is no different in the fall. Autumn care is so important that it allows you to prepare the lawn before winter. Whether and when to mow the lawn before winter? You can read about this and many other treatments in the article below.

Lawn care in the fall

Preparing the lawn for winter is not a complicated task, but it requires several treatments that will help the turf survive winter temperatures and other adverse environmental factors.

lawn full of autumn leaves

Autumn fertilization of the lawn

Autumn months do not preclude feeding the turf with fertilizer, which will strengthen it and prepare it for winter. Importantly, autumn fertilizers differ from those used during the growing season, and their composition lacks an element that plays a key role in spring fertilization, i.e. nitrogen. As you know, nitrogen is mainly responsible for stimulating the growth of turf, so it is not recommended before winter dormancy. How to prepare the lawn before winter? It is recommended that the last fertilization with nitrogen-containing preparations be carried out no later than in September.

October and November are the months when we switch to supplying the turf with phosphorus and potassium agents. These elements are responsible for strengthening plants and increasing their resistance to the approaching frost. There are typical autumn fertilizers with a properly balanced composition, rich in the aforementioned nutrients, e.g. Target Autumn Lawn Fertilizer.

It is best to fertilize the lawn after mowing, and immediately after spreading the fertilizer, water the turf abundantly.

Lawn mowing before winter

To prepare your lawn well before winter, you need to know when is the last time you mow your lawn before winter? The term depends on the current temperature, so it is difficult to define it clearly. The climatic conditions prevailing in Poland allow us to assume that it will be the turn of October and November, however, prolonged higher temperatures may contribute to postponing this date even to mid-November.

Rigid adherence to a predetermined date could adversely affect the condition of the turf - too early mowing will cause the grass to regrow, while too late will contribute to freezing of the turf. The same applies to the height at which it should be mowed. Too low mowing may contribute to the freezing of the roots, while leaving the grass too high will cause the appearance of fungal diseases, but also inhibition of spring growth.

The optimal height of the mowed grass should be approx. 4 cm.

Lawn liming before winter

The recommended dates for liming the lawn are early spring and autumn, at the turn of November and December, when the grass has finished its growth. However, it is worth remembering that liming should be carried out as a single treatment, i.e. it cannot be combined with fertilization, and several weeks should be left between the two. In this way, we can additionally prepare the lawn before winter.

Moreover, liming should only be carried out when the condition of the substrate requires it. Soil with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0 is the most favorable for a lawn. A lower pH is conducive to moss overgrowing the turf, and one of the ways to increase the pH of the soil is liming. For this purpose, fertilizer chalk or dolomite will work.

Autumn lawn cleaning and removal of fallen leaves

How to prepare the lawn before winter? Also, by regular removal of fallen leaves from the lawn, it is one of the most important care treatments, which to a large extent translates into the condition of the turf both in winter and after the frost subsides and the snow melts. Leaving the lawn unraked for the winter is an easy way to damage it, so take care of the right tools and do not forget to systematically clean the turf from fallen leaves.

A rake with widely spaced teeth works very well, as it will collect leaves without damaging the grass. If the lawn covers a large area, you can choose special garden vacuum cleaners for leaves, with electric or petrol power. Some models of vacuum cleaners are equipped with a shredder and the possibility of attaching a bag, which will significantly speed up and facilitate the cleaning process. Certainly, the vacuum cleaner will also be useful for spring cleaning, which we wrote about in the article spring fertilization of the garden.

You can use the leaves collected from the lawn to produce your own compost, which you will use in the garden during spring care treatments

Protection of the lawn against moles

The appearance of moles is a fairly common problem in gardens. Especially in autumn, when moles are looking for a safe and warm place to survive the winter. How to prepare the lawn before winter? Especially against moles?

The most effective is a special mesh that prevents underground moles from roaming and digging up the grass, but spreading it is possible only before sowing the turf. When the grass is already growing, there are other methods.

One of the ways to scare away moles from the garden is a special mole repeller, available in garden stores. You can also use popular home remedies, e.g. bottles mounted on stakes driven into the ground, which, moving in the wind, will effectively scare away pests.