It was a balmy 50 plus degree today, but the winter is pretty much here. While the weather is still fairly warm and there is no snow on the ground, you still have time to get the final touches done on the lawn.
The lawn needs to be ‘put to rest’ for the winter months. This includes the final mow and a good clean up of the lawn and property. All of the leaves need to be taken away from the lawn and landscape, dragged into the woods or taken off site. I like to get the bulk of the leaves with a tarp. Then take a blower to the shrubs and get all the leaves into the lawn. Once all of the loose debris is blow onto the lawn, I run the mower over it once to mulch everything. This is done with the deck fairly high. The second time around the blades are lowered and I bag everything, and get it off the lawn.
When the large majority of the leaves, debris and grass are cleaned up, take a leaf blower and get everything else up. This process takes a little bit of time, but get the blower down into the grass and blow everything out. A good raking will do as well, be requires a lot more work. All of the little twigs and leaves that may be ‘stuck’ will get loosened and removed, preventing any damage over the winter months.
Raking the leaves, clearing out the beds, double cutting the lawn and then doing a fine cleaning with the blower or rake is quite the job. So, give yourself a few days, even over a few weekends to get this done.
If there is a lot of leaves left in the lawn, or if the grass is too long, there will be some damage to the lawn. Dead spots or fungus will be left for you to deal with in the spring time.
Mower maintenance is very important so clean that up and put the mower ‘to rest’ as well prior to storing it for the winter.
We hope this information helps and also stresses the importance of late season care for your lawn. Following these guidelines will give your lawn a great chance to survive the next few months of cold weather and will rebound quickly in the spring. Thanks for following!