Protect your grass from winter damage with these dos and don’ts from lawn care experts.
Add a layer of snow and the lawn may disappear for months at a time.
Mow Until the Grass Is Dormant
Dontput your mower awaytoo early.
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Set the mower deck height at about 2 inches for the final cut of the season.
Add the collected leaves to acompost pileor garden bed.
Thin layers of leaves can be recycled back into the lawn.
The weeds will not take up the product until they are actively growing.
Apply herbicides when the air temperature is between 50 and 85F, says Orick.
Don’t Aerate or Dethatch After September
Bothaerationand dethatching spur grass to produce new roots and shoots.
If time is short before freezing temperatures, delay lawn renovation until spring.
Jauron recommends aerating anddethatchingin September or April when the lawn will quickly recover in more favorable growing conditions.
Choose Ice Melt Carefully
When ice melt lands on turf grass it can burn leaf blades and damage roots.
Avoid piling ice-melt-laden snow on turf grass (or any plant for that matter).
Avoid large piles of snow on the lawn that can take months to melt away, says Manfredini.
If large piles are inevitable, knock down the pile as temperatures rise to encourage quicker melting.
