How To Keep Your Lawn Healthy in Winter

Keeping your lawn in tip-top condition throughout the year takes careful and clever maintenance. But one time of year even the most attentive gardeners struggle to keep their prized lawn in good health is in winter.
With endless wet, cold weather and hard frosts, keeping grass healthy during the December to March period isn’t easy. But with years of experience in the gardening industry, Lawnmowers Direct knows all the best ways to keep lawns in their prime over winter. Read on for our ‘How To’ guide to maintaining your lawn in winter.
 

Mindful mowing

It’s a common misconception that lawns can’t be cut during winter. Although there are times where it’s definitely not advisable to mow your lawn, there’s also opportunities to give it a good cut if required.
Winter brings a variety of weather conditions, including sub-zero temperatures and hard frosts. If you’re experiencing these conditions DO NOT mow your grass! Although it might look ok straight after being cut, it will succumb to the harsh temperatures and end up damaged.
If young and delicate grass is exposed to the elements after cutting, frost can take over leading to discolouration of your lawn, reduced growth rates and even the death of your grass.
With that said, there’s some opportune moments for lawn cutting in winter. During mild and dry periods, it’s more than acceptable to give your lawn a trim to prevent it becoming overgrown. Just remember to keep your mower on a high cut setting because you can always take more grass away, but you can’t add it back on once it’s removed!
 

Keep off the lawn (where possible)

During the rainy months of winter, your lawn will be particularly wet. With the soil bed saturated, there’s more chance of damage under pressure. To keep your lawn in as good a health as possible ready for the new growth that comes with the spring season, leaving your lawn as untouched as possible is a must.
As such, apart from the occasional mow, you should try to keep off your lawn where possible. Although this might not be practical, it really can be the difference between a good and bad quality lawn going into spring.
A great way to reduce traffic on your lawn is to create a path. By using slabs, shingle, stones or wood to create walkways, you’re designing a designated walkway which can be used all year round!
 

Monitor and manage your soil PH

Much of keeping your lawn healthy in winter is careful maintenance, but it comes down to science too. The PH of your soil can affect the quality of your grass growth, its colour and even how well it lasts over winter.
Soil PH can be affected by a number of factors, including location, nutrient levels and rainfall. As such, the change in weather seen as the seasons change can increase or decrease the PH of your soil and have an effect on your lawn.
Testing the PH of your soil using a PH kit and taking action to regulate it for optimal grass health, such as adding limestone or sulfur, can have drastic influence on the health of your lawn. 
Although gardening in winter might not be about having the best lawn in show, there’s definitely a lot of steps that can be taken to ensure it stays as healthy as possible. Following these tips is sure to help you stay on the right track with your garden maintenance in winter.
BIO: Lawnmowers Direct is an online and in-store garden and horticulture machinery trader in Norfolk and Suffolk who’ve been providing local gardeners with equipment and related maintenance since 1972.
 

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