When the temperatures drop and harsh winter conditions arrive in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, the rain and freezing temperatures can affect your lawn and require the costly task of replacing damaged grass come spring. If you want to prepare your grass for the season and prevent it from dying, there are a few essential steps to take to winterize your yard.

It is very important to give your lawn the right care during the winter to ensure that it is healthy and hearty every spring. Although most lawns appear to be dormant during winter, lawn maintenance during the winter can make a big difference to the overall beauty and health of your lawn come spring.

Before The First Freeze…

Aerate On The Last Mow Of The Season

Aerating the lawn after you mow the lawn for the last time for the season is essential to ensure that the soil receives enough moisture and oxygen. Use a formula that is created to be used when winterizing the grass.

Your lawn will receive more nutrients throughout the season if it’s aerated, which requires the soil to be punctured with holes that are made. It’s also important to water the lawn well after aerating it to ensure that it can stay hydrated and receives water that seeps deep into the roots.

It is important to limit the amount of foot traffic on your lawn, as this can compress the soil and kill the grass. It is also important to remove any objects or debris that are sitting on your lawn, which will stunt the growth of the grass resulting or cause dead spots.

Fertilize Your Lawn

One of the most important steps in preparing your lawn for the winter is to provide your lawn with a winter fertilizer. You will want to do this prior to the first freeze of the season, typically in the late fall or very early winter.

During the summer and fall, drought, heat, and disease take a toll on a lawn and cause serious damage to the roots. A winter fertilizer will strengthen the growing root system, help protect, and repair the damage done.

The fertilizer will remain in the soil over the winter and feed your lawn’s roots throughout the frosty season. When spring comes your lawn will be healthier, and fuller because of all of the nutrients provided by the fertilizer. Contact the Purple Care Team for more information on lawn fertilization services in Fort Worth.

Check Your Sprinklers!

When you want to know how to winterize grass, inspect your sprinklers to make sure they’ve been drained before the winter season arrives.

Leaving water in an underground sprinkler system can cause it to freeze on cold days, which can make the pipes burst and will be expensive to repair. Turn off the water supply to your irrigation system and remove the sprinkler heads so that they do not freeze and cause a burst pipe.

You may also want to adjust the time or day that the sprinklers are turned on each week if they’re automated to prevent the grass from being watered more than necessary in the coming months.

Top Dress Your Lawn For A Greener Spring

You can prepare your lawn for winter by top dressing it, which will require you to add a layer of compost on the top of the grass to keep its green color until the spring season arrives.

Purchase a nutrient-rich organic material that will improve the quality and health of the soil and roots to ensure that the grass continues to thrive.

Top dressing the lawn will also boost soil aeration, alleviate compaction problems, and will allow the soil to receive various minerals and microbes that it needs.

Keeping Your Lawn Healthy Through the Heart of Winter

Carefully Mow And Keep Grass Short

During the winter, it’s best to keep your lawn short. Make sure to mow your lawn properly—gradually lower the blade on your lawn mower before each mow so that you’re not cutting everything down at once.

Having shorter grass will promote new growth, minimize infestations from lawn pests, and deter animals from burrowing into your lawn.

Limit Foot Traffic And Debris

One of the most important steps in maintaining your lawn in the winter is avoiding causing any damage to it. Avoid walking on your lawn when the temperature drops.

Remove any piles of leaves or other debris that can block sunlight to your grass during the winter months as well.

The frozen turf may crack or become shredded. If possible, avoid using chemical deicers on your sidewalk and driveway. The deicing agents can leach into your lawn and cause significant damage to the root system of the grass.

Pre-Emergent Weed Treatments

January through March is the best time of the year to apply a pre-emergent weed treatment to your lawn.

This treatment prevents weeds from germinating and taking over the grass. If you plan on planting any new grass seed, you will need to carefully manage the timing of both of these activities.

You could have our Arlington lawn care service overseed your lawn so that weeds have less of a chance of sprouting. Once your new grass is growing in early March, the weed treatment could be performed.

You could also consider a combined product that includes grass seed that is genetically modified with a weed prevention chemical so that the grass seeds will sprout but weeds will not.

Pest Control

February and March are ideal times of the year to schedule pest management and lawn grubs treatment for your property. This allows you to take control of the situation by preventing a new infestation and destroying the eggs and larvae that may already have hatched.

Applying a preventive pest treatment that will stop any new lawn grubs or beetles from damaging the root structures of the grass.

Test Your Soil

Winter is an excellent time of the year to collect one or more soil samples and send them off for analysis. If you plant a flower or vegetable garden, take separate samples of that soil.

Vegetables and flowers require different nutrients than your lawn. You can then use the results of the soil testing to plan the types of fertilizers to apply to your lawn.

The soil testing results are also helpful for deciding where and how much compost, manure and other types of natural products to apply to your flowerbeds, gardens, and grass.

Having your soil tested could save you a lot of money and time because you will be able to avoid using the wrong product or an unnecessary product on your lawn and garden.

Maintaining your lawn begins in the winter. You can engage the professional assistance of our lawn care service at Purple Care. These action steps will help you to enjoy a great looking lawn throughout the growing season.