There’s no getting away from it, winter is definitely here. You all should have put your Allett Mower to bed for the season inline with our handy tips in our previous blog, and you will now be looking forward to the festive break and all it brings.
But what about your lawn? Yes, you will have stopped cutting your lawn weeks ago with the change in season, but what should you be doing if and when it snows. The temperature has fluctuated over the past few weeks, and it wouldn’t be a British winter without a little snowfall between now and spring.
If you put a lot of time and effort into your garden and lawn, you want to make sure that over the colder months you take the correct precautions with your garden and lawn so that when the weather starts to get warmer next year, your lawn will be in the best possible condition and will require very little in the way of additional TLC.
If we get a thick covering of snow and the little people (or big people) in your life build snowmen make sure they build them off the grass if possible- no snow angels either! Snowmen can take a long time to defrost and melt away which can also cause disease. There are a lot of variables that affect your lawns hardiness to the cold weather such as the type of seed used, soils, mowing height, etc. Also, new lawns installed after late August or later may struggle if they haven't had much time to establish themselves. Be careful using salt on garden paths etc- make sure the type you use is not harmful to your lawn.
Snow Mould
Damage to lawns is very rare, but something you should keep your eyes peeled for is snow mould. Snow mould is a fungal disease which can develop once the snow starts to melt. You will be more than likely to get snow mould in areas where there has been a high level of snow, or snow piled up from clearing driveways and paths. We would advise that when you clear your drives and paths, you distribute the snow evenly over a few different areas to avoid snow mould. If your lawn does develop snow mould, your lawn will eventually recover when the temperature rises. Still, in a lot of cases, the snow mould will kill the grass underneath meaning you will need to re-seed or in aggressive instances in which the root is effected, re-turf.
Scarification
In the summer, it always seems to be an additional effort to make sure your garden and especially your grass gets enough water. However, your lawn can have too much water, waterlogged turf is something you really want to try to avoid. Waterlogging can occur when you have dry and compact ground, the residual water doesn’t have anywhere to run and will just sit on the grass, damaging it. When it snows, eventually the snow will melt, and if you’ve not scarified your lawn, the water will take a while to dissipate. We would advise you all to make sure you’ve aerated your garden in preparation for any snow.
Frost
Over the next few weeks and months, there will be more instances when the ground will freeze instead of seeing actual snowfall. Frost will affect your lawn.
Walking on frost-covered grass will damage it. Frost covered grass can snap when stepped on, it doesn’t cause any short-term issues, but it will affect the overall look of your lawn once it has thawed out. Make sure that if frost has fallen, you keep off the lawn until the frost has thawed.
If you have any questions about winter lawn maintenance, contact the team at Allett today.
