Here at Chris James Landscaping, we take care of our customers in New Jersey. Even in the winter months here in the north, you can count on us for winter lawn care. Here are our top tips for lawn care.
What Tasks Should I do in The Winter Months?
The tasks you need to focus on depends on where you live and what kind of grass you grow. Just because a cold frost has hit, doesn’t mean your yard has to look any less inviting. The most important and active steps in winter lawn care actually take place before the season sets in.
As the first frost approaches, gradually lower the blade of your lawnmower with each mowing. The key to lawn care in colder months requires simple maintenance. Sweep away fallen leaves and remove anything sitting on the lawn, such as furniture, toys, or branches. The weight of these objects over the course of the winter can kill or seriously stunt your grass.
How Often Should I Mow When it’s Cold?
While our lawns will never become overgrown in Winter, they can still become a little unsightly with uneven growth occurring, leaf litter from trees accumulating, lawn edges growing over paths, etc. Mowing through the colder months is a personal decision that is also dependent on the location and the temperatures.
Here are a few reasons you should consider it:
1. Keep Down the Mice
If you leave your grass too tall during the winter months it will be prey to field mice and other burrowing animals that want a warm place to sleep. Mice can destroy large parts of your lawn by building nests. They create dead spots where they spend all of their time as well as pulling up large amounts of grass to build their structures.
2. Thatch Control
Thatch control is another reason to continue to mow in Winter. While often the leaf material of the yard may not seem like it grows much after Fall, the thatch layer hiding beneath that lawn leaf material is indeed still growing, albeit at a slower rate as well. Do not attempt to do this if the ground conditions are very soft or frozen, or during spells of cold, drying winds.
Should I Fertilize My Lawn in the Winter?
Late fall or early winter are the best times to fertilize cool-season grasses. Before the first freeze, give your yard a thorough fertilizing to replace all of the nutrients that can be lost from the soil during the hot summer months. Once the weather turns cold, the fertilizer will remain in the soil and feed your lawn’s roots all winter long.
Grass also needs micronutrients (iron, zinc, and others) and fertilizers can help supply these nutrients. During the cool – season, before too cold, you should use fertilizer in fall, when temperatures are cooling off but the grass is still growing.
Healthy lawns need three major nutrients:
- Nitrogen (N), for dense green top growth
- Phosphorus (P) for root growth
- Potassium (K) for general health.
They also need micronutrients (iron, zinc, and others) and fertilizers can help supply these nutrients. When buying fertilizer, you will see three numbers showing the N-P-K values (such as 21-7-14 or 15-5-10). The numbers represent the percentage of each nutrient; however, they do not add up to 100 percent. When spring comes your lawn will be full of healthy, lush, green grass that has been feeding on good fertilizer nutrients underneath the snow.
Call Us For Lawncare in NJ
If you need lawn care in NJ, call the team at Chris James today. We’ll be happy to work on your lawn no matter what time of year. Get in touch with us now so that we are able to help you.