How to Winterize Your Lawn

If you want to have a green healthy lawn when spring comes around there are a few things you need to do before the snow starts flying and sticking to your grass. Just because it's colder and you think your lawn is good now, you're wrong. A winter drought can be more dangerous for you lawn than a summer drought. You need to keep watering your lawn even through the fall, now I'm not saying you water it every night for an hour on each zone but you need to keep it watered. It may feel cool and moist during the fall but your lawn can really dry out while you wait for the snow to come. So, that's the first step, keep it watered.

Now you will need to put some sort of winterizer or fertilizer on it. I do mine in the first couple weeks of October because we often get snow here in Denver starting the middle of October. You will often have chances after the first snow but I like to do it just in case. Before you fertilize you need to take your grass down one notch on the mower. In other words if you have been mowing on the middle setting all summer take it down a notch on the wheel setting and mow from there. This will stunt the growth a little bit so you can avoid mowing many more times after this process. I get a good fertilizer, usually Scott's winterizer or something like that, it's a little expensive but trust me it works great. Another helpful hint is to switch brands of fertilizer every 2-3 years to keep you lawn fresh.

Put a nice even coat of fertilizer on and then water the heck out of it. I like to do close to 90 minutes a zone, it may seem silly to water a lawn that much in fall but it will pay off come spring. If you can, do this around a forecasted storm because the water you provide plus a little rain or snow will go a long way. Another reason for doing this early in fall is because you will have leaves falling on your lawn and you want to be sure the fertilizer has really taken.

Remember to keep applying water until your lawn goes brown from the cold by then you should be enough into winter that you can expect some good rains and snows. So many people ignore their lawn when it gets cold, this is a huge mistake and you will be surprised at how much this helps come spring and summer. One more thing you can do is mulch your leaves and grass come fall, this will add as a natural fertilizer and add a little more nutrients for you lawn through the long winter.