How to keep your lawn thriving during a mild winter
Autumn and winter lawn care is essential for a beautiful green lawn come spring. How should you protect your lawn during the colder months? It's worth implementing these care practices to ensure the grass develops healthily.
Even though this winter is expected to be mild, it's crucial that we properly care for the lawn. Remember, with temperatures deviating from the norm, plants extend their growing season, and this process does not exclude grass. Its blades continue to grow, which is unfortunately not beneficial. This weakens the lawn, making it more vulnerable to various diseases. What treatments should we consider in a warm December to support the grass during this demanding period?
How to care for your lawn in a warm winter?
Winter, although requiring less work on lawn care, is still a time when we should remember a few simple maintenance practices. An important step is clearing the lawn of branches and wet leaves before the snow arrives. Leaving them can lead to patches of turf rot, which weakens the lawn and makes it look unsightly in the spring.
A unique blend, which will strengthen the grass blades, will aid in maintenance. It can be used in December without worry, provided the ground is not frozen and there is no snow. This involves fertilising the lawn with wood ash. This method is only effective if the grass substrate is acidic. If the soil has a pH below 5.5, we can proceed without hesitation.
Why is wood ash valuable for our lawn? It’s a natural material with an alkaline effect, containing many valuable minerals, including calcium, phosphorus, and potassium. We just need to wait until the ash cools, sift it through a strainer, and then spread it over the grass, following the rule of 30 to 60 grams of ash per square metre of lawn.
We should also ensure we use only ash from the burning of untreated wood, not wood that has been lacquered or painted. We also avoid such fertilisation if we decided on liming in the autumn. Otherwise, we could harm our lawn.
