Winterizing the lawn &

What is the best way to prepare a lawn for a potentially severe winter? We have helpful expert tips for winterizing your lawn.

More than a third of all Germans have a garden - and usually also a lawn. While the potted plants are mothballed and the roses are lovingly covered with winter protection, the lawn often goes unnoticed. A harsh winter also saps the strength of the beloved garden plant. Winterizing your garden also includes winterizing your lawn. From the last fertilization to mowing at the right height - with our tips your lawn will withstand the winter. Then we also show what needs to be considered when spring returns after winter and the new year begins again for your lawn.

Winter lawn: Preparing the lawn for winter

The green carpet in the garden needs to be well and properly cared for in autumn, otherwise its owners will be punished with holes and yellow or brown grass in the spring. The last fertilization time, the last lawn cut before winter and the correct lawn height - all these factors should be considered before the cold season.

When should you last fertilize your lawn before winter?

When the lawn is last fertilized depends primarily on your choice of fertilizer and how the lawn is used. In general, October is considered the last sensible month for lawn fertilization.

If you use an organic lawn fertilizer, it is important to fertilize regularly - ideally once in late spring and once in September or October. Since the organically bound nutrients are converted depending on the temperature and moisture, you don't have to worry about over-fertilization or leaching if you don't strictly adhere to this period. The autumn fertilization should also contain a sufficient amount of readily available potassium. This is because potassium increases cell wall stability and frost tolerance, two properties that can protect your lawn from winter damage. Here we present our purely organic and potassium-rich Plantura organic autumn lawn fertilizer in more detail.

If you have oneIf you use mineral fertilizer that does not have a long-term effect, you can carry out the last fertilization between June and October. This time depends on the load on the lawn. The rule of thumb is: the higher the load, the more frequent the cuts and the more intensive and longer the fertilization. So unless you have a utility lawn and don't want to play soccer on it all fall, you don't have to fertilize until the last possible moment.

In the case of autumn fertilization with a mineral long-term fertilizer, the last fertilization can be brought forward a few months. When using it, make sure that its effects expire in October to avoid leaching. For example, if you use a slow-release mineral fertilizer that is effective for four months, the last fertilization will be in June or July.

Any form of mineral autumn fertilizer - as long-term fertilizer or as fertilizer without long-term effect - must contain sufficient readily available potassium. Since significantly less nitrogen should be fertilized from August, a slow-release fertilizer used in June or July must not be nitrogen-rich. Late application of nitrogen fertilization lowers frost tolerance and can result in frost damage with yellow turf.

Summary: When is the last time you should fertilize your lawn?

• October is the last month when it makes sense to fertilize your lawn before winter. For a less stressed lawn, the last fertilization can take place as early as June.
• An organic, mineral or organo-mineral slow-release fertilizer can bring forward the last fertilization.
• Although organic fertilization can be done throughout the year, late spring and September are best due to relatively slow implementation.
• If you fertilize with minerals, your last fertilization depends on the demands on the lawn: If it has to be mowed frequently, fertilization is also given longer to keep the lawn tight.
• All fall lawn fertilizers should be high in potassium to make the grass plants more frost tolerant.

Tip: If a fertilizer that is too nitrogenous is used in autumn, the frost tolerance of the grass plants will suffer. Most of the time, the lawn will turn partially or completely yellow and later even brown. These patches denote froze blades of grass that have been killed.

Winter lawn: Whenmow the last time?

It is well known that a lawn does not only consist of one type of grass: standard seed mixtures contain fast-growing genera and species as well as the slower, so-called "undergrasses". They usually provide the dense base of the lawn. If the last cut is very late, they are at a disadvantage: while the fast-growing grasses get going again with the last rays of sunshine in late autumn, the undergrowth can no longer keep up. As a result, they are shaded throughout the winter and remain at a disadvantage when spring begins. The stunted growth caused by the shading can lead to the death of the undergrowth, which can result in a patchy, thin lawn with brown spots. To avoid this, the lawn should be mowed for the last time in mid-November at the latest.

Summary: When is the last time you should mow your lawn?

• The last lawn cut before winter should be done in mid-November
• Pruning too late can cause the important undergrowth to die off

You can read more about "mowing the lawn" in our special article.

Tip: If large amounts of leaves are still falling on your lawn after the last mowing, you should roughly remove them. Because the leaves lying on the lawn take away the light and ensure uneven budding in spring. We have put together for you what you can do with the autumn leaves in the garden.

Winter lawn: Which lawn height is the best?

The best lawn height depends on the type of lawn you have. While an ornamental lawn can be mowed very short, there are actually no specifications for an extensively treated lawn or even a wild meadow. Basically, a lawn should go into the winter for a short time so that all lawn grasses are equally illuminated. This is how you achieve an even budding in the next year.

In the following table you will find the right time to cut your lawn and a recommended cutting height for winter.

Lawn Type	Cut time at height [cm]	Winter cutting height [cm]
Ornamental Lawn	3-6	2
Useful turf/Play turf	6-10	3
Tough turf/sports turf	6-8	3
Extensive lawns/meadows	-	6

Tip: Seed mixtures for play and sports turf are also counted in the "commercial turf" category. Extensive lawns are those that are rarely walked on and therefore do not have to have a hard-wearing scar.

Summary: What Lawn Height is Best?

• The correct lawn height depends on the type of lawn.
• A lawn should go into winter with a short mowing.
• The ornamental lawn is mowed very short before winter, a lightly used extensive lawn stays much longer.

Care for the lawn in winter

You didn't manage to do the lawn care before winter? Before you reach for the snow shovel and fertilizer spreader, it is better to read up on the rules for lawn care in winter.

Fertilize your lawn in winter?

Your lawn does not need fertilization in winter. It only grows from a soil temperature of around 8 °C, which is well below this most of the time in winter. Applying an organic fertilizer at this point doesn't hurt, but it also has no effect. Only a few corvids then like to attack the fertilizer granules, which they find fragrant.

You should never use mineral fertilizers in winter. In particular, the fertilizer cannot penetrate into frozen soil anyway, but it can be loosened by briefly melting snow or sleet and then washed away. Wherever it ends up, it's probably not wanted or is gathering in harmful concentrations in depressions in your lawn. The result would be s alt damage to the grass plants, which are already stressed out in winter, and show up as yellow spots.

Summary: Fertilize your lawn in winter?

• Lawn does not need fertilization in winter.
• Organic fertilization is not harmful, but may be preyed upon by birds and is not effective.
• Mineral fertilization in winter can damage your lawn or other areas of the garden.

Mowing the lawn in winter?

As explained above, the last mowing should take place in mid-November at the latest. Normally, your lawn will stop growing after this point. Even if it's still growing, don't mow it again. Because in the cold season, the grass plants are no longer able to compensate for the cutting of their leaves. Opened by the cutLeaflets are frost sensitive and the stimulated emergency shoot shares this trait. A cut in winter makes your lawn more susceptible to frost damage and should therefore not be done.

Summary: Mowing the lawn in winter?

• The lawn should not be mowed in winter.
• Mowing in winter can result in plants that are more susceptible to frost.

Sowing a lawn in winter?

Lawns should be sown between mid-April and September. Under no circumstances should there be a risk of late or early frost. Sowing outside of this time window can lead to a shift in grass composition. The reason for this lies in the different properties of the grass species and varieties contained in the seed mixture: some still grow well even at lower temperatures, while others hardly stir or even freeze to death. So the grasses that have an advantage due to the prevailing temperature overgrow the less vigorous grasses. The result of the sowing then no longer corresponds to the desired and sown lawn type.

Summary: Sowing lawns in winter?

• Sowing a lawn in winter means there is little chance that the grass will emerge successfully.
• If the seed sprout, it happens unevenly and the later lawn does not have the desired composition.

Lawn in frost: Do not enter?

There are often warnings before stepping on the lawn when it is frosty. The frozen stalks are said to become brittle and break off in frost, and the risk of soil compaction in frost is particularly high. In the spring brown patches are said to appear where the lawn has been walked on. These claims persist and are never particularly well founded. We're clearing up the rumours.

On the one hand, the blades of your lawn are by no means completely frozen and as brittle as thin icicles. The high concentration of potassium in the plant cells protects them from freezing completely, just as s alt in seawater protects the sea from freezing. If you are unsure, you can test a frosted blade of grass for its flexibility.

The assertion that stepping on a frozen lawn leads to increased soil compaction is completely unfounded in practice: as soon as the ground is frozen through, the forest starts to compactTimber moving work - precisely because the ground is frozen and for this reason it is better able to withstand the load from the heavy machines. We have not yet been able to unequivocally assign the much-cited “brown spots” that can appear in spring to our footprints. Of course, they can occur if snow piles or other heavy objects are stored on the lawn for a long time.

The turf can be a little vulnerable when the ground is completely frozen and only the top centimeters have been thawed by the sun of the day. Then these parts are quite soft and can literally be "smeared" by stepping on them. Such smearing can result in very superficial densification. But even that can be avoided by being careful. Such superficial compaction loosens up again on its own in the spring if the soil is he althy and the lawn is he althy. Of course, in winter - just like in summer - driving heavy machinery or vehicles on the lawn should be avoided.

Summary: Do not step on the lawn when it is freezing?

• Lawn can be walked on carefully even in frost without causing major damage to the grass plants or compacting the soil.
• Only excessive and unnecessary loads can cause smearing of the top layer of soil when the ground is thawed.

Care for the lawn after the winter

Spring begins with the first warmer rays of the sun - and at the same time lawn care after winter begins, which should give the green carpet a good start into the new year.

When the spring sun makes the damp lawn sparkle again and the thermometer begins to climb into the double digits, the ground gradually warms up as well. How quickly this happens depends crucially on the type of soil you have: If you have sandy soil, it will heat up the fastest. A heavy, loamy or clayey soil contains a lot of water, which needs much more heat to increase its own temperature. A heavy soil therefore heats up more slowly. Accordingly, growth begins later on heavy soil, because lawns only grow from a soil temperature of around 8 °C.

Scarifying and aerating the lawn after winter

When the lawn is growing and it has already been mowed for the first time - usually around April - the lawn can be scarified if necessarywill. Heavy soils can be aerated (aerated) and sanded for the first time. Sanding makes sense on these soils because the sand creates cavities that allow the soil to aerate and drain better. The lawn has less to contend with waterlogging and a lack of air at the roots, can absorb nutrients more effectively, root deeper and often visibly benefits from the introduction of the sand. So that the sand gets as deep as possible into the ground, it is only used after the lawn has been aerated. Scarifying, aerating and sanding should be carried out at most once a year. The first reseeding can now also take place on a thin turf.

The first lawn fertilization of the year

The following applies to the first fertilization in spring: Light soils are fertilized early before natural budding takes place - this time is in March or April. Heavy soils are only fertilized when natural growth has started and the nitrogen reserves in the soil have already been somewhat exhausted. This time is around the end of May to the beginning of June. A fast-acting, nitrogen-rich fertilization can give your lawn the decisive edge over moss in the lawn and wild herbs in spring. The latter will be just as happy about the first rays of sunshine as your lawn, so root weeds should already be rooted out or weeds in the lawn should be controlled in some other way.

Summary: Caring for Your Lawn After Winter

• Light soil heats up quickly and, accordingly, lawn growth starts earlier; heavy soil warms up slowly, so lawn growth starts later.
• Light soil can be fertilized from March, heavy soil from May.
• The first mowing can usually be done in April.
• After the first mowing, you can - if necessary - scarify, aerate, sand and overseed.
• Wild herbs should be consistently removed from the beginning of the year if they are not to become established in the lawn.

For a more detailed post-winter lawn start-up plan, see our feature article.