Mittens? Check. Windshield ice scraper? Check. Bulk supply of hot cocoa? Check.
Bring on winter! Wait — did you winterize your lawn?
Winter can take a toll on your lawn, from whiskered burrowing mice and voles to icky snow mold to pesky plows that gouge your pretty green carpet.
How to prepare your lawn for winter in Idaho?
Let’s take a look.
The shorter you cut your lawn for the winter, the less room there’ll be for mice and voles to bore, make tunnels, and cause damage.
A shorter cut helps deter that icky snow mold, too, a gray fungus that can set in over the winter.
Aim for a height of two inches or so — not too tall to invite rodents and snow mold, but not too short to be stressed by the cold.
Chances are, if you’ve stuck with us at all, you know the great benefits of aerating your lawn.
Those tiny cores of soil that aeration removes helps break up compacted soil, allowing water, air and other nutrients to reach the roots so your lawn will breathe easier come spring.
Follow it up with a nice fall seeding. All those holes are perfect for great seed to soil contact.
Fall is actually one of the best times to aerate and overseed, with its cool air temperatures and still-warm soil.
Pro tip: Don’t rake up the little cores of soil left behind. Leave them to break down over the winter. They’ll add nutrients to the soil.
The tidier your lawn is heading into winter, the better.
Blow all your leaves, clean up any debris. Otherwise, you’re putting out a welcome mat for rodents looking for prime real estate for winter housing.
Mice and voles love to tunnel in inviting lawns, causing damage you’ll see in the spring.
Rodents aside, (please) grass needs sunlight to thrive. If you leave that mess of soggy leaves, grass clippings, and garden debris on your lawn, your nice green grass will weaken, and maybe even die.
Hungry perennial weeds compete for nutrients with the rest of your lawn, so get them out of there before the long winter ahead.
Lots of weeds germinate in the fall, survive the winter, and actively grow in spring, including thistle, dandelions, and clover.
That means the only way to prevent these pesky invaders is applying fall pre-emergent as part of preparing your lawn for winter.
Pre-emergent herbicides stop weeds before they sprout by preventing weed seeds from germinating.
Extra attention to this now will help decrease your weeds next spring.
It’s easy to forget fall fertilizing, but this final boost is more important than you think. It’s a key part of preparing your Idaho lawn for winter.
The final fertilizer treatment in fall includes important slow-release granular fertilizer that feeds your hungry lawn for the winter and helps it pop back up, ready to impress, in the spring.
Shoot for Halloween timing, after the last mowing.
If you use a snow plow service, place snow stakes to mark where your pavement ends and lawn begins.
Plows can damage your lawn and take out sprinkler heads, causing damage you’ll have to repair in the spring.
Preparing for winter means collecting soup recipes, buying a new shovel, and trying to remember where you stored your boots.
That’s a lot of excitement. Don’t get so caught up in the fun that you forget to prepare your Idaho lawn for winter.
Choose an Idaho Falls or Boise professional lawn care service that bundles your yard’s most-needed treatments into one convenient, no-fuss plan.
Fertilizing, weed control, grub control. Done.
We’ve got your back.
Got a few minutes? That’s all you need to get started.
Then kick back and relax in your healthy, thriving yard.