With all the festivities, frigid temperatures, and barren landscapes, dealing with your lawn seems like the last item on your to-do list. However, it’s still essential to care for your lawn in the winter, unless you want it to grow unhealthy. If you hope to care for it yourself, you may wonder, “What do landscapers do in the winter?” On the flip side, you might ask this question hoping that landscaping companies still offer winter landscaping services. This article will review standard winter landscaping services, winter lawn care tips, and how Arbeen Landscaping can help with your winter lawn care.
What Do Landscapers Do in the Winter?
The expert residential gardener may know how to care for their winter lawn, but the novice homeowner may ask, “What do landscapers do in the winter?” Landscaping in the winter can differ from landscaping in the spring or summer. While most of our services are similar – like planting shrubs, lawn mowing, and light installation – we merely change the way we approach these services. For example, our winter landscaping services involve planting shrubs and trees that thrive in the cold – like fir or firethorn – and installing lighting near walking paths. We also provide snow removal services for larger commercial properties.
Common Winter Landscaping Services
Professionals like Arbeen Landscaping provide many types of winter landscaping services. We encourage all residential and commercial property owners to regularly keep up with their winter lawn care for the most healthy winter and spring lawns.
Winter Lawn Prep
Ensure your lawn stays healthy and safe throughout the winter so that you can adequately take care of it in the spring. Proper winter lawn care preparation involves:
- Installing drainage and sprinkler systems.
- Lawn fertilization and aeration.
- Removal of dead plants.
- Maintaining designated outdoor living spaces.
Mulching
Mulching protects the roots of your plants from frigid temperatures. If your roots experience too much freezing or thawing at given times, they might become too damaged for spring growth. Since mulching is time-consuming and requires knowledge of the best mulch for your soil, we recommend leaving this service to the professionals.
Leaf and Weed Removal
The comfortable spring temperatures encourage extensive weed growth. Therefore, when weed growth stops during the cold season, it’s the perfect time to remove weeds and other debris. Use weed killers and other preventative measures to maintain your soil’s fertility.
Snow Removal
Snow removal requires either a lot of intensive manual labor or professional machines. Only professionals with experience using equipment like snow plowers should perform these services for larger properties. Aside from larger commercial properties, the average homeowner can use a small snow blower or shovel to clear the snow from their lawn. Removing snow from your lawn is essential so you can perform other tasks like fertilization and aeration.
Tips for Winter Lawn Care
During the colder seasons, winter lawn care often goes under the radar. Whether we tend not to associate winter with anything but barren lawns, or we become too overwhelmed with other festive activities, caring for our yards can cease to be a top priority. However, we should prioritize our lawns during cold seasons, which is easier to do than you may think. With these few simple tips for winter lawn care, your lawn will remain healthy and vibrant until spring returns.
Monitor Weather Conditions
With the Chicago winter months averaging about 15 snow days per month, you must consider how to maintain your lawn in different weather conditions. While turf can tolerate moderate to extreme winters, too much exposure to these conditions will permanently harm your lawn. Before experiencing these extreme seasonal conditions, ensure you make all winter lawn care preparations for the soil and shrubs. Then, focus on maintenance for your sidewalks and other walking paths.
Keep It Clean
A simple step, but one easily overlooked – keep your lawn clean. With the white winter landscape, any debris like toys or leaves becomes an eyesore. Additionally, these items can have more damaging effects, like smothering the grass or inviting pests like insects and mice to infest your lawn.
Regularly Water Your Lawn
You might assume your lawn receives enough water with all the snow outside. However, the combination of snow packed into the grass and dry temperatures will dry out your lawn. Regularly apply water to keep your soil moist. If it becomes too moist or the snow melts quickly, consider installing a drainage system to prevent flooding year-round.
Consider Heavy Walking Traffic
With dense snow covering your grass, you can’t easily see where you frequently walk. Too much walking traffic will cause grass and soil compaction, affecting spring growth. Save yourself the trouble and invest in professional winter landscaping services. Arbeen Landscaping has years of expertise in designing and installing natural stone pathways for all lawn types.
Lower Your Mower
In extreme weather conditions, avoid cutting your grass too short. If you cut it too short, you expose the plant’s crown to damaging conditions. Likewise, grass that is too long is at risk of experiencing freezing. Either way, check your mower’s height before cutting your winter lawn.
Aerate
Aeration is critical to maintaining a healthy winter lawn. Given all the snow packed on top of your soil, preventing oxygen from reaching it, you should provide extra air for your grassroots to grow. Use spades to create tiny holes for seed planting. If you need to aerate a lawn for a larger property, we recommend contacting professionals for winter landscaping services. Professionals know how to safely use equipment like motorized aerators for larger landscaping properties.
Fertilize
While it is common for winter lawns to turn brown quickly, you can revive your grass with fertilizer. For small residential properties, use a spreader to apply fertilizer. Use the machine to spray fertilizer pellets over the grass, and never go over the same spot twice. Too much fertilizer will end up burning your grass and less grass will grow in its place.
Winter Landscaping Services With Arbeen Landscaping
It can be unpleasant and daunting to brave the freezing temperatures for winter landscaping. If you find yourself avoiding winter lawn care this season, we’re here to help. Arbeen Landscaping provides year-round and seasonal landscaping services. With experience in winter landscaping design, lawn care, and snow removal, we have the expertise to assist with any landscaping service. Reach out to Arbeen Landscaping today to discuss options for improving your residential or commercial property this winter.
