How To Take Care Of My Lawn In January

In the Winter you need to take precautions to not damage your lawn. Keep off the frosty grass, keep leaves and debris off the lawn and make sure you aerate!

Winter is a fairly quiet time in the average garden and when it comes to seasonal lawn care, January might seem like the time to sit back and leave your grass alone. While your lawn may not require as much maintenance in the winter as it does in the warmer months, ignoring it completely could do more damage than good.

It's true that lawns don't need the same regular care during winter as they do in summer, but much like in December, that doesn't mean there's nothing to do.

During the cold winter months, especially October to February, grass growth is at a minimum. Cold temperatures and less sunlight both minimise growth, so you won't need to mow your lawn. But what maintenance or lawn treatments should you be considering in January? To ensure that your lawn will be in good shape come springtime, you’ll want to take the following steps...

1) Don’t walk on frosty grass

During the winter months, if it is avoidable, keep off the wet or frosty grass. Walking on frosty grass can scorch it, which will leave it looking black or brown. While the frost itself doesn’t do any damage, walking on a frosty lawn causes the frozen grass leaves to fracture. During this period the grass plants are not actively growing so will not repair themselves if damaged until the spring.

Stepping on a wet or waterlogged lawn will compact the soil, meaning amongst other things that it can't drain as well. This waterlogging can have a long-term effect on grass and future growth.

2) Clear leaves and debris

Of course, having a few leaves here and there across your garden certainly isn't going to harm your lawn. However, letting leaves pile up or accumulate around the garden can damage your grass. When your lawn is covered with leaves and other organic debris, it is not receiving an adequate amount of sunlight and oxygen. Blocking out sections of grass with leaves and debris prevents growth and recovery of your grass leaves.

To get rid of large sections of debris with a light rake or brush, ideally you should try to do this around once or twice a week to stay on top of it. And what do you do with the leaves afterwards? Well they are a great addition to the compost pile. If you are raking or blowing leaves, consider turning them into reusable compost.

3) Aerate my lawn

Lawn aeration remains one of the most important aspects of lawn maintenance, even in the winter. Aeration can help with water drainage, and with loosening compact ground. These are very important in winter as it prevents waterlogging and compacting soil. The process involves digging narrow channels into the earth to get air into the compacted soil and can be done with a fork or with a spiking machine. Simply push the tool into the surface of the lawn as far as it will go and ease back to create slightly angled holes. Repeat this process across the whole area.

In Summary

● Make sure your lawn is free from leaves, debris and other garden bits. Grass won't survive if you don't clear away debris that blocks sunlight and hinders proper drainage.

● If you have any bald or dead patches, you can add winter grass seed during January ready for spring growth. Check out our range of lawn seeds to rescue your bald lawn patches.

● Keep an eye on moss. Winter is a good time to kill moss, so schedule a moss treatment for January if you’ve noticed it getting out of hand.