You’ve put your mower in for a service because you know you won’t be using it over the next couple of months. But, winter is a time to prepare and defend your lawn. So venture out a couple of times during the big chill to make sure that come spring, it’s as luscious as it possibly can be.
WATCH: Charlie’s low-maintenance and good looking lawn alternative
Frost damage
Pretty as it is, frost can be bad news for lawns if you don’t take care.
- Frost causes moisture inside the grass blades to freeze and expand, rupturing cell walls.
- If you know frosts are on their way, avoid mowing and be sure to water your lawn deeply the evening before. This water will evaporate overnight, giving the blades a bit of warmth to stop them freezing.
- On the morning of the frost, avoid walking on your lawn and further damaging the cell walls. Wait until the sun has melted the frost before venturing onto it.
- Wait at least a month after the last frost before you apply fertiliser.
Look but don’t touch
Most lawns recover from frosts, but walking or driving on a frosted lawn snaps the blades and causes impacted areas to die and go brown.
Being hardy helps
A healthy lawn can survive harsh conditions – to strengthen and prep yours for the frosts ahead, apply iron-enriched fertiliser in autumn. PS, deciduous plants lose their leaves in autumn and go into winter dormancy, so they aren’t affected by frosts.
Ease the squeeze
High-tread areas and wet weather can cause soil compaction, reducing the air tunnels in your soil and choking your lawn’s roots. Winter is a great time to aerate your lawn, allowing air and nutrients into the soil and encouraging roots to grow deeper. Insert a garden fork into the lawn and wriggle it back and forth a couple of times to break up the soil. Aim to have spacing between holes of about 10cm.
Watering
Lawns don’t need much water during winter, so switch off your timers and hold a hose instead. Water only if your winter is particularly dry.
A recent survey of 1,000 Aussies nationwide, commissioned by Yates, revealed 77 per cent of us admire other people’s lawns and 81 per cent are dreaming of a better lawn at home.
Whilst 18 per cent of Aussies feel their neighbours are judging the state of their garden, over 40 per cent admit to maintaining their lawns to compete with others in their street. Sixty-six per cent keep their lawn looking good for their own eye candy!
“As temperatures drop across the country, lawn growth will slow however weeds can take off and rapidly infest and take over the lawn. Weeds are one of the biggest problems to watch out for over autumn and winter when it comes to your lawns,” said Angie Thomas, Horticulture Consultant to Yates.
Be a weed warrior
It’s not just bare patches in your lawn that attract weeds. Even in the thickest parts of your turf, winter grass will find a way to snuggle in. This produces multitudes of seeds within weeks that will fall to create an even greater problem for you next year. Pull it out as soon as it emerges – the colour and shape of the tufts of blades distinguish it from your turf. It’s easily pulled as the roots are very shallow. If it’s rampant, apply a selective weed control before it produces seeds.
Bindii also appears in our winter lawns, getting ready to attack your feet or those of your children and pets in spring and summer. It’s more difficult to spot in winter, so spray your lawn now with a selective control before it develops the seed capsules that produce so much pain in spring.
Bindii control can also be used on the visible blight that is big, fat broadleaf weeds – such as clover and that infuriating little creeping oxalis – many of which have deep tap roots that are difficult to pull.
Tip Read labels carefully and use selective weed controls. General-purpose herbicides will also kill your grass.
What weeds to look out for
Broadleaf weeds like bindii and clover start growing actively during the cooler months. Bindii produces prickles and can make the lawn unusable and clover can compete with and overtake large areas of lawn.
Angie’s tips on reducing lawn weeds
- Keep the lawn well fed with an organic lawn food. A healthy, thick lawn is better able to resist weed infestations
- Repair any bare patches in the lawn, as these can be a magnet for weeds
- Apply a selective herbicide over the lawn while weeds are still small and before they have had a chance to flower and set seed. For buffalo lawns, it’s important to apply a buffalo safe weed killer
- Applying Yates Dynamic Lifter during autumn will also promote a lush green lawn as winter approaches and add valuable organic matter back into the soil.
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