Your lawn is the special area of your house reserved for recreational purposes and of course enhances the beauty of your home, and neighborhood. Well maintained lawns always increase the value of your house, and provide healthy and cool surroundings for you living spaces.
One should always take measures to make his/her lawn lush green and healthy so that it makes your house look more graceful. A beautiful house with a not so beautiful or a dull lawn has no curb appeal, and can easily annoy your neighbors. It is very important to take good care of your lawn in every season in order to maintain the beauty of your lawn. Winter is marked by the end of the growing season and people usually neglect their lawns thinking that not much attention is needed as the growing season is over. But it is myth as during the winter season there are chances of your lawn getting damaged.
Here are some great tips to keep your lawn up to par during Florida winters:
✓ Use Soil Activators
Prevent your soil getting lethargic and sluggish by treating your soil regularly. Don’t forget to apply soil activator on your yard.
✓ Rake
Since winter is the “no growing season”, it is the best time to remove the moss, fallen leaves and dead materials from your lawn with a rake. This will help you to identify the problems with your soil and also penetrate the water deep down into the soil but never rake excessively.
✓ Avoid Using Fertilizers
Don’t use excess of fertilizers in the winter season as frequent use of fertilizers enhances the plant growth which makes them more prone to diseases and insects. Application of fertilizers just once during the fall is more than enough. Use phosphorous rich fertilizers as they will prepare plant for the next season. Avoid nitrogen rich fertilizers because they may make your lawn look green in a short span of time but at the same moment they make your plants more vulnerable to insects and diseases.
✓ Say no to unsafe Insecticides
Never use insecticides, pesticides or fungicides as they kill many useful microbes and earthworms which naturally aerate the soil.
✓ Choose the Right Type of Grass
Always choose the types of grasses which are very well suited to your environment conditions. Since during winters, Florida hardly receives 6 or more hours of sunlight, avoid planting grasses which require atleast 6hrs of sunlight. Switch to shade tolerant varieties which will definitely provide your lawn an astonishing look. The best choices are Centipede grass, St. Augustine grass, Bahia grass, Zoysia grass and Seashore Paspalcum.
✓ Invite Birds
Don’t forget to get some feeders or bird baths for your lawn. When you feed the birds in your lawn, it proves to be a great help to you as birds help in keeping a check on insect population, and tend to help keep shrubs and trees pollinated.
✓ No Regular Mowing
Many people are in a habit of regular mowing and they always want their lawn grasses to be trimmed. But the fall season is not the period for regular trimming. During the fall season, the growth of the plants is almost negligible and regular mowing may leave your lawn with a shabby look. So it is advisable to cut down your mowing frequency.
✓ Keep Check on Lawn
Winter season brings with it fungus diseases. Keep a regular check on your lawn for brown fungus diseases which occurs during cool and wet seasons.
✓ Less Irrigation
The most important thing to be concerned with during the winters in Florida is your sprinkler and irrigation system. Never overdo irrigation during winter season. Irrigating your lawn once in a week is more than sufficient if necessary, and be sure to cover up your pump housing during the freezing nights!
