Waiting Until The Soil Is So Cold Seed Can’t Sprout Is The Cheapest Way To Fix Bare Lawn Spots, And Skipping One Sprinkler Step Cracks Buried Pipes By Spring

Most people put the lawn out of their minds in November. The mower is put away, the leaves are down, and it feels like nothing is left to do until spring. @TheGardenGuy98 says that is exactly the mistake, because November is the month that decides what your lawn looks like in April.

Frost-covered grass blades on a cold morning, showing the cold ground where lawn seed will not sprout

His list has seven jobs, and the first is something you can only do right now. It is, in his words, the cheapest way to fix bare spots you will ever find.

Wait Until The Soil Is So Cold The Seed Cannot Sprout, Then Let Winter Do The Work

Every lawn ends the season with a few bare patches, and most people assume it is too late to seed them. They are right if the seed sprouts, since a baby grass plant that comes up in November will not survive.

The trick is to wait until it is so cold that the seed cannot sprout at all. It is called dormant seeding. Put the seed down after a few hard frosts but before the snow arrives and the ground freezes solid, and it sits asleep all winter.

Freezing and thawing then moves the soil a little, and that movement works the seed in better than any rake. In spring it comes up on its own, weeks earlier than anything you could plant in April.

To do it, rake the bare spot hard to roughen the surface and remove dead grass, so the seed lands on loose soil rather than a crust. Use a cool-season seed such as fescue, bluegrass or ryegrass, matching the grass you already have. Spread it a bit heavier than in spring because birds and runoff will take some, and then leave it alone with no watering and no straw.

He has two warnings. Skip steep slopes, where the first heavy rain will wash the seed downhill. And do not seed too early, because a warm spell could make it sprout and put you back at square one. Later is better than earlier. Next spring, keep weed preventer off those spots, since it stops grass seed from coming up too.

Skip This Sprinkler Step And Water Bubbles Up In The Middle Of The Lawn By Spring

If you have an in-ground system, job two could save you hundreds of dollars. The pipes run only a few inches under the turf, and water left in them freezes and expands. It cracks pipes, splits fittings and breaks sprinkler heads from the inside.

You will not find out until spring, when you turn the system on and water bubbles up in the lawn. Fixing buried pipe, he notes, is not cheap.

Before the first hard freeze, shut off the water supply to the system, usually a valve in the basement, garage or near where the main line enters the house. Set the controller to off or rain mode. Some systems have drain valves, so check your manual.

Most systems need a blowout, where compressed air pushes water out of every zone. He cautions that too much pressure from a home compressor can damage pipes and blow parts loose. For most homeowners he suggests an irrigation company, which usually runs about $75 to $150 and costs far less than digging up broken pipe in April. Also wrap the backflow device near the house after it is drained, because it is one of the most expensive parts of the system and cracks easily in a freeze.

Your Spreader Rusts And Your Sprayer Cracks If You Park Them Dirty

Job three is putting your lawn supplies to bed. Lawn feed is a kind of salt that pulls moisture from the air, so leftover product cakes up and rusts the spreader. Empty it, hose it inside and out, let it dry and add a drop of oil to the moving parts.

The sprayer matters even more. Fill it with clean water and spray it through two or three times, following the weed killer label for where to spray the rinse. Then empty it fully and store it where it will not freeze, since leftover water can crack the tank or wand.

Keep granular feed and seed dry and off concrete floors, which pull up moisture until the bottom of the bag turns into a brick. A plastic bin with a tight lid also keeps mice out of your seed. Liquid products often should not freeze, so check the label.

There is a bargain here too. Garden centers clear out lawn feed and seed this time of year. Check the test date on the seed tag, because seed loses its ability to sprout as it ages. To test old seed, lay 10 seeds on a damp paper towel inside a plastic bag somewhere warm. If eight or more sprout in a week or two, it is still good, and if only three or four come up, buy a new bag.

A $15 To $30 Soil Test Beats Guessing With Another Bag Of Feed

Job four is a soil test before spring. If the soil is off, he says, the grass cannot use what you give it. The problem was never the feed. November is a good time because labs are quiet and results come back fast, and because lime, which is slow, can work down over winter.

Dig a slice of soil 3 or 4 inches deep from 10 to 15 spots, pull off the grass and roots, mix it in a bucket, let it dry and send a cup or two to the lab. A basic test usually costs about $15 to $30, less than a bag of feed. Only apply lime if the test says so.

Recut The Edges, Dig Out Wild Garlic, And Stop Piling All The Snow In One Spot

Job five is recutting the lawn edges while the soil is soft and the grass has slowed. A half-moon edger or sharp flat spade, pushed down 2 or 3 inches and guided by a hose or string line, makes a gap that keeps lawn runners out of your beds for months.

Job six is wild garlic and wild onion, the dark green tufts that shoot up in November. Crush a leaf and sniff for onion. Dig out the whole clump with its bulbs after rain instead of pulling, since pulling leaves the bulb behind. For a heavy patch, use a weed killer that lists them on the label, crush or mow the leaves a day or two earlier, and expect a second round in early spring.

Job seven is planning for snow and shortcuts. A single big snow pile is the last to melt and invites snow mold, so spread your shoveling around. Foot traffic from driveway to back door packs the soil into a hard bare strip, so lay stepping stones or steer the path elsewhere.

Willow and Hearth