While there’s not a lot of lawn maintenance to do in the winter, there are still some ways to help keep your yard healthy. However, aeration is not one of them during this time of year. Here’s why you shouldn’t be aerating lawns in winter and what you should be doing instead.

Aerating Lawns in Winter? No Thanks.

Make no mistake, aerating a lawn is an important step in helping to keep it healthy and lush. It improves water intake, helps make roots stronger, reduces soil compaction, and more. However, it can be an intense process. It needs to be done in the right season so your lawn has plenty of time to recover. Winter is not that season.

During aeration, tiny holes are poked into the soil to help increase airflow. During the winter, lawns go dormant, so they’re not prepared to deal with extreme stress—other than the winter weather. Since grass isn’t growing, it’s in no shape to recover from piercing the soil. While aerating is designed to help your lawn, doing it this time of year can hurt it more.

What Can You Do in Winter

You may not want to aerate now, but there are ways to help your lawn survive the season.

1. Keep it clean. Clear off toys, furniture, and any extra debris laying around on your lawn, slowly killing your grass.
2. Stay off. Heavy traffic can cause soil compaction and also result in bare, brown spots.
3. Plan for spring. Put a schedule in place for all the lawn maintenance spring will bring: aerating, watering, fertilizing, mowing, planting, etc.

For more specific information on what your lawn needs during each season, contact Cardinal Lawns for tips. From determining your grass type to learning how much water and mowing it needs, Cardinal Lawns can help year-round. Before you know it, spring will be here and you would have wished you took the season off.

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