Winter Is Coming…

Like it or not! But with just a little preparation now, you can head off a whole lot of springtime headaches. Here’s your season-ending to-do list:

Keep mowing. Throughout the fall, keep cutting your grass to its maximum recommended height until it stops growing or goes dormant. Then drop the blade a notch and mow one last time.

Give it a bedtime bath. Before the temperature falls to 50°F, give your lawn a final wash-down with our Fall Cleanup Tonic (below). How come? Because a lawn that goes to bed clean in the fall is more likely to wake up healthy in the spring.

• Mix 1 cup each of antiseptic mouthwash, baby shampoo, and chamomile tea in a bucket.
• Add 2 cups of the mixture to a 20 gallon hose-end sprayer, filling the balance of the jar with warm water.
• Overspray your turf, and follow up with your regular fall lawn feeding. 

Protect your borders. Before the first snow flies, liberally spread a 5-foot band of gypsum over the turf along roadsides, walkways, or any other surfaces that could be hit by salt from your town’s de-icing trucks. Then mix 1 cup of dishwashing liquid and ½ cup each of ammonia and beer in a 20 gallon hose-end sprayer, and apply the solution over the gypsum to the point of runoff. Your soil and grass should sail through the winter in fine shape.