When autumn arrives, we must prepare the lawn for winter. By giving the garden a maintenance service, we not only ensure that everything is in order now, but also that the lawn gets a fresh start next year.

In this article we explain what you need to do to prepare the lawn for winter, so that you have a beautiful and green lawn the following spring. Tasks such as fertilizing and mowing ensure that the grass is well prepared for the upcoming winter and will look beautiful in the spring.

Fertilizing the lawn in the fall
Fertilizing is one of the best ways to keep the grass beautiful, green and healthy. Autumn is the ideal time for that, not spring (as many people think). A hot summer is very hard on the lawn, making it difficult for it to absorb nutrients. In the cool autumn, the grass has regained strength and can handle fertilization again.

There are also a number of other reasons why fall is the best time to fertilize your lawn:

The morning dew provides the grass with enough moisture to help absorb the fertilizers.
The grass gets a chance to get stronger and prepare for the harsh winter.
Extra support in the fall makes for stronger grass in the spring.
Falling leaves from the trees can also partly provide nutrition, but it is preferable to sprinkle real fertilizer granules.

When to fertilize in the fall?
Ideally, fertilization takes place two to three weeks before the ground begins to freeze. So it is difficult to give an exact date, but usually it will be around mid-October.

In terms of time, it is best to fertilize early in the morning or early in the evening. The dew then helps the grass to absorb the fertilizer properly. Mow the grass before you start fertilizing, because the grass should not be too long, so that the manure can quickly reach the roots. Another thing to keep in mind: never spread the fertilizers just before a heavy rain shower, because then everything will be washed away again and that is of course not the intention.

Mowing the lawn in the fall? 3 important tips
Mowing grass just before the cold months ensures that fungi have less chance to grow. It is also important that you use sharp blades in the lawn mower.

If the temperatures are still OK and it’s not very cold yet, the grass will continue to grow. Once the daytime temperatures reach 10 degrees Celsius or lower, growth will stop. Usually this is around the end of October to the beginning of November, although this has been quite different for a number of years. So keep an eye on the weather.
The last mowing depends on the night frost. So again keep an eye on the weather reports and plan the mowing sessions. Before the night frost takes place, it is still necessary to mow about two to three times. You also have to make sure that you never mow too much at once. As a rule of thumb, keep a maximum of one third of the grass height removed per mowing.
In winter, a height of 5.5 to 6 cm is ideal. This is not very short, but short enough to prevent mold as much as possible. At the same time, it is also long enough to protect the grass from rain and frost.