Winter landscaping in the Pacific Northwest is unique.
While most of the nation turns brown, much of our landscape remains green, vibrant, even. We have weeks upon weeks of rain, little snow (in the lowlands), and relatively mild temperatures.
During this time, we still need to pay attention to our landscaping and take care of our lawns.
Effective Winter Lawn Care Techniques
We’ve written up 5 simple winter lawn care tips that we hope will be helpful to keeping up maintenance during colder weather.
1. Install Efficient Landscape Drainage
Winter is the rainy season in the Pacific Northwest. That’s what we’re known for, after all.
With that in mind, you’ll want to make sure that your lawn’s drainage is taken care of. Make sure your gutters are ferried away from the house and that there is no standing water in the yard.
If your yard has any sort of depression or is on a sloped lot, you may have troubles. Consider installing a French drain or some other water-management solution. This lawn care tip may also save your basement, in case of heavy rain.
2. Enhance Your Soil with Compost
When autumn arrives and all the leaves fall, collect them and start a compost/mulch pile in the back yard. The resulting soil will make a terrific contribution to your spring planting.
Planning in advance is the best winter lawn care and maintenance strategy.
3. Stay Off the Grass to Protect It
During the rainy season, yards become saturated and the soil is thus vulnerable. You’ll want to stay off the grass when possible.
If you feel compelled to mow the grass, wait until there has been a few days of dry weather before cranking the mower.
4. Rake All the Leaves
This may go without saying, but during the winter, your grass and other plants are bound to remain alive and vibrant. Native plants will thrive with all the rain, and they are acclimated to the lack of light.
Therefore, take care of all the fallen leaves as soon as possible so that your yard stays alive and healthy.
Leaf debris can also be added to your compost pile!
5. Prepare for Spring and Summer
The winter months are a great time to take stock of your lawn care tools and supplies.
This is the ideal time to sharpen your mower blades, replace the rake you wore out in autumn, and look for good deals on wood to build raised beds for the upcoming food-growing season.
Protect Your Lawn with Crowley Landscape Management
Crowley Landscape Management is the Portland area’s premier landscaping company specializing in a variety of lawn care services, including winter lawn care.
We can expertly manage your residential or commercial lawn care whether it’s winter, spring, summer, or fall.
To make sure your lawn is cared for through the colder months so that it comes back just as healthy in the spring, get in touch with our winter lawn care professionals at Crowley Landscape Management!