There’s a chill in the air and temperatures are getting lower and lower at night. That means winter is coming. You’ve been working hard all year to make sure that your properties are attractive to potential tenants, but if you don’t take a few precautions now you might be finding yourself back to square one come spring.
Here are five things you can do to make sure your lawn will look great when the warmth returns.
Get rid of any leaves on your lawn. Shred those leaves with a mulcher or rake them up. If you let them stay on the lawn all winter they’ll suffocate the grass underneath them. Brown grass gets negative points for curb appeal.
Mow the lawn lower than normal. Whether you ask your tenants, pay a lawn service, or do it yourself, make sure that your last two mows are done with the mower blades at the lowest possible setting. This allows more light to reach the crown of the grass.
Fertilize. Grass might not grow in the winter, but the roots do. Add some fertilizer now and they’ll be feasting al winter. In the spring your grass will come back nice and strong thanks to those healthy roots.
Get rid of the weeds. In the fall plants start absorbing all the nutrients that they can to help them make it through the winter. Weeds will absorb herbicides at a faster rate now than they did in the spring because they don’t know the difference between poison and water. Kill them not and you’ll have a weed free lawn long into summer.
Disconnect the outside hose. Turn off the water to the faucet. Then turn on the faucet to drain any water that was left. Remove the nozzle and let it dry before storing. Then remove the hose, tip all the water out, and coil it up. Hang it inside the garage on a wide hook until spring. You’ll want to do this even if the hose belongs to your tenants because the damage that can come from frozen water in the pipes to the faucet will be yours.