Our landscapes can take a beating during winter’s short days and cold weather, often accompanied by rain, ice, sleet or snow. Right now is the time of year when people may find themselves daydreaming about long, warm days spent on the patio or entertaining family and friends at backyard BBQs. But our Kingsport landscape professionals warn that when Tennessee wakes up from its winter slumber, your lawn may need some TLC. Let’s take a look today at some of the most common post-winter landscape problems.
Salt damage
When Mother Nature sends ice or snow in winter, it can quickly become a hazard for many reasons. It’s important to remove snow and ice from driveways, walkways and parking areas, and using salt is a common way to de-ice. But no matter how careful the application, salt can end up burning a lawn’s edges. Fortunately, this is usually an easy spring-time fix with seeding and/or overseeding the damaged areas of the lawn.
Snow mold
Ever noticed a patch of pink, tan or gray mold on your lawn during or after winter? When snow falls and sits on the ground, it can trap moisture, matte the lawn down and lead to a fungal disease called snow mold. Thankfully, snow mold is an issue that usually clears up on its own. Damaged blades of grass won’t return to their green color, but the discoloration will be gone after mowing the lawn a couple times in early spring.
Water pooling
Whether from rain or snowmelt, a wet winter leads to lawns that are muddy and/or collect water, especially in low-lying places and landscape beds. This could indicate poor drainage. Fortunately, solutions exist for this, including site grading, trench drains or dry creeks.
Winter landscaping solutions
Winter affords us the opportunity to stay indoors and rest a bit more than we might in the spring and summer. But it’s never too early to start planning how we’ll wake up our lawn and landscaping so we can enjoy a healthy, lush yard in the coming spring and summer months. If you have any questions about sprucing up your lawn, or if you’d like the expertise of our Kingsport landscape specialists in planning your own landscape design and/or maintaining your lawn, call Promier Landscapes at (423) 872-2988, or contact us online today.