Does your lawn receive extra shade during winter, and are you wondering if this is an issue for your lawn? In this blog, we examine how this can impact your lawn and provide guidance on how to manage shade-affected areas effectively.
Skip to: Tips for Shaded Lawns Over Winter, Why Do Lawns Need Sunlight? Why Does My Lawn Grow Slow Over Winter? Does Shade Impact My Lawn Over Winter? Precautions To Take with Shady Lawn Areas in Winter, Why a Healthy Lawn in Autumn is a Healthy Lawn in Winter.
Tips for Shaded Lawns Over Winter:
- Reduce foot traffic where possible for heavily shaded lawns
- Ensure your lawn is in its healthiest condition before winter starts
- Ensure you apply a well-rounded granular fertiliser in autumn before temperatures cool
Why Do Lawns Need Sunlight?
Like other living plants, grasses use the process of photosynthesis to convert sunlight into energy in the form of sugars. This sugar, otherwise known as glucose, is used by the plant as food, helping your lawn grow. Without sunlight, the grass won’t be able to produce glucose.
During the photosynthesis process, the turf will produce a pigment called chlorophyll, which helps keep the grass green. During winter, when there is less sunlight available for the grass to photosynthesise, the grass can lose some of its green colour as a result of less pigment produced.
Why Does My Lawn Grow Slow Over Winter?
During winter, as the daylight hours decrease, the growth rate of your grass will slow. This is normal, and once the temperatures start to warm back up and more sunlight is available, your grass will start to actively grow again.
Does Shade Impact My Lawn Over Winter?
Throughout winter, as the grass’s growth slows into dormancy your lawn won’t need as much direct light as it does throughout summer to survive. This means if your area experiences increased shade pressures during the cooler months, it should be okay as long as the turf receives its sunlight requirements throughout the warmer months when it is actively growing.
Less sunlight does however mean that the area may stay damp for longer during rain. Ensuring you have adequate drainage and aerating the soil profile if needed, will be important to allow the excess moisture to move out of the profile preventing it from becoming waterlogged. A waterlogged lawn will be unable to breathe and will suffer greatly until temperatures warm up again. This is why getting your soil composition and drainage right before you lay a new lawn is so important.
If your area does get increased shade during winter, there are still a few precautions that you need to take to ensure it still stays at its healthiest.
Precautions To Take with Shady Lawn Areas in Winter
As the growth of the lawn has slowed, you will need to be mindful of foot traffic to the area. If the shaded area receives excessive traffic from pets or kids playing, the grass will begin to wear down and won’t be able to repair itself at a fast enough rate to prevent irreparable damage from occurring. Make sure you don’t mow the lawn too short leading into the cooler months, but don’t let it get overgrown either – this creates even more shade. As mentioned above, if conditions have been damp for an extended period, a really good aerate with a garden fork or aerator tool will assist water to go deeper into the ground and help your lawn from becoming suffocated by excessive moisture.
Why a Healthy Lawn in Autumn is a Healthy Lawn in Winter
If your lawn often struggles throughout winter, the best thing you can do to help it throughout the cooler months is to get it in shape over autumn. Autumn is the most important time throughout the year to give your lawn a boost with a fertiliser. A well-rounded fertiliser like our Lawn Solutions Premium Fertiliser is ideal for repair and strong growth. Other important autumn lawn care activities to help get your lawn in its best shape for winter include regular mowing, aeration and weeding.
For more lawn care tips and advice, make sure you check out our other lawn care blogs here.
