Winter Lawn Care in Great Falls VA: Preventing Soil Compaction

Some lawn experts consider compacted soil dead soil (or at least barely alive soil that needs prompt resuscitation). In other words, compacted winter soil will not sustain healthy plants’ growth. However, our experts in lawn care in Great Falls, VA, say that you have some means to prevent soil compaction and bring damaged soil back to its former glory. So, let’s see what our technicians advise!

How to Prevent Winter Soil Compaction

Our lawn care and maintenance company in Great Falls, VA, has some tips for all the homeowners who want to prevent soil compaction during the winter months:

• Don’t allow snow to pile in large mounds in your yard. Instead, spread the snow with a shovel and a rake uniformly on your property to prevent snow from compacting your soil. Moreover, when you shovel snow away from your driveway, walkways, patio, etc., don’t pile it up in your garden. You risk entertaining fungi and disrupting the drainage of your lawn.
• Avoid foot traffic in the garden during the winter.
• Don’t store heavy machinery (snowblowers, for instance), gardening equipment, or vehicles on the ground. Unfortunately, some people park their cars (or allow others to park them) on their lawns. It is a surefire way to damage your soil and landscape beyond recognition.

If you need more tips to prevent soil compaction and drainage problems, ask our experts in lawn care in Great Falls, VA, for their help. They will most likely advise you against using salt to deice your property and favor the use of ground covers and amendments to protect the soil from frost, drainage issues, and other problems.

How to Solve Soil Compaction Issues

Most homeowners know they should aerate the soil during the warm months, but if you do it in winter, you will solve many of the soil’s compaction and drainage problems. Aeration and dethatching are the go-to solutions for such problems. However, if the thatch layer in your yard is thicker than one inch, you need to take some measures.

Aerate the soil with a spiked instrument (a manual aerator, aerator shoes, a pitchfork, etc.) or a plug-type device. The latter yanks out small portions of nutrient-rich soil and brings them on the surface to re-nourish the dormant grasses. If you don’t know how to aerate the soil in winter or you lack the proper tools, call our experts in lawn care in Great Falls, VA! They will assess the damages, make a plan, and help you with the tasks, so your soil regains its health.