Fescue and bluegrass lawns, Santa Clarita’s most popular front and back yards, benefit greatly when given attention in the winter.
First of all, check your water schedule. When you do water, give the turf a good deep soaking, but start skipping days between watering. Most lawns here will be able to easily get by on twice a week; new lawns (under a year) may need more frequency but keep the time up when watering. In other words, water deeply then let the lawn dry between watering. Try to only water in the morning which allows the lawn to thoroughly dry out by nightfall. Watch for run off, don’t waste water and time your watering to run till runoff occurs. Remember the Santa Ana’s can blow hard at this time of year and they dry lawns out very quickly, supplemental watering may be necessary.
Light fertilization of a balanced lawn food does wonders. How much can depend on who you talk to. I recommend that you use a 16-6-8 or balanced dry pelletized lawn food at one-third to half the bag recommended rate. Doing this every four to six weeks will keep a mild amount of elements in the soil that the grass uses during the winter to stay green and healthy.
Prune those trees that are shading the lawn, letting the sun in the winter will thicken up that light green thinned out lawn. If over seeding is necessary, do it when the trees have been pruned, which keeps the leave litter off the new tender grass plants.
Mow and edge every seven to 10 days, and leave the clippings on the lawn if they’re shorter than one-quarter inch. This will conserve water, allowing you to irrigate less, and supplies the lawn with nitrogen from the clippings, allowing you to feed less.
Here in the Santa Clarita Valley having a green healthy beautiful lawn is easy.
Thinking of an unusual gift, give a lawn to your family or friends. A thousand square foot lawn can be delivered anywhere in Southern California with just a day’s notice for less than four hundred dollars, and we take orders for future delivery up to six months in advance. Happy holidays from all of us at Superior Sod.