Episode 1 of Trowel & Error with The Seasoned Spade — listen below, or read the transcript.
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Got a letter this week, and it is a good one. It says, Dear Spade, we are supposed to get our first hard freeze this week, and my neighbor swears I should soak the lawn before it hits. My other neighbor swears that is the dumbest thing he has ever heard. Who is right? Signed, Frostbitten in Fargo, North Dakota.
Well, Frostbitten, your first neighbor wins this one. But only if you do it the right way, and the right way has a clock on it.
Watering before a hard freeze sounds backwards, like putting on a raincoat before a snowstorm. But there is a solid reason behind it. Moist soil holds heat better than dry soil. Water is a heat bank. It soaks up warmth during the day and lets it go slowly overnight, which keeps the ground around your grass roots a few degrees warmer than it would be if the soil were bone dry. Think of it like a thermos versus a paper cup. Same cold night, but the thermos still has something warm in it come morning. Your lawn would rather be the thermos.
Now, here is where it gets tricky, and this is where your second neighbor earns a little respect. If you water while the temperature is already below freezing, you are not banking heat. You are making ice. Wet grass blades freeze into a crunchy mat, and foot traffic on frozen grass snaps the blades like dry spaghetti.
So the rule is simple. Water the day before the freeze, in the morning, and give the lawn a good deep soaking, about an inch, so the water sinks into the soil instead of sitting on the blades. And if the ground is already frozen solid, or rain is on the way anyway, leave the hose in the garage. Watering a frozen lawn is like offering a blanket to a snowman. Kind thought, no help at all.
Two things to do alongside. If your lawn has been feeling like a parking lot underfoot, aerate before winter, so a good soaking reaches the roots instead of running off into the street. And give the lawn its last mow before the freeze at the normal height. Not scalped short, which leaves the crown exposed, and not left long and shaggy, which mats down under snow. A clean, even cut is the lawn equivalent of tucking it in with the covers straight.
So yes, Frostbitten. Soak the lawn the morning before a hard freeze, about an inch, and let the soil do the rest. Skip it if the ground is frozen or the rain is coming anyway. Your grass cannot thank you out loud, but come spring, when your lawn greens up a week ahead of your skeptical neighbor’s, you will hear it just fine. Seasonedly yours, the Seasoned Spade.
Read the column this episode is based on — Should You Water Your Lawn Before a Hard Freeze?
