Winter Lawnmower Maintenance
Just because it is winter and your lawnmower is off-duty does not mean you should be ignoring it. In fact, winter is the perfect time to do some simple maintenance on your lawnmower. With just a little bit of attention, you can ensure your lawnmower is ready once the spring weather comes back around.

End-of-Season Maintenance
As your mowing season is ending, there are a few steps you should take before storing your mower. First of all, you will need to drain the gas out of your tank. This can be done by running the mower until the gas is used. If you don't empty the gas tank, you should at least add a gas stabilizer.

Another key component for cleaning your mower at this point will be to remove the grass clippings stuck to it. These clippings can become matted underneath the mower, such as on the blades and under the deck. Using a paint scraper is an ideal way to remove this grass from hard to reach places. Ideally, cleaning the mower in this way should be done every time the lawnmower is used.

Maintenance During the Winter Months
When your lawnmower isn't needed for some time, this is the ideal season for doing more serious maintenance. Bigger fixes can be resolved by taking your mower to a repair shop. These repairs are better to be done in the winter as the spring can be a busy time of the year for the shops.

Some maintenances you can do yourself. One of the easiest steps to take in the winter is to change your lawnmower's oil. This should be done once every year, preferably at the same time of year so you keep organized in your maintenance schedule. Other tasks might include changing the air filter on your mower, something that is typically done whenever it has become too clogged. Replacing blades is recommended every two to three years. Typically each mowing season will need new spark plugs, another quick replacement you can do during the winter months.

Why You Should Do Winter Maintenance
When your lawnmower isn't being used - and when you don't need to use it any time soon - this is the time you should be proactive. By making sure all of your parts are functioning and clean, you can save yourself much trouble in the spring. Also, as with a car, if you stay on top of oil changes, filter replacements, and other key maintenances, you can prevent things from breaking down later. Small investments over time in terms of maintenance means much less expenses for broken parts later - or for entirely new lawnmowers before their time. Choose to be proactive about lawnmower maintenance in the winter and you won't regret it!

Overseeding a lawn is a method for improving and maintaining the health of a lawn; it makes the grass thicker and reduces weeds. It simply involves spreading grass seed over an existing lawn.

Why is overseeding necessary?
Lawn grass is characterized as cool season or warm season grass, and the cool season grasses are typically the ones that need overseeding. Examples of cool season grasses include fine fescue, tall fescue, annual ryegrass, perennial ryegrass and bluegrass. Most of these are also bunch type grasses and thus grow in a bunch. When a grass seed from a bunch type grass germinates, it initially produces just one blade. As the grass matures, new blades called tillers grow alongside the original. A blade of grass lasts only about six to eight weeks, so the roots have to produce new blades to replace it. As the grass roots age, however, their reproductive rate slows down. They stop being able to produce enough tillers to replace blades that have died, and the lawn grass becomes thinner and less healthy. A homeowner needs young grass to have a thick and healthy lawn.

What is the best time to overseed a lawn?
Generally speaking, the best time to overseed a lawn is in the late summer or early fall. The soil temperature is still warm enough for seed germination, while the air has started to cool which is better for grass growth. There is usually more rain during the early fall, and that also benefits grass growth. Overseeding during the early fall also gives the young grass a head start. Their roots will have become established by the start of winter, so they will be less susceptible to spring droughts. They will also be better able to compete with weeds like crabgrass.

On preparing the lawn
Grass seeds don’t germinate unless they are laying directly on the soil. They won’t germinate if there’s anything like leaves, clippings or even more grass between them and the soil. The first step in overseeding is thus preparing the lawn. If there are any weeds, they should be sprayed with a weed killer at least two weeks before overseeding the lawn. The existing grass should be mowed to about two inches or less to let more sunlight reach the seedlings. A metal rake or motorized “dethatching machine” can be used to “dethatch” the lawn by collecting the grass clippings and any other debris.

The next step is to reduce soil compaction to make it easier for water, gases and other nutrients to reach the roots. There are several possible ways to make the soil less compact: using a dethatching machine, aerating, roto-tilling or heavy raking. If the soil is very dry, it will need to be watered first.

Soil should ideally have a pH between 6.0 and 6.8 for grass to grow. There are soil testing kits for determining the pH. If the soil’s pH is too high or low, the lawn will need lime to balance the pH. The last step before the actual overseeding is to “top-dress” the soil with a very thin layer of compost. There should be enough compost to supply extra nutrients but not so much as to smother the existing grass.

Overseeding the lawn
The chosen grass seed should be compatible with the existing grass and spread evenly across the lawn. Gently raking the area will help the seeds settle on the soil. The last step is to water the lawn completely immediately afterwards. Grass seeds need to stay moist, so the lawn will have to be watered three or four times a day until they have germinated. Too much water can kill grass however, so the frequency of watering should be reduced after the grass has started to sprout.