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Keep Off The Grass In Cold Months

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Winter days can bring snow, ice, or just a coating of frost and as slippery as they can make roads, they're dangerous for your grass too.

Walking on, driving over, or just dragging the trash can across your lawn in winter, can seriously injure your grass! The Morris Arboretum smartly reminds us that such frosty conditions are like miniature knives to blades of grass and when you put pressure on the frozen lawn with your feet or tires or wheels, those icy daggers stab into the individual leaves and kill the grass.

In winter, the lawn can't repair itself and has to wait until spring to recover, so you can end up with tracks of dead grass from wheels like you see in the photo, or footprints where you walked - telltale signs of winter traffic.

So, keep off the grass in the cold months! And if you really can't and you end up with damaged spots, use those unsightly reminders as a cue to install a path of stepping stones, gravel, or mulch in those areas come Spring. That way, you'll be able get from here to there next year without killing your lawn.

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