How to Prevent Halloween Lawn Damage

For many people, Halloween is one of the best opportunities to showcase a fabulous-looking lawn.  Consider this: What other time of the year can you thoroughly scare people and make adorable children blissfully happy at the same time?  Throw in the ability to impress your neighbors with a beautiful and well-decorated home, and it’s easy to see why Halloween consistently ranks among the best-loved holidays of the year.   Unfortunately, both those candy-hyper kids, clumsy teens and your ghoulish décor can all damage that gorgeous yard you’ve been working so hard to maintain.

Here’s how you can still create a frighteningly fun Halloween for trick-or-treaters and still maintain your home’s curb appeal:

1. Avoid Halloween Decorations that Damage the Lawn

• Inflatables can up your ghostly game, but they are really the biggest grass-killing culprits.  Leaving them out too long can lead to patches of brown, dead turf where they’ve smothered the grass and blocked it from the sunlight. Consider placing them on a mulched bed, driveway, or patio instead—or put them out just for Halloween night and pack them away before bed.
• Choose decorations with a smaller footprint for the lawn.  Smaller things that stake down into the soil are perfect or consider hanging lightweight decorations from the trees instead. Either strategy will help minimize Halloween lawn damage.
• Natural decorations make fantastic fertilizer.  Consider using pumpkins and straw bales, then allowing them to decompose to mulch into the lawn later.  Pro Tip: Make sure there are no seeds left in your pumpkins and use straw bales instead of hay to minimize weeds springing up in the spring!
• Bonus: Get a jump on next year’s décor by planning to include some boo-tiful black plants into your landscaping beds.

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2. Plan Your Traffic Areas Carefully

Think about how you can guide your costumed company to avoid foot traffic on the lawn or possible damage to your landscaping:

• Use lighted decorations along paths to lead visitors up the sidewalk, instead of the grass.  Small pumpkins with electric candles inside are a fantastic way to lead people right to your door.  Or…

• If the easiest way to get to your front door from the street is to march through your yard, consider handing your candy out somewhere else.  Set up a little bonfire in the driveway and sit out with a thermos of something hot to give your guests a properly spooky scare.  Alternatively, deck out your garage with a haunting display and entertain trick-or-treaters there.  Even using the middle of your cul-de-sac may be an option so you can avoid trick-or-treaters traipsing on your property at all—just make sure you clear it with the neighbors ahead of time.
• Avoid putting large cemetery dioramas in the middle of the lawn, where teens may be tempted to take some selfies with a skeleton.  Instead, set these displays up near the door, or plan an eerie display along the edge of your lawn, where it can double as a fence—a subliminal message reminding guests to keep off the grass.  Chicken wire or reclaimed pallets make for an easy, creepy temporary fence.  

3. Prep Your Lawn Properly, Just in Case.

• Make sure your lawn is clear of leaves and other debris.  Leaves left on the lawn can cause mold and disease to attack your grass and wet leaves can be a slipping hazard for running and skipping youngsters.  A proper fall clean-up will leave your lawn leafless and ready for Fright Night.
• Mow your grass to the recommended height (see a handy chart here) just before Halloween, to protect grass from matting due to foot traffic or decorations.
• If your sprinklers haven’t been winterized yet, don’t water the grass on Halloween.  Wet soil can leave your lawn susceptible to footprint damage and make the grass slippery for tiny feet.

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All of these suggestions can help you prevent damage to your lawn and property this Halloween season!  If you’re reading this a bit too late though, there’s still hope.  EnJay’s spring clean-up can whip your yard back into shape with one shake of a broomstick!  Contact us to learn how our spring cleanup and dethatching services can mitigate the damage from monster feet both big and small.

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