10 Things You Can Do to Prepare Your Lawn for Fall
The summer season is quickly simmering away, and fall is knocking on your door. Before you head out to grab your first pumpkin spiced latte of the season, take a few moments to begin planning for the inevitable arrival of autumn and its cooler September temperatures.
Fall is a season of vivid colors and is a perfect time to spend mornings and evenings outside sipping on something warm while bundled up in a light jacket. With a few great landscape ideas, your yard can become an autumn oasis. So, begin gathering those tools you'll need and start planning your clean-up today!
Here are 10 things you can do to get ready for one of the most beautiful seasons of the year.
1. Dethatch and Aerate the Lawn
Thatch is a layer of living and dead grass shoots, stems, and roots that forms between the green grass blades and the soil surface. You should look for any yellow-brown thatch in your lawn in early fall and remove it. You want to aerate the lawn when your grass is in its peak growing period so it can recover quickly, and fall is one of the best times to do so.
2. Mulch or Remove Leaf Litter
Mulch can benefit your plants and gardens by smothering weeds, inviting helpful earthworms to move in, regulating the temperature of the soil, retaining moisture, providing nutrients, and preventing erosion. Mowing leaf litter with a mulching mower returns valuable nutrients to your lawn's soil. If your yard is buried in leaves, you may need to remove some of them so that light and air can reach your grass. It’s okay if some leaf litter is left behind, as it gives pollinators a place to nestle during the winter months.
3. Fertilize the Lawn
All lawns should be fertilized to ensure good overall health and keep grass looking its greenest. But if you fertilize at the wrong time or over-treat your lawn, you could encourage weed growth, or possibly burn the grass. So, it's best to fertilize in early autumn. You should also test your soil to determine its acidity levels and whether it lacks important nutrients before you select and spread your fertilizer.
4. Overseed Your Lawn
Over time, grass gets old and needs to be replaced. Worn-out lawns invite weeds. Overseeding is a fast, inexpensive way to keep your lawn looking green and lush without tearing everything out and starting over. Prepare your landscape for fall by lightly spreading grass seed across the entire lawn with a fertilizer spreader. If you notice any dead spots, apply extra grass seed there. Combining seeding with aeration provides an ideal seedbed for better seed germination.
5. Pull Weeds and Dead Annuals
Even if your garden is perfect for growing plants and has all the nutrients they could ever need, weeds and old annuals will steal those nutrients and cause your plants to become weak. After all, there are only so many nutrients in the soil. The more plants there are, the more those nutrients are consumed. And that means the plants you wish to keep may not get the nutrients they require. So put on your gloves and get to pulling. Your plants will thank you for it.
6. Consider Pruning Perennials
Perennials bring beauty to our gardens for years at a time. All they ask for in return is proper care! Part of that care is cutting them back once a year. This process rids perennials of their old foliage to make room for new growth and flowers. The tricky part is getting the timing right. The best time to prune perennials depends on the type of plant you have and its health. Be sure to ask the experts at Snow Creek Landscaping about the best time to trim them.
7. Rake Landscape Beds
Periodically raking the soil in our landscape beds and borders can break up soil clumps and make the soil level. Raking can help us remove stones and other pieces of debris that can prevent plants growing well. If you are planning to prune trees and shrubs, wait to rake until you have done so. This will prevent having to rake those beds twice.
8. Enrich Garden Beds
Enriching your garden beds and preparing them for fall can happen in several ways. One of those ways is by adding organic mulch, compost, or leaf litter. This introduces nutrients that will break down throughout the entire winter. Then, the soil will be fertile and ready next spring.
9. Keep Garden Tools Clean
Carefully cleaning and preserving your garden tools before storing them away for winter will guarantee that they remain functional and helpful for years to come. Make sure you disconnect any garden hoses and tighten the faucet to be sure the water is turned off for the winter. If you leave a garden hose attached, a small amount of water can stay lodged in the pipe by the spigot and will quickly freeze. This ice can damage your faucet and pipe! So, to prevent an unplanned for and potentially costly repair, disconnect that hose today.
10. Add a New Patio or Fire Pit
Now that your landscaping has been dolled up and prepared for winter, consider adding that flagstone patio or fire pit you've been dreaming about to share with friends and family during those cool Fall evenings. Both of these additions will prove to be a beneficial investment in that they will certainly increase the resale value of your home.
Contact Snow Creek Landscaping Today!
Choose Snow Creek Landscaping and Maintenance for sustainable, forward-thinking, and trend-forward outdoor solutions. We're proud to enhance Arden, North Carolina, and surrounding areas with our dedicated services. Contact us today to begin the journey of transforming your outdoor spaces and to begin preparing your landscape for fall.