Preparing For Winter

  While most people think about landscaping chiefly in the work of the growing months of spring and summer, preparing your yard for the ravages of the fall and winter is essential in case you need a yard that still looks lovely when the thaw comes along next spring.

With arrival of fall home owners ought to be heading outside and making some preparations for the colder weather to come. Here are some tips.

Although it may look as if your grass is not growing at all in the work of the colder half of the year, that is not the case. The lawn’s roots are actually growing deeper in to the soil in preparation for the chilled.

Preparing Your Lawn

The fall is a lovely time to treat your lawn to last fertilizing treatment and to re-seed any thinning areas. Feeding your lawn now will give it the boost it needs to survive until the spring.

Shrub and Hedge Maintenance

Pruning, however, is a delicate and sometimes difficult task, so this may be aspect of fall landscaping to leave to a professional.

Fall pruning is important in case you need your bushes and shrubs to flourish in the spring. The bulk of pruning ought to be completed after most of the leaves have turned, which indicates that the plant is dormant.

Tree Care

The trees around your home can become risky in bad weather in the event that they are not properly maintained. Every winter thousands of homes are damaged by falling branches and far of that might have been prevented if the trees had been looked after more carefully.

Landscape Fixtures

The fall is the right time to call in an arborist to inspect the trees on your property and perform any necessary pruning to make definite that your home is as safe as feasible.

In case you noticed water or ice accumulation last winter, take steps now to improve drainage around the area. This may not be a immense fix; it may be as simple as adding a small gravel drainage channel next to a walkway or fixing a gutter that drips onto pathways. A lovely landscaping professional will be able to advise you on the best work of action.

The average yard contains much over grass and trees as parts of the general landscape and these additional elements need attention in the fall as well. Patios, walkways and driveways can all take a actual beating one time the temperature drops. Keeping them as free of excess water and ice as feasible will go a long way toward stopping winter destroy.

In case you have a pool, call to have it winterized now. The water ought to be drained as well as a pool cover put in place. Make definite that it is a lovely pool cover though. In the winter in definite areas of the country it is not unusual for deer and other wildlife to take a walk across covered pools, so the cover has to be strong to resist that kind of weight.

All deck and patio furniture that can be put away inside ought to be. Before storing it away in the basement though check for excess moisture and leaks down there, to keep away from discovering damp and moldy outdoor furniture when you come to get it all back out again next spring.

Fall Checklist

 

Aside from planning & planting for the spring, there’s lots of other projects & ongoing items that need to be watched over.

Fall is of the busiest times of the year in the garden. What ought to you or your landscaper be doing now to promote & maintain a nice healthy lawn & garden?

1. Resist the temptation to prune shrubs after September 30th, until at least midNovember. If the weather is still warm, or fluctuates, new growth may appear when pruned, which would be damaged by winter’s cold
2. Plant fall mums & other fall annuals
3. Overseed lawn, if necessary
4. Aerate any compacted lawn areas
5. Continue to apply appropriate lawn fertilizer
6. Monitor perennials & remove any dead leaves & flowers
7. Shutdown & winterize irrigation systems & any water features
8. Check for insects & diseases, treat if necessary
9. Plant spring bulbs or rhizomes. Daffodils & iris are great in the event you have deer in your area.
10. Neat gutters & drains of any leaves & debris
11. Complete fall neat up, removing dead & fallen leaves from lawn & planting beds. Remove dead flowers & leaves off perennials. Trim back decorative grasses after they turn brown for better growth in the spring

Here’s a check list to get you started:

Generate a method by putting aside a specific time each week for your landscaping chores & the result will leave you & your garden satisfied & happy!

In the event you take care of all of these things in a timely manner, you’ll see great leads to the Spring. Also, maintaining with these chores a tiny bit at a time actually ends up taking less of your time than you think.