Fall is here! Can’t even believe this is being said so soon as it seems like just yesterday the kids got out of school and now summer has happened, memories have been made and school is back in session as well as the lawns being scattered with leaves. Now is the prime time to ensure the health of your lawn, trees and landscape.
The first step it to ensure the canvas is left blank and ready to go for winter and spring. This entails cutting down trees that have died or become infected with disease or pest as well as trimming branches in trees. This leaves the canvas healthy and blank for the next year. Tree removal and trimming is best left to the professionals.
Next engage your lawn with some food. The worst thing to happen is to your lawn awakening in the spring with “feed me Semour screams”. The first application of fertilizer should be done in the middle of September with the next application happening before the frost has set in, around the end of November.
It is also important to reseed areas that have incurred damage from the sun. In order to reseed successfully loosen the soil and add seed on top of the loosened soil. Then add another layer of soil to the top. This will assist in the seed taking root.
Keep watering the lawn until the frost is here to stay. The lawn should be moist as it heads into winter but not saturated. Saturating the lawn will create a perfect environment for mold growth. Don’t automatically assume since Labor Day has come and gone that our house should be put away.
Don’t prune! Pruning is meant to encourage growth and going into a season where plants, shrubs and trees are going to be dormant the last thing you should do is encourage growth. Wait to prune until spring time rolls around. Dead wood however, is better to take off in the fall so as said before tree trimming and tree removal is best to be done now. This will prevent the perfect living environment for bugs to live and hide; dead wood.
The fall season is the perfect time to transplant items within your landscape and to divide larger plants such as ferns and hostas. This helps in allowing the root system take hold for spring growth. On a side note now is the perfect time to invite friends to share their overgrown goods with your landscape.
Mulch is an important part of fall preparations. Mulching around trees ensuring that the mulch is shaped in a donut leaving room around the trunk and not like a volcano. This allows the tree to be a less likely home and meal for small critters as it is not comfy at the trunk. Mulch is also best to be applied in flower beds in the fall before the hard freeze. It will help prevent the plant root systems and ensure they are vibrant and healthy for the spring.
Add any bulbs that are required to be planted in the fall for spring growth. Tulips and daffodils are some that add great color in the spring when the landscape is just awakening and color is still bleak and unseen in the grass and trees.
Fall landscape preparations make for an easy transition in the spring. A little preparation goes a long way with your landscape and most things for that matter.