How To Prep Your Yard for Fall
Fall has arrived (according to our calendars at least) and with fall comes new chores and homeowner responsibilities. So to help you prepare, here is a helpful list of reminders to get your yard ready for fall!
- Aerating: Aeration involves removal of soil cores to improve water and air movement in compacted soils. Long term, your lawn will respond quicker to fertilizer and water runoff will be reduced when irrigating. It will also make your lawn look better!
- Over seeding: Over seeding can be essential in increasing lawn thickness and health. A good rule of thumb is to over seed early enough in either late summer or early fall to give the turf grass seed time to germinate and the resulting seedlings time to mature to the point where they can survive the winter and begin growing again when spring arrives. The benefits of over seeding a lawn include:
- Filling in areas of turf damaged by summer stress, diseases or insects
- Thickening and increasing the density of thin lawns
- Improving the lawn’s appearance
- Enhancing the lawn’s ability to fight insects and diseases
- Raking: Rake lightly and thoroughly with a leaf rake to ensure good seed and soil contact which will increase germination.
- Feeding: Fall feeding gives your landscape the nutrients needed to prepare for a healthy, green spring revival.
- Maintaining health and appearance: Throughout the fall there are things you can do to maintain your yards appearance and health. Remove fallen tree leaves and debris from your lawn, avoid walking on frost covered lawns as doing so may cause brown footprints to appear later that can remain visible until spring, and clean and edge landscape beds.
- Pruning: Pruning is essential for trees and shrubs. Yearly pruning will help maintain trees and shrubs to an ideal size and shape.
- Water: Water on a regular schedule to make sure seed and soil stay moist. Sunny locations and dry weather will require you to water more frequently. Using a timer will help you achieve an even growing environment.