7 Things To Do For Your Yard This Fall
Fall is the season that seems to come and go in the blink of an eye every year. It rarely feels like there is enough time to get your bucket list of festive activities done, let alone take care of your yard! But with these simple yard tips for fall, you’ll have your lawn shedding the weight of a harsh summer and prepped for the first real frost in no time!
Why Fall Yard Maintenance Is Important
After a summer of unchecked sunshine and scorching temperatures, backyard badminton tournaments, and a series of questionable haircuts from that newfangled lawnmower, your yard is begging for some end-of-summer yard care before winter strikes.
Fall yard maintenance is super important for a few reasons. Did you know that all that summer heat and wear can compact your yard’s topsoil and make it difficult for new grass to grow and flourish come spring? High temperatures can also deplete nutrients in the soil which is the perfect environment for weeds and pests to conquer weakened grassroots, making for a patchy, uneven lawn. And if you don’t remove the bulk of those lovely autumnal leaves, you may be looking at a dead or fungus-ridden lawn when the snow finally melts off.
Because your lawn takes a lot of abuse during summer, and even as the leaves start falling, you need to combat those negative effects, as well as prep for winter, with a smart fall grass care routine.
7 Fall Landscaping Tips For Your Yard
Following these 7 easy yard tips for fall will help you ensure your yard can take the worst winter has to offer and come out looking stronger and even more beautiful next spring!
Consider Aerating
Our first yard tip for fall? Aeration. Every couple of years it’s a good idea to loosen up your soil and break up any underlying thatch—that obnoxious layer of tangled roots and debris that can block sunlight, water, and nutrients from reaching your grass’ roots. This can be done to varying degrees of effectiveness with things like spiked footwear to more sophisticated machine methods that pull plugs from the lawn, allowing your stressed turf some room to breathe.
Seed & Fertilize Your Lawn
If you have a thin lawn or any dead spots from this summer’s fun (we’re looking at you, plastic kiddie pool!), fall is a great time to overseed your grass. Just make sure the seeds actually hit soil or they’ll never germinate and your efforts will be in vain. Once you’ve got seeds down, fall is the absolute most important time to apply an appropriate fertilizer (testing your soil will tell you which nutrients your lawn is begging for). Doing this will be the foundation for a thicker, stronger lawn in the springtime, especially if you’ve just aerated!
Give The Grass One Last Cut
Keeping your grass at a regular length before winter is another important one of our yard tips for fall. We suggest keeping grass between about 2.5”-3”—any longer and your lawn is at risk formatting and creating a great environment for damaging molds. Any shorter and you can curtail the root system, leaving blades too short to properly photosynthesize and feed the roots. Cutting your grass through fall can also help manage the falling leaves.
Take Care Of The Leaves
Speaking of which, your fall yard care checklist has to include removing leaves from the grass (unless they’ve been broken up into mulch by your lawnmower) so they don’t suffocate or rot the grass during long winter months. Make sure you don’t ignore corners and fencelines where leaves tend to gather after a windy autumn day!
Mulch Your Trees & Shrubs
Mulch can help maintain soil fertility and moisture, providing necessary nutrients and sustaining life during long winter months. It can also act as an insulating barrier for plant roots against harsh winter conditions. And if you get to this part of your fall landscaping maintenance soon enough, you can enjoy the visual refresh that turning the existing mulch or adding fresh mulch can offer your yard.
Do Some Planning, Planting, & Pruning
Believe it or not, one of our yard tips for fall is actually to consider actually planting flowers or shrubs. It may mean swapping out summer annuals for some fall blooms or even rearranging your perennial garden, but either way, fall is a great time to add life to your landscaping. It’s also an important time to prune trees and shrubs to prevent wintertime damage. Just make sure to do your research first—pruning is a plant-specific science and you may end up ruining spring-flowering if you attack the wrong plant or the right plant the wrong way.
Give Your Hardscape Some TLC
Ignoring your hardscape is a big no-no when it comes to getting your yard ready for fall. Now is a good time to seal any cracks in walkways or your driveway as water can pool here and then freeze, putting you at risk for even more damage than you see now.
Bonus Tip: Pack Up For Winter
Remember when your mom used to say that the dishes weren’t done if the drying towel wasn’t put away? (No, only mine?) Well, consider your fall lawn care not done if you haven’t packed up your gardening tools and hoses, and properly winterized your sprinkler or irrigation lines.
Need Help With Your Fall Yard Maintenance?
We don’t expect everyone to be an expert on yard maintenance—even with these easy yard tips for fall—which is why Big Rock Landscaping is here to help with your lawn and landscaping maintenance needs this fall! Not only do we offer landscape design and installation services, but we expertly maintain many residential and commercial properties along the Wasatch Front. We have the talent, the tools, the attention to detail, and the unparalleled customer service you’ll want in a landscape maintenance company, and we’re dedicated to ensuring that your yard is properly cared for in every season.
Contact us to schedule our fall yard care services today.
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