Keeping your landscaping looking its best year-round isn’t only a job for the spring and summer seasons. Autumn is an important time to take measures to prepare your yard for the upcoming winter months and ensure that it starts off strong in the spring. Putting the effort into preparing your plants, trees, and lawn for the cold and snow helps to ensure that they are protected and stay healthy throughout the snow season.
Planting
While many people think of spring as the ideal season for planting, fall is the perfect time to plant not only trees, shrubs, and perennials, but also spring-blooming bulbs and cool weather annuals and vegetables. The increased amounts of rain along with still warm soil work together to promote strong root growth before winter weather sets in. Milder temperatures mean that plants aren’t exposed to the stress of high heat, and diseases and insects aren’t typically as prevalent as in the spring and summer. The key is to choose plants that can tolerate cooler temperatures and ensure that you plant them well enough in advance of your region’s first frost. Make sure they are getting adequate moisture and take measures to protect them from more extreme weather.
Mulching
One way to protect both new and established plants from winter weather is with mulching. Using mulch protects bare soil from erosion while retaining moisture and limiting weed growth. However, spreading 2 to 3 inches of shredded hardwood bark, leaves, or straw around your plants in the fall can actually have increased benefits over doing it in the spring. Mulch works to insulate the soil, which in turn provides a warmer environment for earthworms and other organisms. This allows them to stay active for longer and creates more nutrient rich soil for your plants. Mulching also helps to insulate plants’ roots, giving them a stronger defense against fluctuating temperatures. It is important to wait until the first hard freeze of the winter then cut back perennials before evenly spreading mulch.
Clean up dead and dying plants
Cleaning up all the dead leaves, plants, shrubs, and blossoms makes for a more aesthetically pleasing landscape, and your garden could actually benefit from these materials being repurposed as mulch or fertilizer. Shredded or composted dead or dying plants can be spread over soil, across grass, or around plants to provide protection as well as extra nutrients. While you don’t want a thick layer of leaves that will suffocate and kill the grass over the winter, using the mower to chop up a moderate amount of coverage can result in healthier soil and grass. It’s also important to make sure that your grass isn’t too short or too long. Aim for a lawn that is 2 to 2.5 inches in height to prevent grass from getting stressed or becoming diseased during snow season.
Although many people consider their landscaping duties complete once cooler weather sets in, the fall season is an excellent time to put in some extra effort that will really benefit your lawn and garden. It not only takes some tasks off your to-do list in the spring but can also strengthen the soil and vegetation, resulting in a healthier, more beautiful landscape.
