Leaf the hard work around your yard to us. This fall lawn care checklist can ease some of the burden of prepping your home ahead of winter.
The crisp air, colorful trees, and faint sound of Spooky Scary Skeletons in the distance can only mean one thing: fall is here.
It really is one of the best times of the year, where we look forward to afternoons in corn mazes and pumpkin patches, cozy evenings with warm drinks and scary movies, and the eternal debate about how much pumpkin spice is too much pumpkin spice. What we don’t often think about is being responsible homeowners and taking care of fall cleanup.
But this fall lawn care checklist should hopefully ease some of the burden of prepping your home for the winter months ahead. Plus, it isn’t all bad when you realize you get to make a bunch of “leaf” and “fall” puns along the way.
1. Rake it Off
The best part about fall, obviously, is jumping into leaf piles. There’s something about the smell of leaves surrounding you as you’re buried underneath a whole stack of them.
Raking, not surprisingly, is one of the biggest components of fall lawn care. Taking care of all the fallen leaves around the yard is a staple fall cleanup chore. While many homeowners opt to rake and bag their leaves, mulching leaves (or even using them as compost) is a great way to reuse the dead plants and support the health and growth of your lawn and garden for next spring!
Simply mow over the leaves a few times — make sure they’re nice and shredded so they don’t stick together — and place the chopped up bits in a 3-6 inch layer over your garden soil, landscaping, and other areas of your lawn to simultaneously add a layer of protection from upcoming cold and frost as well as natural compost and fertilization! Whether you decide to rake and bag or mow and mulch, make sure to have fun and get at least one jump in the pile this season!
2. One Mow Time
Don’t put that lawn mower away quite yet — part of fall cleanup includes going over your lawn one last time to make sure it’s ready for hibernation. The best time for the final mow of the season is in the middle to end of October. This is before it gets too cold, but is cool enough that you don’t risk your lawn growing much more in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Make sure to get the last mow of the season in before the first frost, or you may risk damaging your grass.
Now the real question is, how long should you keep your grass in the fall and winter? The trick is to keep it long enough that it doesn’t freeze up and die in the cold temperatures, but short enough that you avoid voles and diseases like snow mold. Generally speaking, keeping your grass at around 2 inches in the fall and winter is ideal for a healthy, beautiful lawn in the spring.
While you’re mowing, it’s also a good idea to trim your bushes and fix up your landscaping around the house. Cleaning up dead branches, pruning shrubs, and covering any temperature-sensitive fixtures in your yard and garden while it’s still (somewhat) warm out can make a difference in the winter and spring ahead.
3. Weed ‘Em Out
Speaking of cleaning up around the yard, take one more look at your gardens. Sure, they may be turning brown when fall lawn care season comes around, but that doesn’t mean you should neglect your gardens! Weeding and prepping your gardens in the fall can set the tone for a healthy, thriving garden next season.
As you work through your garden and get rid of weeds and debris, consider protecting your vulnerable plants or annual flowers. Remember all those leaves you jumped in and then later crushed up, like the responsible but fun-loving adult you are? This is where you use them! Set a 3-inch bed of leaves over and around your perennials and biennials to keep them protected in the cold and give them a bit of a nutrition boost as they go dormant for the winter.
Not sure what the difference between an annual and a perennial is, and need a refresher of what to keep and what to pull? We can help identify the plants in your garden to make sure that the ones that will pop up again next year will stay, while you can free up some room without worry and get rid of the annual flowers.
4. Plant Next Year’s Garden
Did you know? You can actually start your spring garden this fall, too! Fall is the perfect time to prepare for next spring’s colors, as many plants and vegetables actually do better when they’re planted right before the temps start dropping and frost sets in. Now is the time to look ahead and think about what you want to grow next year. Hostas, lilies, peonies, and bulbs (for tulips, daffodils, and irises) are cold tolerant and actually do better when they’re planted at this time of year.
With weeding comes the excitement of a new garden bed. Next year’s landscaping projects can start as early as this fall! If you’re not sure what flowers or grasses should be planted now or should wait until next year, give us a call and we can help offer advice and help you plan ahead to create the landscape and garden of your dreams.
Prepare For Next Spring
You don’t have to wish away the coziness of fall and winter to be excited for the spring already. Fall cleanup is a great time to consider what else you want to do around your home. New landscaping ideas often pop up, and garden inspiration tends to strike while you’re working in the dirt. Sometimes, that’s the best part of fall cleanup: looking ahead!
Let your mind wander and dream a little bit about next year’s warm weather, spring air, and new yard projects. After all, you might need to start thinking about them anyway if you’re planting flowers and seed before winter! So, why not dream a bit bigger? There are so many opportunities that await in your lawn and garden, from water features to stepping stones, sustainable gardens to retaining walls. The possibilities are endless, and you can already begin to see it all take shape ahead of you, even now in the fall.
Okay, we are getting ahead of ourselves a little bit. But you can always give the local landscaping team at SunKissed a call if you want to talk yard projects. Leaf the fall lawn care to us so you can sit back and enjoy your home all season long.
Schedule fall cleanup this season and have a comfortable, cozy fall, and thank yourself when spring rolls around.
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