Preparing Your Garden For Fall

Now that the heat of summer has cooled off, fall is the perfect time to give your lawn and garden some attention before winter sets in. With some attention to a few key tasks, you can set the stage for a thriving yard next spring, while hopefully avoiding excess work. Here’s what to focus on this season:

1. Feed Your Trees and Shrubs

Fall is ideal for giving your trees and shrubs a nutrient boost. Applying feed and amendments for your tree and bushes now before everything enters dormancy encourages strong root growth over the winter, setting your greenery up for a healthy, vigorous start to spring.

2. Fix Bald Spots In Your Lawn

Cool fall weather is great for re-seeding bare or thin patches in your lawn. The cooler temperatures and occasional rain allow new grass establish before winter. Come spring, your lawn will fill in with lush, green growth. Many water services will be shut off soon so just make sure that any new seed you lay down stays moist as it germinates.

3. Prune Plants and Grasses

Once your perennials and ornamental grasses have stopped growing, it’s time to start pruning! Cutting them way back now keeps your garden looking tidy and promotes healthy growth when the warmer weather returns. This also sends energy into the roots of the plant which helps them develop over winter. It's also important to prune your trees now after their sap slows and they start to enter dormancy.

4. Plant Cover Crops

Cover crops like ryegrass, clover, or winter peas in your garden beds can do wonders for your soil health. Cover crops improve soil structure, add nutrients, and keep weeds at bay. When turned into the soil in spring, the compost they create acts as a natural fertilizer, further enriching your soil.

5. Add Fall Soil Amendments

If you have heavy clay soil, as many of us in the area do, now is also the time to enrich your soil with compost or amendments like gypsum. These additions break down over winter, ensuring your garden beds are ready for planting in spring with improved soil health.

6. Rake Up Leaves

If you have trees that shed leaves in heavy amounts then it's also time to grab a rake and some leaf bags to start gathering up that precious compost material. depending on the trees. Maple, ash, beech, birch, elm, poplar, cherry, and most fruit tree leaves are ok, but you should avoid using a lot of oak leaves in composting because they are high in acid.

7. Blow Out Your Sprinklers

Last but not least, before the first frost hits, don’t forget to blow out your sprinkler system. This step is absolutely crucial to avoid burst pipes from freezing water, which of course, saves you from costly repairs. A little preparation now can save you from a lot of hassle and expense.