Fall Landscape Maintenance

September 19, 2023

4 Tips for Maintaining a Fall Landscape

As much as we hate to say this: summer is almost over. It’s time to exchange our outdoor parties and activities for the coziness of the indoors. While you might think this means the end of your pristine landscape, we’re here to tell you that you shouldn’t think this way. A good landscape needs proper care all year long, even in the fall.

If you want to have the best gardens, lawn, and hardscapes for next year when spring rolls around, it pays to work on them early. To make sure you always get the most out of your landscape, there are certain measures you can take to prepare for next season now.

Fall can be a time for indoor rest and relaxation. But before you get started with that, there’s some work you should put in.

Here are our top landscaping tips for the autumn season:

Pull Weeds

Many people wonder why their lawns and gardens become infested with weeds in the spring and summer – the answer might be how you treat your exterior in the fall. Weeds can lie dormant through the winter months and jump out as soon as it gets warmer in the spring. To avoid these weeds from impacting the beauty of your landscape, removing them in the fall can really help.

There are wrong ways to weed, however. You don’t want to leave any trace of the plant in the ground, including the roots. That means when you take a weed out, you have to ensure you’re pulling the whole thing out of the ground – this is easiest when the ground is wet and malleable because you’ll experience less resistance from the soil while pulling. If you’re unable to get the weed out by the root, using a hoe to cleanly cut the weeds is another good option.

Rake Leaves

Throughout the fall season, as leaves fall from the trees, you want to stay on top of raking them up. As leaves accumulate on the ground, they can stifle your grass, preventing your lawn from getting the vital sunlight it needs to be strong in the spring. You should always be proactive with leaf removal. Don’t wait until the springtime to clear the lawn and gardens of leaves, and don’t wait for all the leaves to fall either.

It’s better to do less intense and more frequent raking jobs since this makes the workload easier and will prevent your grass from being crushed and dying under a heavy bed of leaves. Leaves that remain over the winter will cause dead patches of grass, possibly develop the fungal disease, and look ugly throughout the season. Prevent reseeding and fertilization in the spring by staying on top of your leaves in the fall!

Prioritize Lawn Care

While we’re on the topic of keeping your lawn leaf-free, you should also care for your lawn in other ways in the fall. Fall is the best time to repair your lawn after a long summer of dryness and heat. You can use the cooler temperatures to make a difference in its vitality before the winter freeze.

Fall is the best time of year to fertilize your lawn. Although the cooler temperatures mean that the top growth of your grass will slow to a stop, the roots keep growing – and they need nutrients for this. By feeding your lawn in the fall, you can stimulate better root growth, giving you a stronger lawn for next year.

Similarly, if there are any dead patches on your lawn, fall is the time to seed them. You can pair seeding with aeration to make sure the new growth gets deep into your lawn, giving you a strong foundation for a great lawn next year. The best time to seed is in the early fall because the lower temperatures are matched with heavy dew fall, keeping the seeds well irrigated for growth. This lets the grass grow strong to last through the winter.

Look After Your Gardens

The most beautiful part of any landscape is the garden. To make sure your plants are ready for a successful spring next year, you always want to follow several steps in the fall first. Many plants are great for planting in the fall because of the wetness and the cool temperatures. Plant spring-flowering bulbs in September, and always trim back your perennials in the fall to help them have a healthy winter.

Any leaf and weed removal that you do on your lawn should also be performed in your gardens to give you plants room to breathe and grow. This also applies to any dead plants or diseased foliage – remove these from your garden to prevent rotten plants and infections from impacting the health of your garden.

If you have potted plants, these should be brought back inside before the first frost to ensure they survive the winter. You can also trim these back to allow for improved growth next year.