Summer has come to an end. Temperatures are cooling off, and soil is moistening. This season is the perfect time to work on lawn maintenance and prepare your Nashville home for winter and, subsequently, the next growing season. Many people have used up all their excitement about landscaping and gardening since the spring, but autumn is a valuable time as well. The following checklist will help you do so effectively.
Mow the lawn. In the fall and winter, it is preferable to have your grass cut short, to around 1 inches. Short grass is less prone to disease and lets leaves blow around without trapping them.
Rake, rake, rake. Raking leaves in the fall (and probably having kids and pets jump around in your neat piles) is a task few people have never done. Throughout autumn, you will need to rake the fallen leaves. Leaving the leaves there will smother your lawn and block sunlight.
Fertilize. Fall is a critical time for feeding your lawn and garden. The summer months can be taxing and rebuilding is crucial. With less competition from weeds, diseases, and pests, fertilizer will help to restore and prepare your landscape. High phosphorous mix will encourage roots.
Aerate your lawn. Making the soil less compact, doing this allows nutrients and water to reach deeper to the roots of your plants. This is most necessary particularly if you are seeing rainfall pool on the surface; however, it is a good practice in general for lawn health and maintenance.
Trim trees and prune plants. Remove thin branches, crossover branches, and dead branches. Also, check for any branches that could fall and cause damage if it gets highly windy and remove those branches as well. Cut these cracked, dead, damaged, loose, and otherwise precarious close to the trunk. Pruning back bushes, shrubs, and plants is also important.
Winterize your sprinkler system. This will become more critical as we get further into the fall and closer to winter, but by the time the weather gets freezing, it is absolutely necessary that you do this. Standing water will cause cracks and breaks if it freezes and can potentially ruin your irrigation system. You will need to shut off the water and use pressurized air to blow the pipes dry.
Plant bulbs that will bloom in the spring as well as shrubs. Fall is an ideal time for planting shrubs. During this season, they are able to establish roots in the moister, cooler soil and will thus grow better as time goes on. Additionally, plant spring bulbs now so that you can enjoy their beauty later, when they bloom in the spring. >
The points on this checklist are critical to preparing your garden for the upcoming winter and ensuring that it continues to thrive in future growing seasons. Do not forget about your outdoor space in these autumn months. Go along with this checklist and your landscaping life will be significantly easier in future seasons.