The summer always flies by too fast, especially here in Washington and North Idaho. But, it happened, fall is here.
While all of us garden lovers and landscape enthusiasts may be sad, fall is actually the prime time for prepping your yard for the next growing season.
The temperature is cooling, and the moisture is encouraging strong root development beneath your soil. Now is the time to protect your plants’ health and remove dead branches, spent stems, and heavy leaf covers. Read on for Circle M’s fall landscaping checklist.
A great time to aerate compressed soil is when rain falls on your grass. This allows water and nutrients to reach the roots.
In the early fall, grass is recovering from summer. September is the best time to fertilize your lawn in the fall, but if you haven’t done it already, it’s not too late, we’ve had an unusually warm October this year! Until the ground gets down to about 40 degrees, grass roots keep growing, so now is the time to feed your lawn.
If branches are lifeless, they could break down under winter snow and wind, and become a hazard to you and your home. Protecting small ornamental trees from further damage can be easily accomplished by cutting cracked, loose, and diseased limbs close to the trunk. Note: you’ll want to leave the exposed wounds to heal.
Spring beds that are maintained are healthier; the more snails and slugs and tired annuals you remove, the healthier your garden area will be. If your perennial foliage is spent, trim it down to the ground; this will send more energy to the roots, for next season.